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A scene from the riots in Ahmedabad |
The Godhra incident provided the Gujarat BJP with a chance to recapture some of its lost ground to participate in the assembly elections due in February next year.
It was an ancient Greek belief that whenever the gods chose to destroy someone, they would first deprive him of his brain. Hindu extremists of the RSS family (Sangh Parivar) think that by manipulating the communal temperature in the country and polarizing a pluralistic society like India on communal lines, they would continue to hold the threads of power.
There has been nothing in the decision by the BJP to play a communal card that testifies rationality in the practices of the government led by Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee at the Center and Mr. Narendra Modi in the state of Gujarat. There are allegations from many quarters that the Narendra Modi government has “connived” in the gruesome carnage that took place in the state. It has been attacked for not deploying the army swiftly in Ahmedabad.
The large-scale arson and killings of innocent people took place with the police standing by and watching. One of the most shameful images of the Thursday (28 February) “backlash” was BBC Television's pictures of clusters of khaki-uniformed policemen in Ahmedabad idly watching mobs on the rampage. The army was merely standing by. The Communist Party of India has alleged that “the Modi Government has connived in this gruesome carnage and there can be no words to condemn the role of the State Government.”
Human rights groups have also alleged that the army was deliberately deployed in the western part of Ahmedabad while rioting was taking place in the eastern part. The Shankaracharya of Govardhanpuri, in a statement condemning the situation in Gujarat, referred to the mob violence as “state terrorism” and demanded a ban on the VHP and the arrest of its leaders and activists under the National Security Act.
That this carnage was coming is clear and it should be seen in the context of the drift in the state that forced the installation of Narendra Modi as chief minister. It is well known that Modi was a hard-core RSS pracharak (preacher). In February 28th, he was quoted to have said: “I am absolutely satisfied with how the police and government handled the backlash... I am happy that violence has largely been contained.” This will rank in our history on a par with Rajiv Gandhi's words which he uttered after his mother's assassination that provided instant moral justification to the Sikh-lynching mobs: “When a tree falls the earth shakes.” Mr. Modi has tried to virtually “justify” the vandalism on the bandh (strike) day as the “natural outpour of anguish of the people” for the “terrorist-type pre-planned attack” on the “Ram sevaks” in the Sabarmati Express.
What is even more interesting is what the chief minister said about what was happening: “The five crore (fifty million) people of Gujarat have shown remarkable restraint under grave provocation.” He also maintained that the mass murder in Meghaninagar and Naroda areas in Ahmedabad, in which more than a hundred people were burnt alive, were actually triggered by the minorities. When asked about the violence, Modi quoted Newton's third law - “to every action there is a reaction, equal in magnitude and opposite in direction.”
Regarding the lynching of Ahsan Jaffrey, a former member of the parliament, Modi was quick to point out that it was Jaffrey who had first fired at the mob, disregarding the fact that it was a menacing mob of 5000 people approaching him while, for six hours, the police and the administration deliberately did not respond to his repeated pleas for help.
There are highly disturbing indications of official culpability which show the state government in very poor light. Some of these relate to declarations by senior police personnel that their officers and men may have been remiss in their duties because of the prevailing “sentiments.” This abdication of responsibility is also evident from reports that the police were often passive bystanders during the mayhem perpetrated by the rioters.
This suggests that the state government was neither efficient nor impartial. Armed as it is with special laws to deal with terrorist groups and organized criminals, the government has no excuse for not invoking them against the VHP. Few will be surprised by its role, considering that it helped the VHP, both politically and administratively, during the build-up of the Ayodhya movement during the last few weeks. A government that plays a partisan role in one context can hardly be expected not to play the same role when trouble breaks out in another.
The entire episode of carnage in Gujarat must be viewed in the context of the recent bi-election results where there were clear indications of the BJP losing grip over the voters. Moreover, fresh from a drubbing in the bi-elections in four states, there is another battleground awaiting the BJP and the Congress in Gujarat. After its recent defeat in two of the three legislative assembly constituency bi-elections in Gujarat, the BJP faces another acid test as the state election commission has decided to hold elections to 86 municipalities in 21 districts of Gujarat on March 31.
The municipal elections will offer one more opportunity to the two major political players to test their strength before the general assembly elections, which are one year ahead. The municipal elections have been postponed on earlier occasions on account of the drought and the earthquake. However, late last year, the state government agreed to hold the elections to the gram panchayats (village councils) and tried its best to establish consensus, instead of elections, by offering the lucrative “samras” package. Which party won the gram panchayat elections is still not clear, as the candidates did not fight on party symbols. However, these 86 municipalities will see a direct confrontation between BJP and Congress candidates. Already, there are signs of the BJP's hold over both the rural and urban electorates weakening. This was largely reflected in the recent bi-elections in Gujarat when it could only hold on to Rajkot-2 and that too because it had the chief minister as the candidate.
Losses in Sayajiganj and Mahuva continue to reflect on the party’s loosening grip over the electorate in Gujarat. Even in Rajkot, the victory margin of 14,728 for Modi is considered quite favorable, but it is not very impressive considering the fact that the former finance minister Vajubhai Vala, who vacated the seat for Modi, had won by nearly 27,000 votes from the same constituency. This reflects on the strides that the parliament has made in Saurashtra, which was evident when it captured the Rajkot Municipal Corporation after a gap of nearly two decades.
The surge in the fortunes of the parliament, which had also won the bi-elections to the Sabarmati and Sabarkantha seats late last year, forced the BJP to dump the then chief minister Keshubhai Patel and opt for a younger leader in Narendra Modi. The overwhelming victories of Congress in the district and in municipal corporations in September 2000, and in the Sabarkantha parliamentary and Sabarmati Assembly bi-elections last year, have shaken the BJP. It was losing its grip over this state, which had often been called the largest Hindutva laboratory.
The people of Gujarat were clearly not taken in by the cosmetic changes effected in the administration by the change of guard last October. Thus what better way is there than to polarize the communal atmosphere, an art both Congress and BJP have mastered over the years?
As India nudges backward to the edge, Pakistan says it has increased security around Hindu temples and Hindu residential areas to cope with any leaks. The Godhra incident may have provided a ready situation for Mr. Modi to try to recapture some of the lost ground for the BJP and fight the assembly elections, due in February next year. As for now, shocked by the Godhra incident, a substantial segment of Hindus is finding a common cause with the VHP, and in turn with the BJP. But only time will tell if the advantage will last, and if it could be reaped a year later. |
