In the context of the Gujarat Tehelka expose India needs to wake up and take notice. I am not asking about taking notice of the act because that has been known to all for long through works like Rakesh Sharma’s Final Solution. India needs to take notice of the reactions of a section to the expose. It is utterly sad that some of the reactions show a destruction of the moral meta-narrative in a section of the Indian society.
But it is also heartening to find so many common voices pouring in from everywhere condemning the acts in the most vehement terms. These are the voices, talking from their heart, who bring sanity to India and to any discourse in India. They are the ones who make this country survive. But I look here in this post at the disturbing reaction by a section and to question them on where is their moral reference point from which we should talk with them.Â
Let us step back and look at the big picture. Five years back around 50 people were inhumanly burnt alive in a train compartment in Godhra. The state law enforcement machinery failed to stop this brutal act. But it was not sorry about it. It did not feel responsible about being unable to stop this mob fury (which still remains an assumption and questioned by at least two investigative works). It did something completely unthinkable…at least for a country which is proud of being the biggest democracy. It got angry. Its anger was not directed at the supposed culprits; the mob in Godhra. It was directed against anyone who was a Muslim. In the most dark moments in free India’s history 2000 Muslims were killed. Many thousands of women were raped. Many thousands were displaced. Numerous Muslim places of worship vanished. The state machinery, if not colluded, had utterly failed in its basic responsibility. It was the most dark moment in free India. The Chief Minister had violated the oath of office he had taken. After such a despicable phase he was named ‘Lion of Gujarat’ in the land of Gandhi!
So how can someone defend such a shameful phase? It is what I call the refuge of the scoundrel. The first was when the Prime Minister of India, in a dark moment, uttered ‘But who started it?’. The second is to put another unjust act that has continued for quite some time and link it with Gujarat and ask ‘Why do you not talk about the Kashmiri Pandits?’. The third is ‘Modi has won election and has been chosen as the leader by the Gujarati people’. The fourth is ‘Do you not see the economic development in the state?’. The fifth is ‘Why do you take out the dead issues? Look at the future’. The sixth is ‘Court of law does not work through regional papers’. It does everything but it just does not touch upon the basic point. The moral meta-narrative of the society. The Base. What about Justice?
Let us see how this face has responded to the Tehelka expose.
BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar said “This sting has rendered Tehelka as the investigative wing of the Congressâ€?. BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy said “Definitely the sting operation and its content are suspect, because we are aware for sometime that there are detractors against Modi in Gujarat and there is the Congress party, which has lost all ground in the state.” They talk about everything but not about the inhuman brutality. Vir Sanghvi wrote very aptly regarding this in 2002 “I was not surprised when the political establishment scrambled to look for conspiracies: the CIA was behind it, the ISI sponsored Tehelka…My point then, as now, was simple enough: let us first deal with the revelations and then worry about Tarun’s so-called backers.”
Today Chandan Mitra, the editor of the 143 year old newspaper Pioneer and a BJP supported Rajya Sabha MP, invoked the third and the fifth point; Modi has won various elections and why do you take out dead issues now. This is the editor of one of the oldest national newspapers of India! In which moral system and when was justice decided by the street? If someone wins elections does it exonerate them? Mr. Mitra, is the state of journalism going down to this level in India? And since when did we start forgetting about injustices on the pretext of moving ahead? Should we have said the same to the Sikhs who were hounded in 1984? Should we have said the same to the utterly vulnerable Jews who were brutalized and killed in millions by the Nazis? That it will be all decided in the court of law and forget about it in the social aspect.
The Gujarat administration responded as it has mastered it. They took the channels who were reporting it off the air! What more can we expect from those who cannot let Parzania or Fanaa released? Its fascism, plain and simple.
On reading various posts on most popular internet forums one finds either of these six points of circumventing the issue. There is a denial to look it in the eye, acknowledge it and speak out against it. But simultaneously it is also heartening to find so many sane voices standing up and speaking out.
I take here a few paragraphs to comment on two stories by Offstumped on this matter because it very typically goes into the running around the issue mode.
Offstumped resorted to a conspiracy theory, and I felt let down after reading this type of response that we are having to the expose. He claims that Tehelka is ISI backed and this is another way by bringing out this story to radicalize the Muslim youth! What would you say about what Vir Sanghvi wrote way back in 2002 to that claim? I quote again ‘My point then, as now, was simple enough: let us first deal with the revelations and then worry about Tarun’s so-called backers’. Its good to have right of center, center, and left of center opinions until they highlight various facets to take us to the truth. But if any ‘opinion’ goes in rationalizing injustices it can be only called right of right and that has another name: extremism.
This type of top-down analysis where one starts with the conclusion and then tries to find pieces to fit that pre-conceived picture can never take to The Truth but only to My Perceived Truth. He writes ‘If this was about justice, Mr. Tejpal’s outfit would have done the responsible thing of presenting all the corroborating evidence to the Nanavati Commission first. By not doing so Mr. Tejpal’s motives remain highly suspect.’ Really? So that it would have become just another footnote of a 15-year commission report which would have gone under the dusty shelves of a bureaucratic department of an apathetic government. Heard about Sri Krishna report?
He further writes ‘Indian Muslims must stand up to lead this war on terror by taking steps to arrest the radicalization before it assumes cancerous proportions.’ Why all responsibility gets back to Indian Muslims? They are doing it and speaking out in various ways. Why not the same people who shout do their bit by taking this advice. Give space to the voices of Indian Muslims when they speak against radicalization instead of saying that why don’t they speak. Many are speaking but to listen you have to yourself stop speaking and listen to them. Secondly speak for them. Why are not the right leaning columnists questioning that Sri Krishna report be tabled? A Bal Thakerey shamelessly says that Mumbai will burn. Does the injustice radicalize people or bringing out the truth radicalize them?
He finally writes ‘Great fiction, good entertainment, politically not of much significance in a state like Gujarat which has shown in recent times that it would like to move on from 2002 and not reminded again of it. The Congress must be really worried about its prospects ……’ Does Gujarat not include its Muslims? How can you move on from 2002 if you cannot even acknowledge what happenned then? Why was Parzania banned in Gujarat? That was not 2002. Why is Aamir Khan banned in Gujarat? This is not 2002. Why were the channels showing the sting operation off air? This did not happen in 2002. Has Gujarat really moved on from 2002 or moving to 1002?’
But thank God India has the other side which overtakes this darker face. The Indian Express in its editorial titled ‘We have always known what Gujarat was all about. When will the BJP acknowledge it?’ has taken BJP to task.
On the IndianMuslims.in site the commenters have stated it as clearly as was needed. Girish wrote ‘Will our system deliver justice at least now, when so many of the conspirators and killers have confessed to their crimes on camera? And will their supporters wake up at least now and see what path we are headed towards if we continue to tolerate such people in our midst or worse still support them? I am sorry to say that I cannot convince myself that the answer to either question is a resounding ‘yes’’. Abhilash Shastry wrote ‘It is a shame on every one of us that such people are roaming free’. Vineeta Saxena wrote ‘This fellow Bajrangi is not a human being. He is a raakshasa and Modi is a Raavana.’ Harsh Gupta wrote ‘Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting people. A blot on Hinduism, on Indianness and on humanity. Disgusting people.’
It was heartening to read them and this is the face of my country that I look forward to.
Dear Mahesh,
For me the spirit of nationalism rises above everything else. I love my country and want to see it prosper in peace. You and I can do our bit to clear certain misconceptions that Hindus and Muslims have about each other.
I’m trying to do the same through my blog http://inamabidi.blogspot.com
Dear Sukhi & Triple,
The idea behind the letter was not the figures (recall the govt figures after Mulayam Singh ordered firing on the Kar Sevaks in Ayodhya) but the role of the government in the brutal killings. For me every single life lost in Gujarat during the episode was an Indian, and that itself was reason enough to express my concern.
As for Narendra Modi, he is just one face of terror. There are worse Muslims out there killing innocents in the name of Islam. I’ve more problems with them!
Narendra Modi and his cronies did a henious act and the Law must be severe on them notwithstanding the electoral outcome in Gujrat.Most of the Hindu community deplores these acts in the strongest terms.Who started this is obviously out of question.Human beings have been killed and the the perpetrators need to be punished with the most severest law of the Land.
Having said that I do agree with some of the comments made by Hindus on this site. I would love to see an article on this site denouncing the Henious acts carried out by Muslim radicals which in their intensity matches the ones that happened in Gujrat.Until you guys have the courage like Mahesh to own up your( dont mean this personally) mistakes and write about it , the spectre of Hindu Muslim unity in this country is far off.
Triple, I dont deserve hats off and star sign lets not ask for any justifications . We are not pure at least me. I have looked with Muslims for all problems in my country right from backwardness, uncleanliness, uneducation and now terrorism. I did have a past but many of us don’t and yet we do the same. I have asked all stupid questions and in the process must have given a million wounds to the hearts of fellow humans. We as Hindus question their patriotism. I was trying to also justify everything but for the first time I felt remorse because what Zartab said is truth. We only see the ones in our own that face misery but never the other side of story. Is it fair enough to even think that if someone has mistreated hindus we should mistreat muslims. Will my god judge me by what I do or what I have seen listened and done. Will he forgive me if I am wrong. Even mosques and dargahs are now terror targets and we rather than protect our fellow Indians are leaving them to die first from our suspicion and then alien forces. How different was I from? Inam you are right. If you are consciously correct then go ahead and God will be with you but dont wake the dead unneccesarily because then they will not let anyone live in peace. We have become a country of savage brutals. Hope we clean ourselves and become humans before we look anywhere else.
> Mirza, I take a lot of my words back. I have sounded a little immature
> based on my prejudices.
Mahesh, I highly appreciate your spirit.
Update: To further clarify that it has nothing to do with Hinduism here are the statements by two well known and respected Hindu spiritual leaders in this news piece “Religious leaders shocked at Tehelka revelations” http://in.news.yahoo.com/071027/43/6mhvj.html
“Sri Sri Ravishankar of the Art of Living Foundation strongly condemned the attitude and conduct of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Bajrang Dal and the Gujarat government in this regard.
Social reformer-activist Swami Agnivesh said that similar sting operations are needed to expose criminal activities of those who wield power and abuse the apparatus of the state in terrorising the citizens for political gains, citing the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 as an example.”
Mirza, I know. Probably my beliefs have questioned me and probably had I not written my second last message I would not have recognised what I am trying to become. How different is my radicalism from?Triple, I dont deserve hats off and star sign Please do not ask for justifications . We are not correct in doing so. We as Hindus question patriotism of our Muslim brothers and do not even think what we are doing? I was trying to also justify everything but for the first time I felt really bad because what Zartab said is truth. We only see the ones in our own that face misery but never the other side of story. Is it fair enough to even think that if someone has mistreated our own we should mistreat those that have done nothing wrong. Will my god judge me by what I do or what I have seen listened and done. Will he forgive me if I am wrong. Even mosques and dargahs are targets of terrorists but we don’t help our brothers who are infact facing double sword, suspicion from their own and danger. Last 2 days something has been changing inside me and i want this change to be with me. We as a nation have become brutal, savages filled with hatred for our fellow human beings least said our countrymen. Hope we clean ourselves and become humans before we look anywhere else. I just hope that this nation refuses to go extreme left/right. It should be the country that we can be proud of and live in safely.
Dear Mahesh,
This is exactly my point as well. If, for once, we all realise that the greatest religion in the world is religion of humanity, the world would be a better place to live in. I know I’m probably dreaming of a utopian society, but, it has to start somewhere.
Years back during the course of a visit to Rashtriya Sahara head office in Lucknow, I chanced upon a saying on the wall. I remember it by heart now:
JO HUA ACHCHA HUA
JO HO RAHA HAI ACHCHA HO RAHA HAI
JO HOGA WO BHI ACHCHA HOGA
TUMHARA KYA GAYA JO TUM ROTE HO
TUM KYA LAYE THE JO TUMNE KHO DIYA
TUMNE KYA PAIDA KIYA JO NASHT HO GAYA
TUMNE JO LIYA YAHA SE LIYA
JO DIYA YAHA PAR DIYA
JO AAJ TUMHARA HAI
KAL KISI AUR KA THA
PARSO AUR KA HO JAYEGA
PARIVARTAN SANSAR KA NIYAM HAI
———————————-”Geeta Saar”
Bring me a Muslim who doesn’t agree. It’s just that we carry so much (past) baggage with us that we tend to overlook the truth. And that is, the killers in Gujarat and Kashmir don’t belong to any religion. By killing innocent people they denied the very basis of religion.
I appreciate Inam, Mahesh, and Mirza’s sentiments, but sadly I think this is not true. The violence that is happenning is because of religion. In order to stop it we must change the dynamics of our religions.
Aniruddha said:
“The root cause of the problem from RSS point of view is the humiliation brought on bharat-mata by the invading foreigners for past 1000 years. And, the only befitting revenge is total decimation — if not physical, at least cultural — of all non-hindu communities from India.”
Aniruddha, I do not support RSS philosophy but I don’t think that even RSS wants to completely decimate non-hindus from India.
This is the testimony by Najid Hussain (son-in-law of MP Ahsan Jafri who was brutally killed in the Gujarat pogrom) that he gave in June 2002 http://coalitionagainstgenocide.org/reports/2002/uscirf.10jun2002.najid.pdf
Reading the incident of the shoe-polish man literally brought tears. Just Najid Hussain’s testimony tells that the government figures on number of people killed is a mockery. The closer number of those killed is 2000 as accounted by many independent groups and not the figures given by the government.
We want to see India as a super-power but still after two weeks even the ones who claimed what they did have not been arrested!!! Still we have Chandan Mitra and many others who are questioning the Tehelka expose and they have not said a word about what could be done as a response to the expose. When will we rise above this sectarian and political thinking and let the most basic level of morality and justice speak for itself once in a while as a nation?
Amit said:
“Aniruddha, I do not support RSS philosophy but I don’t think that even RSS wants to completely decimate non-hindus from India.”
Amit, please note that I wrote “total decimation – if not physical, at least cultural”. If you have any doubts, please read M.S. Golwalkar’s explanation of nationalism from “We or our nation defined” (Nagpur, Bharat Prakashan, pp 55-56):
“The non-Hindu population of Hindustan (India) must either adopt Hindu culture and language, must learn and respect and hold in reverence the Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but of those of glorification of the Hindu race and culture…in a word they must cease to be foreigners, or may stay in the country, wholly subordinated to the Hindu nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment – not even citizen’s rights.”
Amit, I have personally come in contact with people in RSS and their views about Muslims surprised me because they somewhere want to come closer to Muslims and our not against Islam. However, if you scratch them they do feel that all ills in this nation are because of muslims. People like Babu are not born all of a sudden but because of a process when you talk wrong against something always. You are right that Final solution was targeted against jews but people like Babu also feel thats the only path and therefore they should be punished.
Mahesh, I respect your feelings which you showed in the end but this logic is wrong that all scoundrels should go free if other scoundrels have. Infact I wish that all scoundrels get punished. Even those Kashmiri terrorists who killed Hindus in name of religion should be punished.
Mirza, Very well written article. Do you also send such articles to people like prime minister and home minister? Inspired by this artice I have written some letters to people in high office and one to Ex Prime minister Mr Vajpayee. I believe patience is the key. The issue with our system is that Justice is delivered very late and is dependant on political situations. This definitely brings impatience but there is a court high above us where there is always justice and I certainly believe in that court.
An article by J S Bandukwala on the sad affairs in the Gujarat polity “Glimmer in Dark Gujarat” http://www.indianexpress.com/story/238738._.html
What a fall. We are counting whether 2000 is more or 1999. To be human, we may be killing animals to feed ourselves, but to kill human is inhuman. There are brutes who feel that non-vegetarian food is in-human but they are the same who kill human beings just because the victims do not conform to their thoughts. Here the article of non-conformity is ‘religion’ or so the people want public to feel. Fascism has been raising its head in different configurations and skins since time immorial. What one should be sesiticed is to the fact that Human life is of prime importance and those who walk on this planet in the form of two-legged animal called ‘human’ are animals till they get rid of their ‘animal instints’. Even an animal reared as pet will behave humanley. There are examples galore. Please do try to read the ‘biography’ of Prophets and try to emulate them. You may hate the people who claim to be following the Prophet.
A different take on Gujrat by Gurucharan Das:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Columnists/Gurcharan_Das/Struggle_for_Gujarats_soul/rssarticleshow/2549014.cms