by Mustafa Khan
In her new book Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up, Rana Ayub calls the genocide in Gujarat 2002 as the “cold political bloodbath”. Narendra Modi and the state machinery under him carried out the genocide calculated to achieve a political purpose. So rich was the result that Modi and his BJP milked the holy cow of the ballot box for more than a decade. And he is doing it even now and on a much larger scale internationally. The recent speeches of Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid, Shehla Rashid and others show that now more than ever before the knowledge of the full extent is breaking new grounds of learning.
Rana herself comes out with greater detail in her book in which she shows how even the Haren Pandya murder case was a fake encounter. Who stood to gain from it was of course the one responsible for it. Pandya's widow Jagruity's realisation of the fact came later but her father-in-law Vithal knew it as a political assassination. What is new learning in this is that there is need to put an end to this kind of crimes committed most cynically for the hidden agenda of not just Hindutva but also the personal ego (of Modi). There is a long history of the cussed exploitation of religion for personal and party gains in which the interest of India, representing the majority of the people, is sacrificed.
After years of soul-searching the preparation of a bill for the prevention of communally targeted violence was dropped by Parliament because the Hindu party, the BJP, did not accept the definition of minority. Perhaps they would have been overjoyed by the target group as majority and a victim of communal violence. But that would have been like showing a candle to the sun. But more time passed and the need to protect the minorities which suffer the most grew tenfold. It is but natural that those who suffer most in communal violence including caste atrocities are the poor and weaker sections of the society. Another justificatory realisation is that the Modi Government fought the elections and won 31 per cent for the development of the country. Again, the poor and weak were left out of development even after two years in power. So the second anniversary of Modi sarkar coincides with this realisation and none other than Kanhaiya Kumar, Umer Khalid, Shehla Rashid realised it. What is more, they articulated it and they were on the stage and managed the agenda of announcing it. The audience had the time and patience to let the importance of it sink in their minds.
They gave their idea of what India they want to be in the future. The idea of India they have is inclusive and majoritarian. Hindutva was also majoritarian but exclusive and upper-caste based. It left out the oppressed and the poor, namely, the Dalits and Muslims. If the oppressed and suppressed have suffered then it is their turn now as they are the majority of the country. “Because only after our stories are heard,” said Kumar, “in the wake of the attacks that have happened on us, we will realise what we must add to the idea of India.”
“On the basis of what is happening in the country, we can say with certainty that bourgeois democracy is in danger in this country, and there is no sign of socialist democracy.”
Having in mind Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech during the World Culture Festival in India, Kumar said: “There can be two ideas of India, either ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' or the idea that India must be the most powerful country in the world. The current government supports the second idea and so they are buying planes and tanks worth Rs 6000 crores. We reject this idea of India. We want the idea of India that begins with ‘We, the people of India'.”
“RSS and BJP are not against the minority, they are against the majority, because the majority belongs to the poor, backward and Dalit communities.”
Having always uttered the platitude umpteen times, that the whole world is a family and therefore Hinduism is the universe, the Right-wing Hindu extremists failed to see the naked truth that they have always looked askance at the minorities, particularly the Muslims and the Dalits. They presumptuously ignore them and carry on their fixed routines of anti-Muslim and Dalit work. This self-induced delusion needs the prick of a pin to burst it. “If Modi is a tiger, then put him in a jungle or keep him in a zoo, if you don't do it, then we will do it. That is our commitment. I have been campaigning all over the country and our biggest victory has been that we have received the most support from Dalit and Muslim communities.“1
That kind of support is what Modi had destroyed when he roped in the Charra and Dalit communities in 2002 to kill Muslims. That was also true of Lt Col Prasad Purohit, Dr R.P. Singh and the anonymous man from the Yamuna river habitation who had roped in the Valmikis to kill Muslims. Tehelka had covered the former in its November 2007 issue and Hemant Karkare had retrieved details of the latter from the laptops of Purohit and Dyanand Pandey. Such is the prerogative of the ruling classes that the courts in India do not entertain them as of any evidentiary value. How effete is the system that the Hindutva forces used the same techniques to replicate the genocide in Muzaffarnagar to reap a bumper crop in the 2014 elections and still got away. Many people know why and how Haren Pandya had crossed Modi by not vacating his constituency for the Chief Minister and how he had revealed the substance of Modi's instructing the police not to come in the way of the Hindus who would wreak havoc on the three days of February 28 to March 2, 2002. All these were ‘political bloodbaths'. It's time to stop all these for the reawakening of learning is too dazzling for the eyes to close. In the meantime the conspiracy of silence of the likes of L.K. Advani deepens. He had demanded change of investigators as far as Pragya Singh Thakur was concerned, but is mum over Haren Pandya's widow's wailing and beseeching for justice.
FOOTNOTE