Image: Deccan Herald

Gujarat’s ex-IPS officer DG Vanzara has echoed the far right wing bogie that "Hindus are in danger", and “demanded” in his recent speech in Gandhinagar on Thursday (December 23) that "India be declared a Hindu rashtra by establishing dharma satta (reign of religion)." According to a report by Deccan Herald, he claimed that "next 25 years are very dangerous", and added that "till India remains a secular state, Hindus will never be able to become owners of this country like Christians and Muslims, who have their own countries, which are ruled according to their religion. Hindus are in great difficulties even today. Take example of Kashmir from where they were chased away and West Bengal and Assam, where Hindus are not safe. Even in a state like Gujarat, Hindus are not safe."

Vanzara, who had spent nearly eight years in jail charge sheeted and implicated in the extra-judicial killings of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and student, Ishrat Jahan, before being discharged by the trial court, made these statements while speaking at a religious function "Dharmasatta Mahakumbh" was organised by an organisation called "Guru Vandana Manch" in sector 28 in state capital Gandhinagar. It was attended by leaders of different Hindu sects who had come along with thousands of people from different parts of the state. Vanzara said that Rashtra Vandana Manch has held numerous meetings in the past two years, bringing the religious leaders together for "establishing dharma satta in the country." It is not insignificant that on the eve of Christmas, several such “events” have made this shrill war cry.

Who is DG Vanzara?

On May 2, 2019, a special CBI court in Ahmedabad discharged former police officers NK Amin and DG Vanzara in the Ishrat Jahan alleged fake encounter case. Amin and Vanzara had filed pleas seeking that proceedings against them be dropped after the Gujarat government did not grant the CBI sanction to prosecute them. Judge JK Pandya of the CBI court stated that since the government had denied sanction, the former police officers' pleas were allowed, and that proceedings against them would be dropped. On June 15, 2004, Ishrat Jahan, a 19-year-old student, along with three others, were killed in an alleged fake encounter by members of the Gujarat Police outside Ahmedabad. The police had claimed that they were plotting to kill then Gujarat chief minister, Narendra Modi.

Now Vanzara’s speech has begun to sound like the recent communal speeches made at the recent ‘Dharma Sansad’ at Haridwar that gave a stage for Hindutva 'leaders’ to spew hate speech and call for communal violence. Now, Vanzara claimed that Independence itself was “harmful'' and reportedly said, "What 1,200 years of rule of outsiders like Turkish, Mughals and Britishers couldn't do, the last 75 years of independence has done to harm the Hindus… At the time of Independence, three states - Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya - had 100 per cent Hindu population but after the independence, they turned into Christian-dominated states."

However, Vanzara who was promoted as Inspector General of Police in 2020, six years after his retirement while languishing in jail, reportedly "clarified" that what he was saying shouldn't be read as "communal" or "hatred" for anyone. According to news reports he threw in some numbers to back his claim and said, “in 1947, India's population was 48 crore, of which 8 crore were Muslims. The 8 crore weighed heavily on 40 crore. Of them, five crore went to Pakistan and three crore remained here. Today, they are 23 crore. It is noteworthy to think what will happen now...the next 25 years is dangerous."

Vanzara added that. "one billion Hindus can't bank on only raj satta. It is not a Hindu regime... it is secular and doesn't belong to Hindus...in secular raj satta, Hindus can't have their own nation...therefore, we have to strive for a Hindu Rashtra, a Hindu Gantantra (republic)...” he claimed that the world has over "100 Christian countries, over 50 Muslim countries and even a handful of Jews have their own nation, Israel. But, 100 crore Hindus don't have a single country of their own."

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