Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of peace and harmony between communities now lies in ashes in his home state of Gujarat, India. The savage rioting began in late February and still claims lives. It is linked to the determination of Hindus to build a temple on the site of the demolished mosque in Ayodhya, an event that took place 10 years ago and cost thousands of lives then. This time the violence was of a particularly virulent nature.
Take the case of Ahsan Jafri. A loyal member of the Congress party, he had worked hard as member of Parliament to reinforce India’s secular position. But he was a Muslim. That was enough for the Hindu mob, 10,000 strong, to break into Jafri’s house in the middle of the afternoon, beat him senseless, pour kerosene everywhere, set the house on fire, and then carry him into the streets. No one is sure whether Jafri was still alive at the point when the mob poured paraffin on him and set him ablaze. The mob then returned to the house, pulled out the rest of Jafri’s family, including two small boys, and burned them to death.
Another group of Hindus turned the town’s small brick mosque into a pile of rubble. Yet another mob burned the Muslim-owned Moti Mahal Hotel. Others went looking for any signs of Islamic symbols. Not even cemeteries were spared.
The savagery was not restricted to one town. It is estimated — and figures for such violence are always estimates — that about 1,000 people have been killed so far. The police kept to their traditional behavior: Turning up too late and doing too little.
There was no remorse on the part of the perpetrators: “Muslims started the problem,” said several Hindus in media interviews. “They should all leave India and live in Pakistan.” The more aggressive Hindus chanted the slogan of the extremist religious parties: “For the Muslims, there is either the ‘qabaristan’ (the cemetery) or Pakistan.”
The violent aggressors overlooked the deep challenge their acts of inhumanity pose to both India’s idea of itself as a modern, secular, liberal state and Hinduism. The definition of Hinduism as compassionate and tolerant was itself breaking down.
The rioting was triggered in Godhra, Gujarat as Hindus returned from Ayodhya chanting slogans praising Ram, a Hindu mythological character. Ram in Hindu mythology is a heroic and noble figure embodying the virtues of bravery, generosity and compassion. He vanquished Ravana, the symbol of evil. Ram Raj or the Rule of Raj meant a time of justice and prosperity.
The idea of Ram Raj was central to Gandhi’s political vision. Ram’s mythological ideal of a golden age helped Gandhi convert the notion of Hinduism from culture to politics and from private belief to public policy.
Not all Indian leaders supported Gandhi’s evocation of Ram in modern politics. Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, was uncomfortable. He supported the idea of secularism and criticized Gandhi’s propagation of the ideology of Ram Raj.
“I used to be troubled sometimes at the growth of this religious element in our politics, both on the Hindu and the Muslim side... Even some of Gandhiji’s phrases sometimes jarred upon me,” Nehru complained in his autobiography.
In the end Gandhi was devoured by the very forces he had encouraged. He was shot dead by Nathuram Godse, a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, an extremist Hindu group whom Gandhi had compared to “Hitler’s Nazis.”
Godse shot Gandhi because he believed Gandhi was too soft on the Muslims. When shot, Gandhi’s last words were “Hey Ram.” Godse was killing Gandhi in the name of Ram; and in his death, Gandhi invoked Ram to call forth the ideals of nobility, compassion and benevolence.
It is a sobering fact to keep in mind that in this very land Gandhi began his prayer meetings by reading from the holy books of Islam, Christianity and Hinduism; that he fasted to prevent communal clashes.
In time, Gandhi’s greatness would be acknowledged throughout the land, but his critics would also become more brazen. Gandhi was abused in a television interview in 1995.
The current battle is aimed at capturing the soul of modern India. That is why it is so hotly contested. Unfortunately the battle spills into the persecution of the minorities and the less privileged — those who Gandhi fought for and those who inspired him the most.
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(Professor Akbar S. Ahmed is the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies and Professor of International Relations at American University in Washington, D.C. His most recent book is “Islam Today: A Short Introduction to the Muslim World,” published by I.B. Tauris.)
