Please go to vote! And choose between the devil and the deep blue sea…

Feeling a bit handicapped to write without ‘research’ on a topic that ignited me at a time when I don’t have an internet connection, but there is happiness in this handicap as I wouldn’t have written at all if I was to wear the research cap. So the write up may suffer from lack of numerical facts, but yes! The heart is there, numbers I may add later…

The ignition came from watching Aamir Khan being interviewed, who being himself was slyly promoting his new venture (a television series) while continuously protesting he is not. Mid way in the interview, the enthusiastic interviewer referred to Aamir supporting Anna Hazare in his high staged crusade against corruption; Aamir affirmed the support but went on to say that the proposed bill can’t be beyond the purview of the parliament. He said in the democratic political system the politicians are our representatives, who are supposed to represent us and make policies for our betterment, but, he said if they don’t, we don’t vote for them the next elections. The ‘I practice what I preach’ Aamir further said that he has written letters to Priya Dutt the representative of his constituency i.e. south Mumbai and also has written to the prime minister about the issue of corruption and on why the bill should be introduced. He reiterated if they don’t act “don’t vote for them again!”. “That’s the power of Democracy. And for the power to be exercised all of us should vote and the problem arises when people don’t go to vote” he declared. Ah there it came, how many times have we heard “if you don’t vote, you have no rights to complain”, “if you feel things are wrong, Why don’t you join politics? Why don’t you fight elections, India is a democratic country…” and ya “Jago re!” 

Choice a powerful word, a profound word, a word that has amused economists, marketers, psychologists, neuro scientists, social scientists all alike, sounds like a joke when contextually placed in this argument of Indian political democracy. Let me clarify before the lips twist and one questions “so what don’t vote!!?” I am not against the process, its symbolic and powerful (when we have real options). I am defiantly against planning a long weekend by combining the vote day holiday with a Saturday Sunday and packing off to Lonavala. But what I attempt to do here is seek an answer to how voting leads to betterment and question do we really have a choice (read power)?

Come voting day I am all set to contribute my part to the democracy, get the coveted mark on my finger. Now lets contemplate on the question I posed earlier – do we really have a choice? Ya you just thought BJP and Congress or may be the all engulfing and messier NDA and UPA. Correct me if I am wrong when I mockingly juxtapose this to choice between death by a bullet or death by poison. Is that a real choice? Let me put down some instances to prove there is none – 

1994, it was clear under the implementation of the Oxford borrowed Manmoahnomics that India will sign the disastrous WTO agreement, which had suicidal clauses like compulsory imports, reduction in agricultural subsidies, product patents and much more. The party of Baharat’s janata sprung into action, protested vociferously and declared 1st January 1995 the day we signed the agreement as black day and vowed to demolish the agreement. Year 1998 the BJP comes to power, completes the whole term till 2004, it takes pleasure in announcing that they continued the process of reforms and continued the implementation of WTO … whatever happened to ‘vow’. The options that we have to make the choice don’t really decide on matters of national importance, and for the ones who decide, we don’t select them, so where’s the choice?

It’s a national disgrace that the country’s second largest political party’s USP is its caste inclination and building a RAM temple at Ayodhya features high on its agenda after demolishing a mosque that stood there for 465 years. A party that architected, supported, instigated and allowed riots after riots – Babri Masjid demolition, Mumbai riots, Gujarat 2002… the list is long. The ‘instigate-riot-yatra-election-win’ is a vintage right wing strategy. Here we have a choice – or do we? – consider this if you think we have – the 1984 sikh riots, the inability to control the right wingers that lead to the demolition of Babri Masjid, the constant corporate appeasing policies which lead to making Naxals out of the tribals and an array of scams will again strike out the option out of the choice.

Here is a classic to aid the choice argument – the Salwa Judum in Chhattisgarh – is a group of civilian tribals trained and empowered by the state – as militant group to fight the Naxals, the leaders of this group called the SPOs (Special Police Officers) were equipped with firearms and other artilleries. Year 2005 when this was initiated it was sphere headed by Mahendra Karma, a local congress MLA and the ruling party then was the BJP. Come 2011 the Supreme court declares the Salwa Judum illegal and directs states to stop training civilians as militants with immediate effect…. Why? When this initiative was supported by both the parties – P Chidambaram (Congress) praised the SPOs in fighting the Naxals and Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh from BJP said that the Salwa Judum is the answer to reduce the Naxal menace in the state; why was the Apex court so vehemently against it. Here is why – since 2005 the Salwa Judum burned or evacuated 644 villages, forced 300000 people to flee their homes, killed and raped at will. Many of the tribals labelled SPOs were minor who were handed guns. Now will anyone help me with a choice?

The 15th Loksabha elections held in 2009 saw 150 MPs with criminal records, out of which 73 were charged with serious crimes like rape and murder. This number was almost 20% higher than the last general elections in 2004 when the number was 128. And here comes the choice – 42 of these 150 belonged to the BJP and 41 to the Congress. There were constituencies where the voters had to decide which is better among – 2 rapes and 1 murder or 2 murders and 1 rape!

After the “if you don’t vote, don’t complain” argument comes the “why don’t you join politics” rant. Yes we can, but there are serious issues – let the number speak – 2009 elections all the independents put together accounted only for a meagre 5.19%. Lok Paritran Party – sounds familiar right? Heard somewhere kind of a feeling? This is the party formed by 6 IITians to ‘clean’ Indian politics, to ‘do’ and not just complain. They fought for 7 constituencies from Tamil Nadu in 2006 – and lost. 2007 – The skirmishes within the party lead to a split and Bharat Punanirman Dal was formed. “The split is unfortunate and a POLITICAL CONSPIRACY” said of the founders. The two parties remained at loggerheads for some time and now all they are left with is an unupdated website and a further search stop at them being ‘non-existent’.

The logic of ‘Pepsi sales are exponentially higher than the much healthier coconut water’ comes to play here. Let me explain – Pepsi invests billions of dollars into advertising and takes over any company that starts doing well in that space. Now consider this – the NDA (BJP lead coalition) spend 500 crores of public money during the 2004 elections on advertisements – remember the India Shining TV ads – at time when India was sinning with 17,500 framer suicides every year from 2002-2006. Then the election commission laid strict rules for political advertising. This didn’t deter the parties – 2009 UPA (Congress lead coalition) purchases the rights of the Oscar wining film’s song Jai Ho… Money still left but the election commission scrutiny leads to a solution – Surrogate advertising. A strategy used by the liquor and cigarette companies who are not allowed to advertise and so they camouflage under the guise of advertising products like – soda (McDowells), Music CDs (Bacardi) and packaged drinking water (Kingfisher). Our politicians version of this strategy was the much dangerous ‘Paid News’ unofficial figures claim this nexus between politicians and media owners to be anywhere between 800-1000 crores during the 2009 elections with major contributions from the 2 largest coalitions of the country.

One more fundamental question as pointed out by Nobel Prize Winner for Game Theory Robert Owman – Are we really representing the choice of the voters? Let’s do the math – during the 2009 elections the UPA won 37.22% seats, let’s say 38% of voters voted for the UPA; another way of looking at this will be to say - there were a good 62% voters saying they don’t want UPA in power. Now which of the two is in majority?

Wikipedia defines Choice as a mental process of judging the merits of multiple options and selecting one of them. Yes it says ‘Merits’. A necessary precondition for choice is option and for option it is entities with meaningful difference and not the difference between the devil and the deep blue sea… And for the passion personified Aamir – I wish to ask if DJ and his Bhagat Singh inspired group from Rang De Basanti wouldn’t have killed the corrupt minister and kept voting till the time a non corrupt, pro-people party would come to power or did a Lok Paritran themselves would Caption Rathod and his mother ever get justice?

Identity Cry-sis

The difference between the words, ‘Fundamentals’ and ‘Fundamentalism’ doesn’t only lay in their grammar; Fundamentals mean – principles from which other truth can be derived, the pillars of a system of belief; while the later is considering only those to be the truth and nothing else leading to Blasphemy.

Close your eyes for a moment and observe the images, you imagine when you encounter the word ‘Hinduism’, if the images incite the figures of a insidious ‘Ram’ about to shoot a violent arrow with his bow, do the images color the darkness saffron, do the images of trishul, yagna, fire, swords and the likes congest your mind… An affirmation proves the stigmatized presence of our very own home grown terrorists called ‘Hindu Fundamentalists’ – well it’s a sad phrase ‘Hindu Fundamentalists’ sounds like ‘weapons of peace’ that Bush keeps referring to justify the hatred and the cycle of violence that result from weapons.

Referring to the differences I mentioned earlier – Hinduism has fundamentals but can’t produce fundamentalists. So the people acting as one, barge to achieve not the essence of ‘Hinduism’ but the dangerous, belligerent and hollow political ends.

These species of Hindu fundamentalist were at their best…err...at their worst just 7 years ago during the aftermath of the ‘Godhra’ incident on 27^th Feb’ 2002. A small, seemingly unrelated incident reminded me of the horrors of the vandalizing event. The below write up will entail the incident and will act as an alcove (meaning a small opening leading to a larger room) to recreate the horrifying incident.

Well I will be accused of representing, reliving the gory images which are better forgotten. As Nitin Gadhiyar an Ad man who was part of the team which coined the phrase ‘Jeetega Gujarat’ for Modi’s 2007 election campaigns, Justifying the tag line said “It was time to forget the dirty past and concentrate on the present i.e. of resurgent Gujarat and build a future”

But as the incident small and seemingly unrelated I encountered testifies my phrase, my tag line ‘Lest we forget’

Identity Cry-sis

The glass table top almost cracked with the thump of the fist. The Map of India spread between the wooden table and the glass table top, and the 100 Rupee currency notes with Mahatma Gandhi’s photo crumpled in that thumping fist seemed profoundly symbolic. Very contrary to the meaning of his name ‘Nishant’ (meaning the end of night, a new beginning), a well built man, presumably a Gujarati from Ahmadabad displayed his ferocity in an otherwise simple transaction of buying a ticket to Ahmadabad over the counter at a tours and travels desk at Borivali.

The dealer habitually scribbled the details on the ticked, a formality which also required the passenger’s name. The dealer still facing downwards asked “Naam?” the man replied “Nishant” which was hardly audible amidst the chaotic noises that emerged out of the unending traffic, the dealer repeated as if confirming, Nizaam?. The chaffing process might have started there itself but dint quite reflect in the voice, though with the irritation which could be easily mistaken for the one which results out of repeating, he replied “Nishant?” The dealer now filling the name column said aloud while simultaneously filling – “Nizaam”. When this word (which he believed to be derogatory) was directed towards him for the second time Nishant lost it, the calmness that he pretended to wear vanished at once, he started breathing heavy, his blood started curdling. He animatedly took out the money, the otherwise gentle hold was now a fist; thumping the fist on the table handing over the money, made bigotic a statement almost shouting – “Mein Nizaam jaisa dikhta hoon kya??” A chill ran down my spine hearing the statement, as Nishant violently pulled the ticket, took out his pen, killed the name ‘Nizaam’ and over wrote ‘NISHANT’ with bold and pressing alphabets.

This whole incident shook me up as I was waiting for my bus to Pune and the following 5 hours of my journey were spent pondering, analyzing the incident which left me amused and ashamed.

Nishant’s destination and demeanor reminded me of one of the darkest blot on the secular Indian soil after the partition on communal grounds – Gujarat 2002 carnage ‘The Godhra Aftermath’.

Nishant seemed as if he just arrived after hearing and feeling Pravin Togadia’s venomous speech in his stentorian voice amidst thundering applause from the audience from the Nishants –

Pravin Togadia, General Secretary, VHP –

“The plan was to burn the whole train but the karsevaks resisted,

Terror unleashed at Godhra station because this country follows Gandhi…

We locked Gandhi (justifying the riots thereafter) on 28^th Feb,

Reform yourselves (addressing the Muslims) or else we will forget Gandhi forever,

Till the time Gandhi’s policies of non – violence, kneeling before Muslim terrorism cannot be over-thrown.

Bhaiyon we have to abandon Gandhi”

Thundering applause by 10s of thousands present.

“On 27^th morning 7:45 at signal falia the burnt S6 coach was Hanuman’s tail on fire by Ravan, so Hanuman came to Godhra, Halol, Sardar Peth and stay put in Karnavati (Ahmadabad).”

Spewing communal venom against minorities, shouting to foment polarization, shouting at his loudest voice possible over the mic surrounded by computer made image of the burnt S6 coach of Sabarmati express. A shout that will smother all your senses – and the ignorant masses who were already engulfed by the blasphemous ideology of ‘Hindutva’ and not ‘Hinduism’.

“Every reaction has an equal and opposite reaction” – said Narendra Modi to virtually justify the Hindu hooligans destroying lives, property, dignity, faith and humanity (Reaction) in the wake of the Action i.e. the burning of the S6 coach.

Let’s list the series of happenings and unveil this blatant lies if this statement per se is insufficient to call the CM a bigot and the incident a state sponsored genocide.

27^th Feb’2002 – 7:30 am to 8:30 am – coach S6 of Sabarmati express burnt, killing 59 Hindus most of them karsevaks (a group of people advocating to build a Ram temple on the demolished Babri Masjid site at Ayodhya) returning from a ceremony called ‘Purnahuti Maha Yagna’ (completion ceremony) convened by the VHP.

The ‘Justice Nanavati Shah Commission’ about which a hullabaloo was created by Narendra Modi that was tabled in the assembly on 25^th Sept’2008 stated:

· The burning was a pre – planned conspiracy, not a spontaneous act of mob fury.

· Master minded by Maulvi Umarji.

· S6 was burned by 140 liters of petrol powered by 3 accused – Jabir Behra, Rajjak Kurkur and Salim Panwala.

· It gives a clean chit to Narendra Modi

· And the best among all the jokes – ‘There is no evidence of a lapse in providing protection, relief and rehabilitation to the victims of the communal riots”.

Vis – a – Vis Tehelka’s (a weekly magazine) exhaustive investigation in 2007 on Godhra incident and the communal program the followed pieces together in great detail the way in which police manufactured evidence to prove a Muslim conspiracy.

• Jabir Behra – who named Maulvi Umargi later retracted his statement
• Another religious head Yakub Punjabi accused for initiating the mob at Godhra station that morning and previous was not even in the country that day!
• The police case relied heavily on the testimonies of 2 prime witnesses – petrol pump salesmen – Ranjit Singh Patel and Prabhat Singh Patel, who first said that they did not sell any loose petrol either on the day of the incident or a day before. Later changed their statements saying they sold 140 liters of Petrol.
• Unknowingly when caught on the camera Ranjit Singh Patel said “Noel sahib gave me 50,000 rupees showed me a photograph and said I had to identify him”. Noel Parmar chief investigating officer.
• MALAFIDE COLLUSION ‐ The police case and conspiracy argument is built on the testimonies of nine BJP “eye‐witnesses”, some of them important party functionaries. Between them, these nine men jointly “identified” 41 Muslims from Godhra town as being part of the mob. They also claimed to have seen the assembling of the mob, the sharp‐edged weapons and inflammable material it was carrying, and the actual setting of the fire itself. Curiously, all nine statements were absolutely identical.

Among these nine BJP “eye‐witnesses” were Kakul Pathak and Murli Mulchandani. At the time of the investigation, Kakul Pathak was the convenor of the media cell in Godhra and its Taluka Pancjayat delegate. Murli Mulchandani was the Vice‐President of the Godhra Municipal Council.

Kakul told Tehelka - “The police gave all the names,” he said, “None of the eye witnesses wrote their statements. The police did.”

Murli Mulchandani told Tehelka:- “I wasn’t at the station that morning, I was sleeping at home. But the police put my name among the eye witnesses.” He too said that he went along with this lie happily because he could not betray the Hindutva cause.

• COERCION ‐ The police case also relied on the accounts of two Muslim hawkers – Illias Hussain and Anwar Kalandar, who claimed they had turned the discs and stopped the Sabarmati Express from inside to abet the arson. Both have since retracted their statements by filing affidavits in the Supreme Court. ‐‐ Illias also told Tehelka that they were illegally detained for two weeks and tortured by chief investigating officer, Noel Parmar. “Every night the cops would come and put a log of wood on my legs and then walk over it”. Kalandhar said, “I was given electric shocks on my genitals.” Both claim they were made to memorise statements handed to them by the police.
• Credibility of Justice Nanavati and Justice Shah - Arvind Pandya, the special public prosecutor appointed by the Narendra Modi government to defend it before the Nanavati–Shah Commission, was caught on hidden camera, boasting about Narendra Modi’s collusion in the riots, as well as other judges’ sympathy towards the riot accused he was defending. Among other things, Pandya told Tehleka that during the riots Modi had given oral instructions to the police “to be with Hindus.” (This has been corroborated by several affidavits filed by ADGP, Intelligence, RB Sreekumar in the Nanavati Commission itself. Several other BJP / VHP / Bajrang Dal functionaries also spoke openly to the Tehelka undercover reporter about the Chief Minister, police and state’s collusion in the riots.) Pandya goes on to say he personally believed the mass killing of Muslims in Gujarat should be celebrated every year as “victory day”.

Excerpt from the conversation:

Tehelka: So is Nanavati absolutely against you people?

Pandya: Nanavati is a clever man… He wants money… Of the two judges, KG Shah is intelligent – who apna wala hai (he is our man)… he is sympathetic to us… Nanavati is after money…

If this was dangerous what follows is horrifying.

For the first time, the investigation brings confirmation that the Gujarat murder of Muslims was not a spontaneous swell of anger, but a planned genocide strategised and executed by top functionaries of the RSS, the VHP, the Bajrang Dal and the state authorities, with the knowledge and sanction of Chief Minister Narendra Modi. What follows is straight from the horses mouth –

• BABU BAJRANGI (Bajrang Dal leader) - reveals he collected 23 revolvers from Hindus in Naroda Patiya. He called VHP general secretary Jaideep Patel 11 times and informed Gordhan Zadaphia, the then minister of state for home, about the death toll.
• HARESH BHATT - who was the Bajrang Dal rashtriya sah sanyojak in 2002 and is now the BJP MLA from Godhra, till the riots a Congress stronghold, made a never-before admission that bombs were made at a firecracker factory he owned. He describes how they assembled country-made explosives, including rocket launchers. These were then distributed to murderous mobs in Ahmedabad.

Despite curfew in Ahmedabad, swords were brought in from Punjab and country pistols from UP, Bihar and MP. Bhatt boasts that none of these states were under BJP rule then. The consignment of arms crossed the borders not once but many times. “There were tens and tens of them,” Bhatt reveals.

In an unrelated but crucial disclosure, Bhatt says that he trained 40 young men who then went on to demolish the Babri Masjid in December 1992. He trained them like the army does, and ran obstacle courses for them and taught them how to climb a 30-ft rope. The camp still exists in Ahmadabad.

• POLICE COMMISSIONER PC Pandey - (recently removed from the post of Gujarat DGP by the Election Commission) ordered that the 700-800 dead bodies at Naroda Patiya be clandestinely picked up and dumped all over Ahmedabad to reduce the toll of the massacre
• INSPECTOR KG ERDA - told the mob gathered outside the Gulbarg society it had three hours to do its work. The mob went berserk. One man was hacked to death in front of Erda

Erda told VHP workers to set fire to a vehicle carrying Muslims. He said that the police constable accompanying the vehicle would run away. “The whole episode will end here itself and there will be no question of framing a case against anyone,” he said.

• MODI - Not only did the Modi government allow the mob fury to continue unabated, it also tried to shelter the perpetrators from the law. Modi himself arranged for Babu Bajrangi, the prime accused in the Naroda Patiya case, to stay at Gujarat Bhavan in Mount Abu, and transferred two judges to help Bajrangi get bail.

Newton’s 3^rd Law anyone??

That was for the action and reaction, proving the converse true i.e. Godhra being a spontaneous act of violence and the aftermath a conspiracy.

It’s sad that a nihilistic political party was recognized as one and is still operational who openly endorses cast politics and openly claim to be wanting Hindu votes. And if that is what it wants it can be done in two ways; well it’s like if an athlete wants to win he/she can do so by running the fastest or win by intentionally injuring the others. So the party of so called ‘Bharat’s Janta’, BJP – Bhartiya Janata Party (with its founders, forefathers and mentors belonging to institutions as extreme and bigotic as the RSS, VHP and group of lumpens called the Bajrang Dal) can either collect their votes by working and achieving betterment of Hindus or the other egregious side – debunking the other castes - and you don’t need to be a stalwart political analyst or a social worker to state that latter is the fact.

The BJP tasted blood when it first started the Ramjanma Bhoomi movement, took out processions to collect the ‘worshipped brick’ followed by a series of riots every year starting from 1980 – 1989 – The Muradabad riots (1980), Bihar Sharif (1981), Baroda Meerut riots (1982), Nelllin Assam riots where 3000 Bengali Muslims were killed, 1984 – Bombay Bhiwandi – Sikh riots, 1985 – 86 Ahmadabad riots, 1989 – Bhagalpur riots.

All this resulting in the rise of BJP evident from seat figures of 2 in 1988 to 84 in 1989. So here was bestial formula for instant success – feed a state with communal hatred and strengthen your political position. This strategy was flawlessly implemented in Gujarat under the leadership of Shree Narendra Damdodardas Modi, no doubts he is called an excellent organizer and erudite implementer.

So when the BJP lost in UP, Punjab (with Akalis), Uttaranchal and Gujarat panchayati elections - it went into ‘win at any cost’ mode, when along with this BJP strongholds it lost bi – elections, in 2 assembly elections to congress on the grounds of corruption and agrarian crisis, the time was right to hit, the time was right to injure others to win the race.

The stage was set, everything in place – waiting for the provocation, that one provocation that can be used as a justification for the carnage or might as well create a provocation – it’s like punching the ‘Hit – me’ doll and ripping it apart when it obviously bounces back.

The army of men or an army of hate mentality was set up through a systematic process, the army of men fully loaded to fight at single command from their leaders. Lets analyze how in a common man, a Hindu gujarati Nishant the psychology of hate is installed by the least common denominator of caste and religion of a more God, of a partition God.

It starts young with Bajrang Dal camps held periodically for Hindus aged 14 – 35 years, where they are thought Judo Karate, leap through fire rings, lessons about different stages of war; even more damaging sessions on awakening patriotic duties – where they are said “Be weary of five Ms – Muslims, Missionaries, Marxists, Lord Mc Caulay, foreign media and Maino (Sonia’s middle name). Revolutionary songs – ‘Hindu ke hit par janamu, Hindu ke hit par mar jaaun’ ‘Shastro mao jayate’ (long live arms) all this cascaded to chants of ‘Ram Ram chilayenge, mulle kaate jayenge’ –

As the Guru asked in presence of 100 young boys “How we will remove Muslims?” – the boys said in unison “We will cut them apart”. All this in the name of Bhartiya Sanskriti – why all this?? “We prepare people to fight on the ground when the need arises” answers Shailendra Jaiswal, Bajrang Dal Delhi Co – convener.

The outcome is instant and long lasting which is clearly evident from the conversion of innocence into hatred of Sandeep Yadav, 15 year old, son of a garment shop owner in Delhi undertaking the training,

With a saffron colored bandana with Bajrang Dal boldly written, a RSS inspired shorts, with a back print of Bajrang Dal, below it image of a trishul the violent logo of a lumpen organization, with an expression of avenge that he learnt to put in a weeks camp in Delhi - says the orange bring motivation and sense of belonging, “It charges me up to fight”, for what?, “to protect Bharat Mata” from whom?, “The English, the Australians, the Muslims” the 15 year old further states “Hindu girls should not wear sleeveless clothes, and if a Hindu girl marries a Muslim her head should be chopped off and the Muslim man’s too”.

Young impressionable minds sculpted with the clay of hatred. Thrusting an identity at an age where you don’t even understand its meaning. Sowing seeds for the next generation of Togadias, Modis, Prahlad Shastris, Babu Bajrangis…

These youngsters will then be consumed as a part of the Bajrang Dal and after the first dents have been made throughout the year, other camps with the larger mentor organization will give the young ones a chance to hone ‘intellectual concepts’ – the likes of

• Acharya Dharmendra – will say “Prove that Gujaratis doesn’t only mean chai, gathiya or song and garba”, “Jo hamare Ram ka nahi, woh kisi kaam ka nahin”, “Jo Hindu heet ka kaam karega wohi dilon pe, Gandhinagar pe, Delhi pe, Islamabad par raj karega”, “Destroy Pakistan and start it form here (Gujarat)”.
• Saadhvi Rithambara will shout with her neck vein embossed amidst 1000s of admirers – “Muslims are like lemon squirted into the cream of India, they turn it sour. We have to remove the lemon, cut it into pieces, squeeze out the pips and throw them away”.
• A Pravin Togadia will hold a trisul diksha ceremony, distributing tridents to Bajrang Dal youth. Sworn by saying (Repeating each sentence after him)

“After adopting the trishul I will worship Shankar and Durga,

Will help build the Ram Temple,

Will help defeat Jihad,

Will help split Pakistan in 40 parts,

And will help make India a Hindu nation.

Jai Shree Ram!”

How can one build the Ram temple with a trident is anybody’s guess.

This hooligan army called Bajrang Dal will then act as foot – soldiers for the BJP creating havoc during election campaigns, using festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi, Diwali etc. as a medium to provocate Muslims.

Prahlad Shastri a local Bajrang Dal leader at pavaghad openly shouting at one of his inciting speeches after the riots – “The election is not BJP v/s Congress its Hinduism v/s Muslims”, amidst thousands of clapping hands. He continues – “They say Hindus killed Muslims, I say first time in 50 years we are batting till now we were fielding – now in Halol Muslim tremble”.

All of the above sited instances point only to a well planned systematic intellectual subjugation, the appeal is such that the most learned, the most literate of the people time and again reflect such biases such prejudices. “Modi mard aadmi hai”, “Inko (mulims) control mein rakhne wala koi chahiye”. They will abuse Bal Thakrey left and right but appreciate him for keeping THEM in control. One of his suggestions to keep them under control was to also form a ‘Hindu Suicide Bomb Squad’, other was that he instructed thousands attending one of his speeches at ‘shivaji park’ to produce as many children as possible or else he said they will out – number us one day – don’t care about family planning, you all multiply he said.

I can’t stop but site examples after examples of subjugation of young minds.

• Don Bosco School in Ahmadabad, 350 – 400 students asked to leave. Teacher Pramod Kumar Kul said “They weren’t good students, just interested in finishing school and then work as painters and waiters” The irony is that when these young inspirational souls had an interaction with Rakesh Sharma a day before, wanted to become doctors, engineers, teachers…

Isn’t it the school’s fault at the first place even if their students don’t aim high;

• At the National school – 7 year old Shahrukh Khan said – “I will study and join the police as then I’d be able to help people during riots”. Little does he know about punishment postings, ask RB Shree Kumar – Gujarat’s intelligence chief during riots, who was transferred within 5 months despite of the rule that IPS officers in intelligence should continue their tenure at least for 2 years, because he mentioned in his affidavit to the Nanavati-Shah Commission that Modi called a meeting attended by the DGP and Ahmadabad police commissioner where he said “Hinduon ko apna gussa utar lene do 3 din tak”.
• Higher level English exam paper, of class XII, Gujarat stated in a paragraph of one of the grammar exercise – “There are 2 solutions one of them is the Nazi solution, if you don’t like people, kill them, segregate them. Then strut up and down, proclaim that you are the salt of the earth.”
• Standard X, social studies text book chapter that hails – Hitler the Supremo! Hitler lent dignity and prestige to the German government. He instilled a spirit of adventure in the common people.

If this is the way we are shaping our societies, then yes the only direction we are lead towards is the Holocaust.

Lets understand all this at a micro, individual level - imagine Nishant to be an unwritten piece of paper and lets analyze what all is written on this over a period of time:

• He is made proud to be a Hindu, the son of lord Ram… it’s when you give God’s name to anything people stop reasoning and do craziest of things which they otherwise never would have imagined.
• He is made to believe that Ram was born at a particular spot and a temple there was destroyed 490 years ago and now it’s time for revenge.
• He experiences the above mentioned horrifics of the Bajrang Dal
• He reads a text book heroizing Hitler, he reads the newspaper heroising Modi, he reads ‘Sandesh’ and ‘Gujarat Samachar’ (two of Gujarat’s widely circulated newspapers) with headlines like “Avenge blood with blood” on the morning of 28^th Feb’2002 and comes to the street to do the same. He reads in the same newspaper that 10-15 young women were pulled out of the train and kidnapped, which also mentions two women’s breasts were cut off (later retracted) and made to believe that he is not Hindu enough if he is not fighting for the Hindu cause.
• He also reads Modi’s letter to Sandesh – appreciating it “The newspaper played a decisive role as a link between the people and the government. You have served the humanity in a big way. It is the state government’s primary duty to restore peace, security and communal harmony when violence takes place. It is noteworthy that the newspaper of Gujarat gave their full support to the state government in undertaking this difficult task. I am happy to note that your newspaper exercised restrain during the communal disturbances in the wake of the Godhra incident. I am grateful to you”. Simultaneously the state government sought to ban Star News, Zee News, and Aaj Tak accused of ‘inflaming passions’ and ‘instigating mobs’
• He saw the symbol of peace Mahatma Gandhi stamped upon by (whom he thinks) are the symbols of Hinduism, He saw the gates of Sabarmati ashram closed for Muslims who sought protection from mobs.
• He witnessed the Gaurav Yatra carried out by Mode across Gujarat to violently fill the gap between the riots and elections during March’2003, fearing the hatred will die down after settling down of riots. He kept the hatred alive doing a thing he is best at ‘giving derogatory inflammatory speeches’
• He saw, purchased, gifted or got as a gift the ‘Ram Sevak amar raho VCD’ containing the gory pictures and video of dead karsevaks and burning dead bodies to instill and instigate hatred. These VCDs were available at VHP offices for Rs. 5.50.
• The killing of 254 Hindus, 10,000 of them homeless further aggravated the already built hatred in him.
• He was reinforced time and again lately, that Narendra Modi is the symbol of development; Gujarat has developed leaps and bounds and is ahead of any other state in almost all economic indicators.

The truth stands far as an alien though, as its not reported and repeated. Wasn’t the pseudo symbol of development responsible for the downfall at the first place of an already rich Gujarat; government figures itself state of 403 farmers suicide in 5 years till 2007; 2 million people displaced in the name of development; according to ‘Urja Vikas Nigam ltd’ own admissions the state faced a 900 mw shortage of electricity in April 2007 – many villages received only 4-5 hours of electricity badly effecting irrigations, affecting farmers. Each of the 5 crore population of Gujarat is indebted with an average of Rs. 19000 in 2007.

All this and more acting simultaneously on many like Nishants gullible minds – Bigotry is now sub-conscious and entangled in his DNA. So much so that just the name Nizaam (which literally means born to rule) attached to him ushers his aggressiveness that makes him say “Mein Nizaam jaisa dikhta hoon kya” as if Nizaam is born different, as if he doesn’t have 2 eyes, one nose, 2 hands, 2 legs.

Experiencing his actions and expressions from close quarters, I can bet my life when I predict that he wouldn’t have shown this egregious expression if he was mistaken to be ‘Prashant’; in a way affirming the success of Hindutva and not Hinduism, the success of creating an identity and creating a sense to protect it even at the cost of violence. The success of ‘Moditva’ and not ‘modesty’, moditva is about politics, it’s about winning at any cost, victory built on graveyards.

As it’s evident from a profound analysis of every communal violence, right from the partition to the shiv – senas violent agitation over celebration of valentine’s day is not about religion but about power and politics. The architect of partition Mohammad Ali Jinnah got agitated as congress dint follow the informal understand of share of power in 1937 elections and the idea of a Muslim state engulfed his mind.

Its time people stop just following their so called leader in scorching heat, as the leader cruises in a A/C Toyota ‘Rath Yatra’ wanting to meet different ends shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ just as a war cry. Its time people stop buying the borrowed identity, stop buying the borrowed definition of Ram, an identity not introspective but entrusted.

As Pujari Laldas, the head priest at the disputed Ram Janma Bhoomi site (appointed by government) shares Lord Ram’s political ideal “It’s like when we eat all our body parts get nourishment, similarly in Ram Rajya all the activities are done for the betterment of all”. A year after the demolition of Babri Masjid by frantic Karsevaks Pujari Laldas was assassinated – his fault? Talking secular sitting as a priest in the disputed site.

· Its time people question why their hard earned money first used for slaughter, then for rehabilitation and the as compensation for the survivors,

· Its time people question Modi and Nitish kumar to have failed their duty of protecting the Hindu victims of the S6 tragedy especially after intelligence reports as well as newspaper reports already documented violence being unleashed by karsevaks on several stations prior to Godhra – at Rudali in UP; question whether this was not reason enough to deploy police inside the train and on the platform.

· It’s time people question not whether there was a Hindu temple 490 years ago, not whether Lord Ram was born on that very spot; but question whether his ideals are still alive in our hearts and minds, question the ‘Idea of India’.

The ‘Idea of India’ where the great Urdu poet Mohammed Iqbal once wrote ‘Saare jahan se acha Hindustan hamara’. Iqbal sahib wrote 100s of years ago as if predicting the future:

“Tumhari tehzeeb khud apne khanjar se khudkhushi karegi,

Jo sukhi – i – nazuk pe ashiyan banega, napaidar hoga”

Meaning

“Ours is a civilization that will commit suicide out of its own complexity,

He who builds a nest on frail branches is doomed to destruction”.

· The idea of India where a ‘Mahabharata’ serial on Doordarshan was written by Dr. Rahi Masoom Raza a Muslim by faith.

· The idea of India where Shankar Mahadevan sings the bandish of ‘Khwaja Mohinuddin Chisti’ in a carnatic raga in a jugalbandi with Ustaad Rashid Ali Khan who sings of Krishna Leela in a Hindustani classical form – representing the idea of India through Indian traditional music which has fundamentals i.e. the broad basic rules firmly set, but within them one is free to improvise, invent and experiment, unshackled by a written score – immortalizing the truth of Hinduism that admits of the possibilities that there may be other truths.

· The idea of India where a handful of fanatics who claim to be Muslims, who are ready to rip their fellow being into two and produce reprisals for no particular reason have forgotten the ideals of the great Indian Maulana Azad, who said at a very heartwarming speech when he became president of the Indian National Congress at Ramgarh in 1940 “I am a Muslim and proud of that, in addition I am proud of being an Indian. I am part of that individual unity that is Indian Nationality”.

· The idea of India where a Tamil Hindu would feel he has much more in common with a Tamil Muslim or Christian than a Haryanvi Jat who is also a Hindu.

· The idea of India of Hinduism according to one of its greatest exponents and one of its greatest messengers – Swami Vivekanand who left the world spellbound at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1983, where he said that he was proud of Hinduism’s acceptance of all religions as true, of the refuge given to Jews and Zoroastrians when they were persecuted elsewhere as he quoted a ancient Hindu Hymn – “As the different streams having their sources in different places all mingle their water in the sea, so O! Lord, the different oaths which men take…all lead to thee…”

Nations are built by the words men use to describe it, so the responsibility lay on the people of India as to what words they have to follow – whether to follow:

“Ekam sad viprah bahuda vadanti” – “Truth is one; the sages give it various names”

Or follow

“Ram Ram chilayenge, mullhse kaate jayenge”

Let’s leave the argument of whether there was a Ram temple there at that very place or whether Lord Ram was born at that very place not 10 yards beside back in treta – yaga about a million years ago to the historians. Let’s leave the arguments whether the S6 coach was burned from outside by a Muslim mob or it was an accident that caused fire from the inside to the fact finding agencies. And let’s for a moment believe that Babar destroyed the temple, Lord Ram was born at that spot, S6 was burnt by a fury Muslim mob – OK NOW WHAT??

Why should the Muslims of today 2009 pay the price of what an ignorant man who called himself Muslim did almost 490 years ago, why should the people of Gujarat, the Muslims of Gujarat who have adopted the Gujarati language, dressing, tradition also the name (viz Wali Gujarati a Sufi saint from Ahmadabad) suffer, die, be raped, be displaced, abused because a handful of people claiming to follow a religion set 59 people claiming to be Hindus on fire. It’s like you will go and kill the whole family of the electrician because the tailor dint stitch your shirt fit… sounds illogical, insipid and cold blooded murders right?? That’s the whole point…

Demolition of Babri Masjid because Babar demolished a Hindu Temple, Bombay Riots because Babri Masjid demolition; Bombay bomb blasts because Dawood Ibrahim wanted to restore the pride of Islam after Mumbai riots; Hindu kill to avenge the bomb blast – Muslims set a train coach on fire to avenge provocation by karsevaks – 2000 get killed in Gujarat as a equal and opposite reaction to the previously mentioned action. Akshardham temple is attacked by a less known newly formed terrorist group to allegedly revenge the 2000 killed in Gujarat riots – again used to incite violent emotions in the Gaurav Yatra by Modi – Serial blasts at Bangalore, Jaipur, Mumbai in July 2008 allegedly to revenge the Gujarat riots. The cycle to violence continues –

As the German theologian, Pastor Martin Niemoeller puts it, “At first they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the communists and I did not speak out because I was not a communist. Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionists. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me”.

It’s time the people of India and people around the world stand up and take notice and not forget this, as they (the people in power) want us to in the guise of development, in the guise of vibrant Gujarat, in the guise of ‘Jeetega Gujarat’. As Tarun Tejpal said “If we don’t remember, it will only repeat”; its time the Nishants don’t show their violent streaks to protect their hollowed identity. Or else as Mahatma Gandhi said “An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind”. I extend it and juxtapose it to today’s scenario saying – “2000 lives for 59 lives will make the whole world a graveyard”. Sounds like a herculean task? Let’s just do one thing imagine or view – The Indian Flag where the saffron and the green Co – exist.

Yogesh Kamath

June 2009

Saints, I see

The world is mad

If I tell the truth

They rush to beat me

If I lie they trust me

Hindus claim Ram as the one,

Muslims claim Rahim

Then they will kill each other

Knowing not – the essence

With prayer beads and caps

And brows of holy paint

They lose themselves

In sacred hymns but

Know not their own souls

Many holy men I’ve seen

Who acquire disciples

Venerate graves

But know not God

The world goes on like this

And they call me mad

But Kabir says listen – who’s the one Insane?

- 15^th century poet Kabir

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The irrationality and the polity of the communal hatred started sinking in me more than three years ago and has remained submerged and is deepening ever since. Yes it did have a starting point – when a casual discussion ended up in a heated and incomplete argument with my friend Vishesh, who (I can now say) passionately argued just out of perception of Modi’s fabulous development story in his hometown Gujarat. Incomplete because I couldn’t counter with facts and numbers. I thank Vishesh for starting a process of an intellectual investigation within me and that he followed his habit of never giving up to my counters.

A day or two after that argument I coincidently met the stalwart documentary film maker Rakesh Sharma and I started following his work, writ ups and film – Final Solution a documentary exposing the complexities of the Gujarat riots 2002.

I further thank Nicole Elfi for trying hard to convince me otherwise on the Gujarat riots so that I am not accused of ignoring the other side through her article titled ‘GODHRA: THE TRUE STORY’ January 2009, which she tried making as factual as possible but alas the facts were based on Justice Nanavati-Shah commission.

That was for digging facts, numbers and opinions, two people in particular are responsible for me picking up the Pen and complete the write-up. To start with Reena for continuously demanding, pestering to complete my work for more than a month and taking care that my procrastination didn’t extend to a level of non-performance, she also took the pains of reading my handwriting and typing this write-up on the computer, thank you Reena. Tarun Tejpal who transferred his passion through his speech at a press conference he addressed in the modest Tehelka office when some BJP leaders accused Tehelka Gujarat expose as politically motivated and maliciously timed where he said that “the Idea of Inida lay at the Heart of this message” on 26^th October 2007.

Also the work of Shashi Tharoor both fiction and non-fiction has inspired the idea of this write-up and the topic. I thank Ronkini for gifting me his novel ‘Riot’ and introducing me to a whole new side of Shashi Tharoor’s work.

I further not just thank but salute the work of Ashish khetan for his ground breaking and life threatening pursuit for truth of the Godhra incident and its aftermath. A six month long undercover investigation for Tehelka about which he said “A journey that would take me back in time, looking to rewrite the history of the year 2002. A journey in which my only companions would be fear and hope — hope of finding the truth and fear of being consumed by it; hope of hunting down the murderers and fear of being hunted myself. Hope, which is so rare for so many in Gujarat. Fear, a permanent shadow, almost an extension of your being, always lurking at your shoulder.”

The article will be incomplete without acknowledging the greats of Anand Patwardhan, Arundhati Roy, Pujari Laldas, Rahul Dholakia and many other who’s work I’ve referred for this writing, I wish they are widely read so that the irrationality of communal hatred is countered.