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Life is full of strange paradoxes.
Narendra Modi undertook fast for three days for Sadbhavna
(Harmony), to mark complete peace, unity and harmony (Sept 2011).
This came in the backdrop of the Supreme Court verdict which has
asked the trial court to examine all the evidence and amicus
curie’s report so that his culpability or otherwise in Gulbarg
society case is decided. The Supreme Court order has directed the
Special Investigation Team (SIT) to file its final report into the
allegations of Narendra Modi being the architect-in-chief of the
2002 Gujarat massacre. This was interpreted by BJP asa clean chit
to Modi. Modi in turn took sigh of relief and pronounced, ‘God
is great’. Shrewd as Modi is, he has tried to project that this has
exonerated him from his sins of Gujarat carnage 2002.
On one hand this fast is seen as an attempt to project him on the
national scene, as after the political absence of Atal Bihari
Vajpayee and the eclipse on the fortunes of Lal Krishna Advani,
there is a tussle for the top slot in BJP. So far Modi has been
projecting an image of man for development, but we know that the
minorities and many allies of NDA are keeping a safe distance from
Modi. This is a hindrance for his Prime Ministerial ambitions. BJP
on other hand is celebrating the Supreme Court verdict just to
create an impression of victory, which it is not. Now the process
of justice is wide open and the path is open for the legal battle
in times to come. It also seems that many goals have merged
together leading to this fast by Modi.
One aim of course has been that Modi can never be acceptable for
the Prime Ministerial candidate by NDA, unless he comes clean of
his role in Gujarat 2002 by seeking an apology. This has a problem
as seeking apology will also be a confession of guilt, which will
alienate his hard core constituency who were made to believe that
they are insecure because of the tiny Muslim minority. Cleverly
Modi even refused to take the moral responsibility of 2002 by
mocking the interviewer by retaliating as to what is this
moral responsibility! The second goal seems to be a longing for
image change over without really apologising for the 2002. The idea
for such a fast must have come from the Anna’s fast, which
was successfully elevated into a spectacle for the hidden goals of
RSS and the corporate, the backbones of Anna movement. Seeing the
success of Anna experiment, Modi has been quick to grab the idea of
creating similar spectacle by using the public money. Thirdly, it
seems that the ground is slipping from under Modi’s feet, so in
order to retrieve the ground he undertook this exercise with the
hope that it may help him retain Gujarat and then claim National
leadership.
As such the truth is that at National level most of the allies of
NDA know that the allegations against Modi have gone down too deep
in the psyche of people. The acts of commission and omission of
this person who was called as the ‘classic fascist person’ by the
prominent social scientist, Ashish Nandy, are too glaring to be put
under the carpet. Modi is trying to deflect all the criticism
against him by saying that it is an insult to the six crore
Gujaratis. This ploy may not work as a large number of citizens
from Gujarat know that Modi may be the elected Chief Minister
of Gujarat, but he is not the one who represents the essence of
‘Gujarat of Gandhi’ or Gujarat of dalits, Adivasis and Minorities,
who also live in Gujarat in large numbers. Modi has done his best
to create an image of ‘man of development’, thanks to the policies
which have supported the large corporate houses, who have got state
loans at minimal rate of interest, while the farmers continued to
commit suicide burdened by loans etc. It is remarkable that
while ‘shining Gujarat’ is projected, the ‘whining Gujarat’ is
cleverly hidden from public vision.
The claims of Harmony in Gujarat are far from true. Those working
at ground level know that post Gujarat carnage the divides
between religious communities have widened. The place like Juhapura,
Ahmadabad is a good example of that. In Juhapura Muslims from all
over the state are trying to settle, in search of safety, physical
and emotional, in the hostile environment created by post carnage
situation. The average banking and other social facilities are not
reaching to such places. Not only Muslims, even the Christians
minorities are feeling insecure despite the lapse of close to
a decade after the carnage. The Godhra train burning verdict
clarified the attitude of state authorities, where the chief
accused of the train burning Haji Umarji was tried for years
without any evidence whatsoever and then was exonerated by the
Court. The minorities are feeling discriminated against
and marginalized. On the top of that the lack of justice for the
victims is a major issue. Despite one after other police officer
coming out with sworn affidavits the high handed attitude of state
leadership continues.
The beginning of Sadbhavna has to be by seeking sincere apologies
by Naremndra Modi. You cannot have peace and amity on the
foundations of ‘hidden hate’ and ‘overt injustice’ prevailing in
Gujarat. The polarization of religious communities has become more
or less structural and the victims of carnage are finding no
respite in their daily lives. Even the Human rights activists who
have been taking up the cases on behalf of victims are
being targeted and there are no brakes on the authoritarian nature
of Narendra Modi. The gimmick of fasting for peace is a hollow move
as the beginning of harmony has to be with the remorse for
injustices which have been heaped on the minorities. Times and over
again the TV anchors and social activists have tried to urge upon
Modi to begin the process of harmony by apologizing for the carnage
of 2002, but all these well meaning appeals have fallen on the
deaf ears.
The process of Harmony fast revealed many things about the nature
of politics being pursued by Modi. While he was more than keen to
be wearing the head gears offered by other priests, he refused to
put on the Muslim cap. While he could mobilise some victims on the
stage, many a victims of injustices were not permitted to come
anywhere close to him. We also witnessed that protesters were not
allowed to vent their grievances while the fast for amity was in
progress. All this is a clear reflection of the shape of things to
come. The attempt to win over minorities of the state and the
country will not cut any ice. The factors related to mis-governance
may come to therefore and be a counter to the five star fast
undertaken by Modi.
This present move of fasting has deeper political agenda and has
nothing to do with the longing for peace. One wishes the
genuine aspirations for harmony are begun through a process of
remorse, reparation and proper justice to the victims who have been
languishing in ghettoes, bereft of proper rights as citizens. We do
need to distinguish between genuine efforts for harmony from these
hollow attempts meant to consolidate the politics of Hate...
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