Gujarat was once famous as the seat of the world’s best-known peace activist and the biggest proponent of Hindu-Muslim amity, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Sadly, today the name brings to mind images of charred bodies, burned mosques and wailing people. The communal flare-up which began on Wednesday has already taken over 800 lives, left thousands injured and caused property damage amounting to millions of dollars.
The widespread violence followed the torching of a train in which 58 people, many of them Hindu activists, were burned to death. The barbaric and brutal attack on the train at Godhra has outraged everyone of sense. All peace loving people must condemn this criminal act without reservation. It was a crime against humanity and immediate action against those responsible should be taken.
At the same time, however, people are puzzled about how a supposedly Muslim mob in Godhra learned that on the Sabarmati Express a number of Hindu activists were returning from Ayodhya. This mob had such accurate information that only compartments containing Hindu activists were attacked. Why in the first place had the local authorities allowed a mob to assemble at the station? Why were no steps taken to stop the mob? The judicial inquiry announced by the government into the Godhra tragedy must reveal the truth in order to dispel doubts and suspicions in the minds of Muslims everywhere.
The tragic events could have been anticipated and contained by effective preventive measures. Despite the imposition of a curfew, rampaging Hindu mobs burned houses, mosques and shops in many parts of the state. Television footage showed a disabled state administration with the government for all intents and purposes paralyzed. In other words, the rioters effectively took the law into their own hands.
The central government in Delhi has come under sharp attack from both political parties and the media for its delayed response to the carnage in Gujarat.
With the media unequivocally viewing the mass murders as a replay of the 1992 Bombay riots when the army was not called in until hundreds of Muslims had been massacred, the government’s casual response has raised some very serious questions.
On Thursday, when mobs went on killing sprees, the police were reportedly on stand-by but the BJP-ruled state failed to take action. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi maintained that the situation was under control even though the state police did nothing to bring the situation under control. Media reports have ridiculed the delayed response as deliberate, in order to allow the mob to take out its rage on the Muslim community.
These reports have forced Muslims to draw the conclusion that the state government allowed the fire to spread through criminal negligence. Now the fear is that the fire might spread to other parts of the country.
The opposition Congress party has called the communal flare-up in the communally sensitive state “state-sponsored terrorism against Muslims.” A large section of the Muslim community too feels what followed the Godhra tragedy was nothing less than state-sponsored terrorism. The Gujarat Congress chief has correctly said, “The entire administration had collapsed with miscreants and hooligans taking control of almost all the major cities in the state and systematically liquidating members of the minority community.” Based on what we have seen on TV, we cannot dispute his words. The entire police force seems to have done nothing in response to the tragedy except to look on. The police, by taking no action, thus supported the criminals.
There is no doubt that the state government failed to check the violence. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s central government also failed to stop Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) activists who were the organizers of the anti-Muslim frenzy.
It is high time that violence carried on with state patronage be stopped. In order for this to happen, all sections of society must come forward and unite to stop the murderous cycle of reprisals and counter-reprisals. In communal riots who are the victims? Only the innocent — never the murderers themselves.
A senior Congress party leader has alleged: “The BJP-VHP-RSS have provoked the riots because they are upset at the BJP’s humiliating defeat in assembly elections.” If this is true, we should not be surprised if the whole country is soon aflame with communal fire.
The statements by the government have only served to aggravate the sense of alienation and helplessness among Muslims. Gujarat chief minister’s assertion that the violence was a natural Hindu reaction to the train attack has only added to Muslim suspicion and anger. It becomes increasingly clear that politics is behind it all.
