A case of misuse of the Disturbed Areas Act and blatant Islamophobia and outright boycott of the Muslim community has come to light in Gujarat. Not that there is any dearth of such incidents in many parts of the country, but this time, the same has come to light in the Gujarat high Court, where the court imposed cost on the litigants for opposing the sale of property from a Hindu man to a Muslim man, after the sale was executed. The bench of Justice Biren Vaishnav questioned the motive of the applicants while imposing costs. The neighbours in the locality opposed the renovations being made to the property, even though earlier two signatories had consented to the sale during a panchnama.

The Gujarat Prohibition of Transfer of Immovable Property and Provision for Protection of Tenants from Eviction from Premises in Disturbed Areas Act, 1991 requires previous permission before a sale can be executed in a disturbed area. The permission was sought as per the law however, since the police report opined that such a transfer would create a law and order problem as a sale through a Muslim by Hindu would result in polarization, it was opined that the application should not be granted.

An application was thus filed by Onali Ezazuddin Dholkawala challenging the order of Deputy Collector, Vadodara dated January 30, 2017, which was confirmed by Secretary, Revenue Department in June 2018. By this order, the petitioner’s permission for purchase of property in predominantly Hindu areas was rejected on the ground that  such sale was likely to affect the balance in the majority Hindu / Minority Muslims and could develop into a law and order problem.

The court noted that the “consideration on whether it would create a law and order problem and disturb the equilibrium was misconceived” and only wished to look at whether the sale was for a fair consideration and with free consent.

In a judgment dated March 9, 2020 the high court had opined that this was “foreign to the concept of the decision making process as what was only important was whether it was not a distress sale and the property was sold for a fair value with free consent.”

Even after this judgement, the Sub Registrar was not completing the registration procedure for the sale deed and hence another application was moved, after which the registration was done. However, the signatory to the panchnamas who had otherwise supported the sale approached the Division Bench challenging the 2020 judgment.

The Assistant Government Pleader Ms. Dharitri Pancholi submitted before the court that the state undertaken the exercise of recording statements of the panchas who have said that they were constrained to sign the panchnamas as neighbors and subsequently some other statements of the neighborhood were obtained which indicated that the neighbors had expressed reservations against the transaction of the sale of the property in question.

The applicants seeking recall of the judgement argued that the judgement has several mistakes. It is the case of the applicants that the shop was of Hindu which was sold to a Muslim in a Hindu community area whereas, in paragraph Nos.5 and 6 of the judgment the Court has mentioned that it was a sale to a Hindu. However, the court noted that this particular one was a singular error and a minor one. The court also refused to accept the argument that the judgement was obtained by fraud.

The applicants, who signed the panchanamas, sought recall on the ground that their signatures to the panchnamas were taken without them actually understanding the repercussions. In a set of fresh statements recorded by the state, the applicants said that they do not dispute the signatures but they were compelled to sign such statements and were not residing in that neighbourhood. However, the petitioner produced evidence to show that the signatories were indeed  residing in that neighbourhood.

The court said that the motive of the applicants was questionable. The court also observed that the retaking of the statement, as earlier directed by a bench, brought forth other neighbours who came forward suggesting that the sale should not have happened as it was creating a situation where the equilibrium was being disturbed.

The court dismissed the applications filed by the signatories and the other neighbours while observing thus,

“this when seen in context of the facts itself is a disturbing factor that a successful purchaser of property in a disturbed area is being hounded and thwarting his attempt to enjoy the fruits of the property which he successfully purchased.” (para 21)

The court also imposed a cost of Rs. 25,000 on the applicants.

The Gujarat High Court judgement may be read here:

Boycott during COVID

There are many such incidents of Muslims facing socio-economic boycott in various parts of the country. The most brazen of these were witnessed in 2020 when during the COVID-19 pandemic, at its peak, Muslims were literally ostracized in the name of the Tablighi Jamaat members, who were detained one by one in various parts of  the country and who were let off by courts finding no criminality in their actions, as per the law. In 2020-21, one by one, these cases against Jamaat members came up before courts across the country and one by one they were either discharged from the offences or they were granted bail. Sabrang India’s analysis of these multiple orders, reveals that the Courts not just bailed out Tablighi members, but seriously questioned the charges invoked against them, quashing the cases filed against them. The narrative around the Tablighi Jamaat turned turtle with courts discounting such charges viewing them as unsubstantial. The Tablighi narrative was used against Indian Muslims as the visiting foreign nationals were given refuge by the Muslim community in India, in mosques or madrassas or in some cases, their homes as well. This was then twisted into socio economic boycott of the entire Muslim community by using terms like “corona jihad” and a “conspiracy” was ascribed to the community that they were conspiring to spread COVID-19 in the country.

Socio-economic boycott still active

After this narrative died down and life was coming back to normal after COVID-19, the socio economic boycott continued in some way or another. One such series was documented by Citizens for Justice and Peace, pointing towards boycotts at temple fairs in Dakshin Kannada. Early in January, management committee of Sullia Sri Channakeshava Temple, Mangaluru had decided to have an open auction of the stalls irrespective of religion but after pressure mounting from  the local Hindutva group Hindu Hitarakshana Vedike, the temple management decided that Muslim vendors will not be allowed at the fair. In November last year, during the Champa Shashti festival of Kukke Sri Subrahmanya temple as well, Non-Hindu traders were disallowed. What had begun at a Shimoga temple and was followed by more in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi has spread to shrines in Tumkur, Hassan, Chikmagalur and other districts including temples of Belur Channakeshava in Hassan, Siddhalingeshwara in Tumkur and the 800-year-old Bappanadu temple (built by Muslim merchant Bappa Beary of Kerala) which has been a symbol of communal harmony.

Despite the Constitution of India providing protection to all citizens against such a blatant discrimination on the grounds of religion etc, the boycotts are pretty much prevalent and seeing the outreach of the fringe groups, looks like they are here to stay. Under the Constitution, Article 19 ensures freedom of movement and the right to undertake economic activity. While Article 14 says that the State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India, Article 15 prohibits discrimination on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth.

Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh apart from Uttar Pradesh have also seen similar blatant calls for a socio-economic boycott driven by such right wing groups and some fringe groups that drive these vehemently on the ground.

Related:

HATE WATCH: DAKSHINA KANNADA AND A PATTERN OF BOYCOTT AT TEMPLE FAIRS

HATE WATCH: PARVESH VERMA CALLS FOR TOTAL BOYCOTT OF A PARTICULAR COMMUNITY

HATE WATCH: INDIANS REJECT #BOYCOTTMUSLIMS CALL

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The streets become narrower and the tall buildings are replaced by small houses as the entrance to the country’s largest Muslim ghetto leads towards settlements of the minority community. Finally, a 20-feet high wall with fencing separates the Hindu settlement and the Muslim slums.

The narrow lanes inside the slums of Rakhiyal

Welcome to Juhapura, a Muslim neighbourhood in the west of Gujarat’s largest city Ahmedabad that has been segregated under the Disturbed Areas Act, 1991, which was introduced in 1986 as an ordinance by the then-Congress government after the 1985 communal riots.

The Act, which aimed to usher in peace in the communally charged-up city back then, meant nothing more than preventing one community from buying property in another’s area. However, much has changed since then. 

With the Assembly election right around the corner, minorities stuck in areas where the Act is applicable narrate their plight and what the polls mean for them. 

“Have you ever seen such a wall of separation in any other city?” asks Haji (55) as he walks through these lanes showing the difference between the Hindu and Muslim settlements.

The contrast is glaring with tall buildings in the Hindu area and waterlogged lanes, crumbling small houses and the poor economic condition of residents in the Muslim settlement. “Most of the residents here are either autorickshaw drivers or daily wagers,” adds Haji.

Water-logged streets of Juhapura in October

The wall has reduced Hindu-Muslim interaction to a bare minimum. “We do not bother them and they don’t bother us. There is no interaction even during festivals,” says Haji pointing to the segregation.

Rahim, a local corporation school principal, recalls his childhood before the wall was constructed. “Festivals used to be so beautiful back then with Hindus and Muslims visiting each other’s houses. We would play together and I spent more time with my Hindu friends than at home. My kids, on the other hand, do not even about Diwali,” a sad Rahim says. 

Difficult life without basic necessities

Life in Juhapura is difficult. “Every year, the area gets waterlogged till the knees for, at least, 8-10 days. Water enters our houses and children find it difficult to attend school,” says Amina narrating one of the several problems plaguing the slums. 

Amina, who lives with her daughter-in-law and grandchildren in the slums of Juhapura. Her house faces severe water-logging every year.

Poor drainage is another problem not just in Juhapura but other Muslim settlements in Rakhiyal, Bapu Nagar and Vatva and other areas in the far east and west sides of Ahmedabad, causing drinking water issues.

Iqbal Shaikh, a former corporator from Rakhiyal, narrates his experience with drainage during his five-year tenure. “I wrote letters to the authorities regarding the poor drainage but didn’t receive any response. Even I could not get safe drinking water.”

A chawl at Rakhiyal

Even the dead have no space post-pandemic. The only burial ground in Juhapura isn’t adequate enough to accommodate more bodies following the deaths caused by COVID-19. Local corporator Haji Kalandar has written several letters to the local MLA and the MP requesting space for another burial ground but all in vain.

Haji Kalandar, corporator from Juhapura, who went up to the High Court to get his people clean drinking water

As a vehicle collecting garbage approaches, the Muslim residents say it only plies in the Hindu settlement. Muslims dump their garbage on a nearby barren land. 

“Narendra Modi claims to have done a lot for Gujarat. But why are we being ostracised and deprived of development?” questions Anita, one of the few Dalit residents who reside on the Muslim side of Juhapura. 

Houses in Rakhiyal slums that need urgent attention

For example, the slums are deprived of the Centre’s Har Ghar Nal Yojana 2022, aimed at supplying drinking water to every household in the country. Activists have even approached the Gujarat High Court (HC) demanding the start of the scheme in the area but to no avail.

Sale and purchase of property not possible  

Vijay owns a small grocery shop in Bapu Nagar, which has a mixed population with Muslims in the majority. He sold his house, located right opposite to the dargah, in 2021 to fellow resident Saleem, who was supposed to shift there in a few days. “When the Hindus in the area became aware of the sale, local goons threatened to boycott me from the community. I was ultimately forced to return the money to Saleem and scrapped the sale,” he says.

Right at the centre of Juhapura is a building named Jhalak, which is owned by Dalits. While the community has no problem staying in a Muslim-dominated area, the trauma of the 2002 riots is still fresh.

Women in the area narrate their problems. “It is impossible to sell the houses here due to the image of our building. We have tried several times but nobody is ready to buy a house here,” says Shamita (50). Despite improving their living conditions in the past decade, they are unable to move out of Juhapura. “Who would want to live in a dump yard like this?”

Women residents of Jhalak Flat in Juhapura 

Lawyers requesting anonymity say they have approached the court several times to ameliorate the pathetic situation of the slums. The Act was challenged in August on the ground that it does not give the residents a scope to register objections against an area being demarcated as communally disturbed. Last month, the HC sent a notice to the state government challenging a notification imposing the Act in 28 areas under the Gandhigram Police Station of Rajkot.

The writer is a Delhi-based freelance journalist reporting on issues of unemployment, education and human rights.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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Award winning film editor and an active member of the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) Bina Paul talks to Bharathy Singaravel of the Indian Cultural Forum about the “ghettoisation” of regional films and the need to change that; cinema as resistance; censorship and more.  Bina Paul is the artistic director of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) and the International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK). She is also the Vice Chairperson of the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy.

Bina curated the Malayalam Film Festival, 03 – 06 July, 2019 at the India International Centre (IIC), New Delhi. The festival, now in its second edition, was held in collaboration with the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy. Bharathy from ICF spoke to her at the IIC grounds before the screening of Kanthan, Lover of Colours on 05 July.

Image Courtesy: WikiCommons

Bharathy Singaravel [B]: I thought that we could start with the screenings at the India International Centre. What are the ideas that influence your choice of the six films shown here?
Bina Pau [BP]: We did these screenings last year as well. The ideas stem from the fact that there’s so much happening in Malayalam cinema, in terms of younger filmmakers, new ideas and new forms. Now of course Netflix has taken over in a sense, but still a lot of these films just don’t get seen. There is almost a ghettoisation of regional language cinema. I’m really keen to make a statement that we have to get out of these regular spaces, because a lot of these films are released and seen in Kerala, but not outside. When it comes to choosing the films, unfortunately or fortunately we have to work according to certain criteria. So we have to take cognizance of whether these films are recognised in Kerala or if they’re cognised by the festival. Bhayanakam for example has won many accolades. It’s an important film. It’s talking about issues that concern everybody.

B: You mentioned the ghettoisation of regional cinema. This is something that has been bothering me too. What are set aside as “regional” are actually mainstream films. They’re having theatrical releases in multiplexes. But the compelling ones on social justice such as those from south Indian cinema don’t get the praise that an Article 15 does.
BP: They are important films. I think while Hindi cinema seems to be following a certain narrative, what is happening in a lot of south Indian films, in Malayalam especially, because we also have the International Film Festival of Kerala once a year in Trivandrum, there’s a lot of exposure to world cinema. This exposure brings out some incredible work. The kind of filmmakers who are sending in entries, some of them are totally untrained and are often working on a very small budget. Kanthan, Lover of Colour that is being screened here at IIC is one such film. It was made on such a small budget and it is questioning caste and class politics. There’s really cutting edge stuff that is going on and unfortunately, there’s no venue for them to be considered mainstream. Mainstream is not a good word actually, but it’s sad that you don’t even hear of a film like Kanthan. In bringing it to IIC which is a space of thought, I think it also needs to be infused with these different narratives.

B: Cinema as resistance and censorship are issues that have been causing us concern for a while now. Your views on the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and its impact on young filmmakers and independent filmmakers?
BP: The role of the CBFC is to categorise films according to what is suitable for which audience. Not to mention any particular regime, but it’s always been an arm of the state. I think with YouTube and the internet in general, the CBFC is almost irrelevant.

There are many filmmakers who’ve had to fight because of it. But how does one get rid of it? Will the state ever let go of that power? So you find alternatives such as film festivals, internet spaces and film clubs. I see that the film club movement is creating an entire alternative narrative. I am not one who is for the corporate model of film distribution, anyway. I think we need to let go of this kind of distribution as a measure of it reaching a large number of people. A film like Amma Ariyan which was never released has had more screenings than any blockbuster. That was possible because there was a driven group of people who said, “No, this film needs to be seen.”

B: You at the IFFK do not even ask for a censor certification, on the other hand, the India International Film Festival (IIFF) rejected six films, branding them “anti-national”. Would you like to talk about this aspect of the film festival in Kerala?
BP: Certainly. The IFFK has made is very clear. Our only concern is about the date of the film. We don’t want films made more than 20 years ago to apply, because that’s unfair to filmmakers who’re working now. I also have to mention that we are a state-run festival [supported by the State Government of Kerala]. I do know that this space that we are trying to carve out is dodgy. It’s not easy. Right now we have a government that supports us and a ministry that supports us, but one can never say. We’ve managed so far. In the case of the IIFF, it is shocking. It shows the lack of a curatorial angle and the understanding of why you even have a film festival. Why would you have a festival for films that can be screened easily otherwise as well? It stems from a deeper lack of understanding of what a festival has to do. “Anti-national” is one hook that that they’re using today, tomorrow it could be sex or something else.

B: Continuing on the topic of “cinema as resistance”, how do you think the film fraternity has to mobilise right now, given the very specific set of issues that we are facing?
BP: It is the film community that needs to do the resistance. They need to find ways of telling stories that do that. I think it’s happening in Tamil cinema. You’re seeing alternative narratives, you’re seeing different groups of people who are making films together. I think you have to be innovative in resistance. And I think the power of all art and filmmaking is to resist and artists have always found the means to do so. To mourn about the fact that there is censorship is one thing. But we also have to say, we will still make our films, we’ll screen them, we will show the films that need to be shown, tell the stories that we need to and find the means to do that. Especially in today’s world where there are means available. I think that is the challenge, rather than just saying we will fight censorship. We’re never going to win that battle, because no state anywhere in the world is going to give up that kind of power.

B: How do you see the need for collective effort in relation to this, is it already happening?
BP: Certainly. For example there are film societies in Kerala that are subtitling films into Malayalam. Otherwise, what is the narrative? If there is a Hindi film, it gets subtitled into English which will reach only certain audience. These film societies take films from any part of the world and then subtitle them into Malayalam to screen at local film cubs. Big-budget films don’t need to seek out such alternate means of distribution, but I do believe that independent filmmakers, if they face censorship will fight and also find other ways to screen their films for it to reach people.

B: I believe it was in a 2017 interview regarding the IFFK that you mentioned touring film festivals. How have you seen the nature of film festivals change?
BP: In my mind they have changed, because we are living in an age where we think everything is available. You assume that you can get any film you want, but I also know that there are lots of films that are not. You will not so easily be able to find a film from Cuba or Venezuela or from the Pacific Islands. Film festivals these days need to recognise two things. One is of course the providing of a platform for voices that are unheard of. The second is the notion that collective viewing is very empowering. When 10 people sit in a room and watch a film together, something else happens than just sitting in front of a computer.
Film festivals have to realize how much of a social responsibility it is. It’s not just about choosing a good film. It’s about choosing a film that is important to be seen. It’s about choosing a film that otherwise may not get seen. It also means looking at the artistic value of the film. For me, these are the important questions.

Today film festivals have become market-driven. At IFFK, we have tried to remain a viewer’s festival. I know there is the Carthage Film Festival in Tunisia that does the same. There are many festivals that remain viewer festivals that say, “We know that there is the whole business of cinema, but we also know that there is a cultural value to it and that’s what we give importance to.”

B: This year’s Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK) just wrapped up. What stood out for you?
BP: Well, two aspects. One is the kind of documentary work that is happening in India is amazing. Again most of us hardly get to watch it or even know of it. The second was regarding the Anand Patwardhan film, Vivek (Reason). Despite it being released on YouTube, we were told not to screen it by the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. But the Kerala Government [the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy] decided to move the High Court and we were able to screen it. It was important that we could flag the fact that this is a space of independence and resistance, in a sense.

B: Has the style, aesthetics and narrative form of documentary film changed in the years the IDSFFK has been happening?
BP: Very much. From being a sort of top-down experience, documentary has become much more inclusive. Lines between fiction and documentary, their separate aesthetics have infused into each other. I see this a lot in the feature film industry as well. You see a lot of films made in Kerala which do really well in which the aesthetic is almost documentary. So there is a nice understanding of the reality of cinema, which I really like. There is so much now in documentary, which is personal, which is political. You know, it’s all stems from a different base from what it did earlier.

B: Lastly, can we talk about your work as an editor? What are the interventions that an editor makes, what guides your choices?
BP: That’s a big question. Of course, as somebody said there’s bad editing and there’s a good film. You can only say it’s badly edited or that it’s a good film which means it’s well-edited. The art of editing is in the invisibility. It’s how you can put a story together in its best possible form of telling, without drawing attention to how you’ve done it, because it becomes so organically a part of it. Editing is really about how you tell the story when you already have the building blocks. You have the shots. You have the performances, you have the script. It’s in the building of these elements and the way they’re put together which makes the whole picture. It’s not about individual cuts.

That is not the editor’s job only. As an editor, I always think I have to get into my director’s mind. I have to get into that mind to understand what it is that they see is the film or story. Then I can use my skills to bring out the best performance, to place performances in a certain way, to foreground or background action. It’s more than just translating the script. It’s actually building the film.

B: At what point do you come in? Are you present during filming?
BP: I don’t edit much these days. I’m not often at the shooting, but you read the script and you see the rushes several times. You bring certain objectivity when you come in later, because you see things that the director might not have. That’s very important for the film.

B: The physical aspect of editing has also changed drastically, hasn’t it?
BP: Oh yes! Mechanically it’s a wonder now. You press a button and it forwards, it finds, you don’t have to do that work. But I do miss the physicality. I can never forget how when I used to edit on the Moviola, we’d have to join the film with sellotape. It would make a “kadak” sound every time it went by. I could tell by the rhythm of that sound each time a cut arrived. It was amazing being able to tell that from just the rhythm. The only way to see the full film during the editing was to sit in the projector room. Even there you could hear it.

Now, a lot of people work scene-wise because that’s easier for them. So, yes it has seen a lot of changes. I’m glad for the mechanical advantages we have now. I cannot bear the thought of winding and finding. That’s done with. The magic of something is lost though.

B: Thank you, Bina. Anything else you’d like to add to wrap up the conversation?
BP: I wish that people would come and see the kind of films that we’re showing. I do think that watching films is such a world opening experience. Otherwise you don’t really understand the cultural significance of those actors from different parts of the world. It opens your mind even more than reading, I would say. When you’re talking about cinema as resistance, it’s also about telling stories that open up the possibilities for other forms of resistance.Look at Kanthan that we’re showing today. It’s a small-budget film, an adivasi story, the filmmaker is virtually unknown, but it went on to win the 2018 Kerala State Film Award. [Kanthan, The Lover of Colours was made by Shareef Easa, a daily wage labourer who works at a rubber plantation in Kerala’s Kannur district.] Such a film is possible today! Why are we only thinking of big-budget films? I feel very proud that Kerala affords place for such cinema.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum

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New Delhi: A Delhi based journalist Asad Ashraf did not expect to be stranded in a secluded spot on Sunday right after he had attended Eid festivities in the city. He had booked an Ola to go to his house in Jamia Nagar, south Delhi, when the driver took a wrong route and refused to go any further. “Wahan ajeeb log rehte hain,” (Strange people stay there) he said and refused to ply.
 
Ashraf had booked an Ola cab from B.K Dutt Colony to get to Jamia Nagar but was dropped off midway. When he protested, the cab driver allegedly threatened and harassed him saying that Jamia “was not a place to go.” He had tweeted that the Ola driver would have killed him for being Muslim.
 

 
Ola has also made its stance clear and off-roaded the driver.
 

 
Ashraf also recounted his entire ordeal for DBPost:
 
As I sit to write this piece, images from last (Sunday) night when an Ola driver threatened of dire consequences had I not off boarded his cab return to my mind. If the thought of being a victim of harassment scares me so much, I wonder what it would be like for women who are consistently harassed sexually in this male-dominated patriarchal society.
 
The take away from last (Sunday) night event not only jolts me but also confronts me with the grim realities of the times we are living in where bigotry, hate, and masculinity have become a norm. This is contrary to the idea of India our great leaders had envisioned.
 
I anticipate that this will ruffle feathers of some ‘hyper-nationalists’, but I wouldn’t hesitate in writing that the idea of our great nation is decaying faster than ever before. Even sadder is that lawmakers, who are supposed to remain sane, go on to make comments that only cause immense harm to the sanity of our society for some petty electoral gains. I see the behaviour of Ola driver not in isolation but as a part of the events unfolding in the country that is polluting everyone’s minds and souls with hatred for each other.
 
So, here is how I had a first-hand experience of the theatre of hatred and bigotry unfolding every day in our society. A festive season in the profession of journalism brings its own kind of engagements. As a part of this engagement, I had to visit an Eid Milan at Jor Bagh in Central Delhi.
 
Soon after the event was over, I booked a cab as I do every day for conveyance, at around 9 pm. I strongly anticipated that the Ola cab driver would not be willing to go to Jamia Nagar where civilisation supposedly ends.
 
So, when I called him to pick me up from the spot, the driver enquired about my end destination (as anticipated by me). He is not supposed to do so according to Ola’s rules and norms. However, out of the fear of being rejected before the ride starts I asked him to drop me to Jamia Millia Islamia (Central University) in South Delhi, which is still considered to be a respectable part of the city. Now minutes later, it was my turn to board the cab and share the OTP with him, which would eventually let him know that he would have to land in an area where modernity ends.
 

 
Well, to my surprise, he did not utter a word and straightway pulled the gears and moved from that spot only to stop five minutes later on a secluded road.
 
As soon as the breaks were applied for the car to stop, I heard a voice causing some shock to me. “Neeche Utar jao (Get down from the car).” Initially, I couldn’t understand what he meant unless he clarified that he doesn’t want to go to Jamia Nagar. On being asked, why? The reply was without any reluctance. “Wahan ajeeb log rehtein hain (Strange people live over there).”
 
This is to note that Jamia Nagar is one of the most prominent Muslim ghettos in this country, which accommodates former foreign minister to rickshaw pullers.
 
I was not willing to give in that easily. I protested but only to realise the danger when this driver started calling his friends through his mobile phone to the spot. I raised an emergency alarm on the Ola app but this did not affect the man and he rather threatened me of dire consequences. Soon after, my conversation with him ended, I got out and he drove away leaving me alone on a deserted road.
 
I was now left to deal with Ola support and Delhi Police who assured me of immediate help but did not bother to answer my calls or reply to my texts even after two hours after the incident took place. The attitude of Delhi police was a grotesque reminder of how we have seen them while growing in Bollywood films, laid back, careless, insensitive. While I am writing this piece, I am still waiting for them to contact me and at least acknowledge that they had indeed taken a note of my complaint. I doubt if that will ever happen.
 

 
Amid all this display of hatred, bigotry, communalism, what came as a shock to me is the fraudulent means used by Ola cabs to manipulate my entire case. Soon after the response to my emergency alarm, they blocked my Ola app until I would rate them, which has never been the case earlier. So I was forced to give a two-star rating to the driver who didn’t even deserve to be on the rating parameters.
 
Ola did not show any concern for the emergency alarm raised by me until I posted about it on social media.
 
I have just been informed that Ola has terminated the driver for causing all the trouble to them. However, the question that arises is that if this is the solution to the entire issue. Probably no.
 
The driver was merely a product of hate that we have nurtured in this society. Terminating this driver might be a temporary solution but our long-term goal should be to reform him and many others in his position.
 
The solution to me is depolluting this society of communalism and the hatred it has caused in our hearts.
 
In a similar incident in April, a man had tweeted at Ola’s handle saying that he cancelled an Ola booking because the driver partner was Muslim and Ola’s secular response had won praise on social media.
 

 

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Photo credit: Nitesh Kumar/Newsclick

Situated seven kilometres from the city centre of Ahmedabad, the prosperous economic and political capital of Gujarat, Juhapura locality is a symbol of alienation of the minority community. It is deprived of basic infrastructure and public services. Heaps of debris and garbage lying around are common sight here. Residents talk of lack of education, transportation, water supply and sewerage.

‘Development’, the mantra of BJP, seems to stop where Juhapura begins. Even the BRTS’s proposed last stop is a kilometre away, from where it takes a detour away. But for the good main road, part of the Ahmedabad-Vadodara expressway, Juhapura’s internal roads are in neglect. The locality became part of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation only in 2007, but that hasn’t helped.

It does not take much to figure out the reason for the pathetic situation of the area – it is because Juhapura is the densest concentration (over 4 lakh people) of Muslims in one place in Gujarat. Testimonies from local residents confirm this. Its estimated 1.07 lakh registered voters account for around 35% of the total electorates of the Vejalpur Assembly constituency of which Juhapura is part. Ahmedabad is a polarised city and its development can be fully understood only after visiting Juhapura.

Juhapura came into existence in 1973 when over 2,200 inhabitants of the Sabarmati’s banks were rehabilitated here after a severe flood. Earlier, it was basically a slum located at Ahmedabad’s western suburb that housed both Hindus and Muslims. But after the communal violence following the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992, Hindus left the neighbourhood, turning it into an all-Muslim area. Then, one year after the 2002 riots, nearly 180 families from Naroda Patiya, Asarwa and other riot-hit localities were shifted here.

Over the years, more and more Muslims have come to settle in Juhapura, often due to the feeling of insecurity in Hindu-dominated areas. Justice Akbar Divecha of the Gujarat High Court, who had moved out from Juhapura, became the target of mob violence in 2002.

The locality has now changed its face from just another slum to urban Muslim ghetto and second biggest Muslim locality in India after old city of Hyderabad. Christophe Jaffrelot in his recent book ‘Muslims in Indian City’ described Juhapura as a “city within a city”.

Asked why Juhapura has not benefited from PM Modi’s much-touted development, BJP Minority Morcha National Vice President Irfan Ahmed blames it on the residents. “The people here do not want change. When offered biryani, if some people still want only daal, what can one do?” he asks.

Al Ashad Park residential complex in Juhapura borders Vejalpur – a posh Hindu locality in the same constituency. On November 9, Union minister Smriti Irani toured only Hindu areas in Vejalpur, which is highly polarised.

The trend allegedly set by its past leader Amit Shah still haunts it. Shah had cleverly used Hindu-Muslim divide to win Sarkej constituency. He even called Juhapura “mini-Pakistan,” a name that local Hindus often use to describe this Muslim ghetto.

The Bollywood film ‘D-Day,’ which was produced in 2013 based on Dawood Ibrahim, and its scenes of Karachi was shot in Juhapura and neighboring Sarkhez Roza,a prominent dargah.

“No leader from any political party ever pays a visit to the area. We have been neglected for decades,” said 36-year-old Shakeel Ahmad, a resident of the area.

Residents of Siddiqabad, where riot affected people have been rehabilitated by religious bodies such as Jamaat-e-Islami-e-Hind (JIH), say they are in pathetic condition. Govt. officials are not at all bothered. “Elections come and go. But no change has come in our lives. We have to run from pillar to post for our livelihoods, forget about education of our children,” said a female resident of the colony.

Her sentiments were echoed by others. “Our husbands work as daily wage labourers and we work as domestic helps. Then only we manage to run our families. Elections do not mean anything to us,” they said.

Dr Damini Shah, assistant professor at social work department at Gujarat Vidyapith, says it is easy to neglect Muslims as they have been  pushed to live in ghettos in several pockets of the state.

“There is a sharp segregation between Hindus and Muslims here. Their connect with mainstream society is negligible. What they get in Muslim majority areas is security and nothing else. There is no scope of their development as the government has measurably failed to improve the life of the riot victims in the state,” said Dr Shah, who has written a book on Muslim ghettoisation in the state.

She also holds the civil society responsible for the ghettoisation. “Post migration in 2002, at least 66 Muslim-only colonies came into existence. But all these colonies were built by religious organisations. As a result, you will see higher number of mosques but not educational institutions. It is a blot on the civil society. Had it come forward, it would have attempted to bring the victims into the mainstream by making arrangements of education and livelihood,” she said.

Asked about the history of ghettoisation in the state, she said it is nothing new here. But there are two types of ghettoisation – one is involuntary because of fear and insecurity and other is voluntary based on the economic conditions of the residents and their caste and class.

“Like Patidars, Jains and Brahmins prefer to live in posh localities of Naranpura, CG Road and Old Pole areas of Ahmedabad only because they cannot afford to live with people who are below their status. These are voluntary ghettoisation. But the migration took place post 2002 was involuntary and because of fear and insecurity,” she explained.

She alleged that following the delimitation of 2008, Muslim majority constituencies were divided into different parts and each small part was added to Hindu dominated constituencies in an effort to make the Muslim community “politically insignificant”.

The result can be seen in Vejalpur constituency. Muslims voters are 1.07 lakh out of the total 3.2 lakh voters and all these minority votes are concentrated in Juhapura. BJP’s Kishorbhai Chauhan defeated Congress candidate Akbarkhan Pathan in 2012 elections.

Earlier, Juhapura was part of Sarkhej constituency, which was represented by BJP President Amit Shah. Before the delimitation, Sarkhej’s 8-9 lakh voters included 1.50 lakh Muslims, including those of Juhapura. After delimitation split the constituency into many, it was the BJP that gained as it won most of the new seats.

It has been 15 years since the deadly riots but still the Hindu-Muslim divide is being exploited to win the elections. But many in Gujarat have claimed that polarization is fading. In 1984 there was a time in Gujarat when 15 Muslim MLAs were elected from the votes of Hindu community, in the coming elections Vejalpur constituency can very well be a secular test for Gujarat politics.

Courtesy: Newsclick.

The post Gujarat Polls: Juhapura, The Largest Muslim Ghetto In Gujarat, Is A Picture Of Deliberate Neglect appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Like the Dandi Yatra marked a turning point in the freedom struggle, the events in the state were a turning point in the fight against non-secular forces.
— Narendra Modi, Gujarat CM, addressing a meeting at the Rashtriya Shala, Rajkot,
The Times of India, April 22, 2002.

It is all a conspiracy to tarnish Gujarat… It all started with a misinformation campaign when Surat was hit by a mysterious disease, termed as plague. Then came the (campaign about) the killings of Christians in Dangs… Not a single Christian was killed, or injured, but the campaign continued. After this came the Bhuj earthquake, when Gujarat was again shown in poor light… Now it’s the communal violence. All these are part of a strategy to discredit the state. No chief minister had opened relief camps during communal riots in the past… My government has arrested 31,000 people. How many were arrested during the Congress regimes?
— Modi, The Statesman, April 23, 2002.

The Congress was involved in the Godhra massacre and subsequent violence for gaining political mileage. They are trying to foment communal hatred by making inflammatory statements and ‘rubbing salt on the wounds of people’.
— Modi’s official release while addressing public meetings at Tharad, Palanpur, Bhiloda and Shera towns during his one-day tour of North and Central Gujarat,
Deccan Herald, April 27, 2002.

The Gujarat riots were a sign of Hindu valour and it was a divine force which had given Hindus courage to stand up to the attackers. For the first time in 1,000 years Hindus had givent their attackers a befitting reply. The valour shown in Gujarat will not end here. The VHP will take this message to the remotest corners of the country through its Ram jap programmes.
Ashok Singhal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader inaugurating an R.S.S. programme, The Deccan Herald, May 6, 2002

There are extremist elements living in the relief camps, I have asked the home minister Gordhan Zadaphiya to shift the Daria Khan Ghumbhat camp since my Hindu voters feel insecure with so many Muslims together there.
— Bharat Barot, Gujarat Food and Civil supplies Minister in The Times of India and Frontline, May 11-24, 2002.

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s provocative address earlier this week has encouraged disruptive elements to burst a series of bombs in Ahmedabad city buses yesterday (a dozen persons were injured).
— Modi, UNI, May 30, 2002

The chief minister, Narendra Modi outrightly rejected the demand that riot-affected victims from the worst–affected areas like Naroda Patia, Chamanpura, Sardarpura, BEST Bakery, Panvad and other carnages be provided with alternate resettlement sites. He also refused any government funds to rebuild the ransacked shrines. The CM’s tough talk came at a gathering organised by the Gujarat Minorities Finance Development Corporation, chairman Gani Qureshi.
— News report in The Times of India, June 8, 2002

If Muslims continue to take the country towards partition, they would have to stay in relief camps like in Gujarat.
— Ashok Singhal, international working president, VHP, June 22, 2002, PTI.

Five months after presiding over a state–directed, statewide genocide in his state, chief minister Narendra Modi continues to rule Gujarat in abject defiance of judicial directives and Constitutional principles. Refugees or internally displaced persons within Ahmedabad city and all over the state have been forcibly evicted out of camps where they had sought shelter, despite the assurance given by government to the Gujarat High Court on June 4, that camps will not be coerced into closing without adequate rehabilitation. The court was hearing a public interest petition (PIL) filed by the Mumbai-based Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) and Communalism Combat.

As a result, nearly 25,000 of the over 66,000 (official figure) people who had sought refuge within Ahmedabad city and a majority of the 21,000–odd (official figure) refugees from the rest of the state of Gujarat have been coerced into leaving the camps, their dignity compromised and with no guarantee of security. (CC’s independent investigation in March had shown that there were over 1,20,000 people living in the camps in Gujarat). In over 70 per cent of the cases, basic rehabilitation costs have also been denied, with cheques of meagre amounts being disbursed.

In fact, it was only after six relief camps (with the encouragement of the CJP and CC) filed a petition in the Gujarat High Court in mid-March, that over a dozen camps in Ahmedabad city were registered and its occupants started receiving adequate water, grain and medical facilities from the state.

Senior counsel Aspi Chinoy from Mumbai had made a spirited daylong argument before justice Pradip Majmudar, urging that basic amenities consistent with human dignity were a responsibility of a Constitution-governed state committed to the basic rights and dignity of every citizen. A joint commission comprising of advocates for the petitioners and the collectorate had then been appointed by the HC following which advocate for the petitioners Suhel Tirmizi, and the government pleader had carried out a detailed survey of city camps.

Despite these checks, in what is being seeing as a crude move by the Modi government to impose snap Assembly polls on a state that has far from recovered from three months of violence, the civil administration has been deployed to arm–twist the managers of camps run by minority institutions, to shut them down ‘voluntarily’.

Officially, there are now only 13, 482 refugees in the state (all of them in Ahmedabad city) to whom food grains are grudgingly being provided by the district collector, with only three–four days ration being dished out at a time. An additional 6,500 persons continue to live in other camps in Ahmedabad even today but they have ceased to exist in official records after being coerced into closing down between June 10–18. (CJP-CC survey for the PIL.) This, despite the pendency of the writ petition and the government assurance that there would be no closure of camps.

Over two dozen affidavits filed by the petitioners, 24 camp managers and refuge seekers for the hearing of the writ that came up before Justices Sinha and Panchal of the Gujarat High Court on June 26, show that blatantly aggressive methods (including threatening camp managers with detention under POTA) were used by the district collectors to shut down the camps in mid–June. (See box). With the petitions still pending before the court, the government continues to pretend the camps were closed down voluntarily.

In short, around 20,000 persons today remain in camps within Ahmedabad city (only 13,500 as per government figures) and another 2,000–odd persons are in camps located elsewhere in the state but which have ceased to exist for the government. These camps — Nandasan (419 persons), Dasaj (400 persons), Lunva (100 persons), Shivali (400), Gunja (near Visnagar-50 persons), Unjha (250 persons) and Lunavada (460 persons) — were summarily closed down between mid–May and early July and the government assumes no responsibility for the relief or rehabilitation needs of these people.

Gujarat’s principal secretary, revenue, CK Koshy told CC that there are 11 official camps with 13,482 inmates in Ahmedabad. Stating that he was open to examining the independent figures gathered by us about camps and its inmates from all over the state, he added that rehabilitation packages had already been disbursed in their entirety by the government.

The demonisation of Muslim survivors huddled in relief camps is an ugly reality of post–genocide Gujarat. Be it the CM or his senior ministers, vicious and highly publicised statements ("anti–national elements are suspected to be seeking shelter in relief camps") have only rubbed salt in the wounds of the traumatised victims of violence.

Modi had made repeated noises, wanting to wind up the camps even before Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s visit to Ahmedabad on April 4. The BJP state food and civil supplies minister, Bharat Barot had also made widely publicised statements about the ‘anti–national elements residing within camps’, urging the state minister for home, Gordhan Zadaphiya that they should be wound up.

After the violence occurred and was allowed to spread, the party in power and it’s spokespersons made their disregard for state responsibility within constitutional boundaries apparent. The existence of some democratic institutional safeguards availed of by the citizenry helped alleviate, the designs of the BJP–ruled government to some extent.

That legal interventions concerning relief camps were imperative is evident from what happened in Ahmedabad city on April 3. Soon after the Ahmedabad collector, Pandaya completed his visit to the Suleimani Roza Relief Camp located in curfew–bound Gomtipur in the presence of Mr Parmar of the Ahmedabad collectorate, the police targeted camp residents. Led by PI SD Sharma, the police set upon the 750 refugees of the Suleiman Roza Relief Camp (behind Nutan Mills), Saraspur and actually shot at two persons, Pirujbhai Mohammad Sheikh (30) and Khatoonbi Sharfuddin Saiyed (45).

The camp, which had been home to 750 displaced persons for over a month, was thus wound up in brutal fashion. The residents fled and many were forced to sleep under the open sky in fear and terror. The 35 Al Iqwan Chaali camp also received continuous threats and faced attacks from local mobs. Two other camps — the Char Toda relief camp at Gomtipur and the Al Iqwan Committee at Saraspur were threatened by the police in early April, asking them to shut down.

The PIL still pending before the Gujarat High Court argues that the basic rights to a life with security and dignity, and free from dire need are a responsibility of the State. And, that, apart from the ex–gratia payment offered to those killed during the communal riots, no comprehensive rehabilitation plan was offered by the Gujarat government; nor were steps taken in this direction made public. Fair and non–discriminatory relief and rehabilitation are a must to restore people’s faith in the government and the administration, the petitioners have argued.

The same state that was quick to declare a sizable rehabilitation package for the survivors of the January 2001 earthquake has been silent following the genocide. The earthquake package had included an ex–gratia amount to the next–of–kin of those killed, compensation for loss of housing and property, dole money to meet the routine expenses of the earthquake affected and rehabilitation. This time it is different.

The petitioners have also demanded a comprehensive survey by an independent and autonomous committee to assess the extent of damage caused to life and property to enable the drawing of a reasonable rehabilitation plan. The absence of a proper plan for the rehabilitation and re–location of refugees within Gujarat, the proclaimed ‘laboratory for Hindutva’, has only compounded the pain and insecurity of tens of thousands of refugees who, reeling under the trauma of brutal massacres and violence, had to stay huddled together for three–four months in camps run by their community leaders all over the state.

In most cases where Muslims have returned to their villages, they are faced with economic and social boycott for having had the audacity to name the perpetrators of violence in their complaints to the police. In other villages of Gujarat, a land once associated with Mahatma Gandhi, the village leaders address Muslims wanting to return in derogatory terms and tell them bluntly: "Baandyaon nathi joyita" ("We do not want any Muslims here").

A statewide survey undertaken by Communalism Combat on the status of refugees, reveals a dismal picture (see accompanying story). The options before Gujarat’s Muslims are clear and harsh: servility, boycott or exodus.

While in many cases, in the villages and towns of Gujarat, the collector and mamlatdar (civil servants) have attempted the return of refugees with dignity of their own accord, the hate campaign of the RSS/BJP/VHP and BD has undermined their constitutional writ and allowed the denial of basic rights to continue. Though attempts were made in many cases for dignified rehabilitation, threats and warning to withdraw criminal complaints and FIRs have won the day.

Three months ago, as per the government’s own admission, there were over 66,000 refugees in camps in Ahmedabad and another 21,000 elsewhere in the state. Hence, in a matter of two–and–a–half months, as per official figures, 52,500 persons from Ahmedabad city and another 21,000 from elsewhere (73,500 in all) have left the relief camps without any systematic survey on their rehabilitation. At least half the number from within Ahmedabad and a significant majority of those from the rest of the state have been coerced into leaving with no state guarantee or responsibility for their security or future.

Even the measly amount of Rs 2,500 (increased from the Rs 1500 announced earlier) for ghar vakhari — purchase of utensils for restarting a home — has not been paid in 70 per cent of the cases. The compensation amount of Rs 40,000 for destroyed houses announced by the Prime Minister at the Shah–e–Alam camp on April 4 has reached only a small percentage of those eligible.

In what is nothing short of a cruel mockery of the idea of the State’s obligation towards rehabilitation, the victims of Naroda Patiya — where one of the worst massacres took place — have received cheques ranging from Rs 500–1,500. The same is true in most other cases.

Modi has doggedly refused to commit himself to any demand for the purchase of land and re-building of homes. The CC’s statewide survey shows that the vast majority of homes have been rebuilt by NGOs. Some 90 per cent of these have been at the initiative of Muslim organisations – Jamiat–e–Ulema–e–Hind, Jamaat–e–Islami, United Economic Forum and Afmi Charitable Trust, Baroda. The Asha Kiran Trust, Jansangharsh Manch and SPRAT, are among the non–Muslim organisations to have contributed the rest.

Given the abject failure and refusal of the state and central governments to resettle the survivors through reasonable and speedy rehabilitation, the onus has fallen, almost entirely, on the Muslim community to look after their co–religionists. A sad commentary on the social and political reality in India today.

Meanwhile, the Gujarat police was consistent in its indiscriminate targeting of Muslims even through April and May. Violence broke out once more in Ahmedabad and it’s outskirts on April 3, with the police, RAF and SRP forces numbering around 150, shooting 29 innocent victims and killing one. Advocate Nizam was shot dead by the police inside his home. The same day, on the eve of the PM’s visit, Dr Ishaq Sheikh, vice–president of the Al Ameen Garib Niwas Hospital, Ahmedabad — an institution that had been at the forefront in helping the injured and brutalised over the past month or so — was pulled out of his ambulance by the Ahmedabad police, SRP and RAF personnel and brutally beaten up.

Police inspectors Modi and Parmar who were present while this happened did nothing to stop the assault. The second person shot dead in police firing, Mohammad Yunus Akbarbhai, hailed from Sakhar Ghanchi ki Chawl. The policemen named by eyewitnesses are NA Modi (PSI D Staff), NR Jadhav, senior police inspector and Mr. Sawani, DCP.

On April 21, after a constable was killed at Dani Limda, the police went on the rampage and shot dead six persons in brazen ‘reprisal killings.’ Hanifabibi Bashir Ahmed Shaikh (42), living at Modi Chawl, Kalubhai Shaikh (20), living at Jhoolta Minara, Naziabibi and Mehmood Hussein Shaikh (daughter and father) aged 13 and 42 respectively, residents of Patel Chowk, Kamdar Maidan, Abrar Ahmed Hanif Qureshi (22) also living at Patel Chowki and Mehmoobbhai Sultanbhai Shaikh(22) living at Maniarwada, Gomtipur, fell victim to police violence and bullets.

In Baroda on May 1, policemen brutally beat a nine–month pregnant woman. A week later, when the Concerned Citizens Tribunal recorded the testimony, her mother said that she had delivered her baby post-trauma but she could only breast feed her baby from one breast as from the other, oozed blood, not milk.

Selective and large–scale arrests of members of the minority community have continued in Ahmedabad, Baroda, Godhra and elsewhere. In Godhra and other places, despite the passage of three months, young men have not been released. In the Gulberg society Chamanpura massacre, 21 arrests have been made while three accused roam scot-free.

In the Sardarpur massacre at Mehsana in which 34 persons were brutally killed, the additional sessions judge, Mehsana, DR Shah, released all the 46 accused when even the primary investigations were not complete. Interestingly, the public prosecutor in the case is Dilip Trivedi, general secretary of the VHP, Mehsana district, who was responsible for publishing an extremely provocative statement in the widely circulated Gujarati daily, Sandesh, on February 28. (See legal initiatives section.) Many other legal initiatives being undertaken in the state face stumbling blocks because public prosecutors, displaying a blatantly partisan attitude, simply do not do justice to the cases in hand.

In some cases, after the initial paralysis and complicity, policemen have attempted speedier and fair investigations (See legal initiatives.) However, sections of the prosecutors who are partisan appointments by the government and a conveniently non-interfering judiciary have allowed injustice to continue.

That, fortunately, some institutions still work, even in Hindutva-driven Gujarat, is apparent from the forensic investigation into the Godhra tragedy, which resulted in the first chargesheet being filed by the police. This investigation by the Ahmedabad–based Forensic Science Laboratory, contradicts the view held so far that the attackers had thrown the inflammable liquid at the train from a distance. Specifically, it explodes the carefully–touted theory by CM Modi and even hinted at in early March by then Union home minister, Lal Krishna Advani, that the Godhra tragedy was the result of Machiavellian pre–planning.

In the cities and villages of Gujarat convulsed by the violence that spread across 16 of the state’s 24 districts, the aftermath for the minority community is laden with tension and the cold realisation of a new phase and stage of existence. Forced to go back to their villages or to re–locate where the former option is simply unavailable, Muslims in Gujarat face a bitter reality.

In mid–April, they were convinced or compelled to cancel the Muharram tazia procession. But when it came to the Lord Jagannath rathyatra, despite police advice to the contrary, Modi insisted it must follow the traditional route that winds its way through Muslim areas and mixed localities. On July 12, it was the Muslims who were asked by the Ahmedabad police to maintain ‘junta curfew’ (self-imposed curfew). On the eve of the procession, it was the homes of Muslims en route in Jamalpur that were searched and re–searched. And it was Muslims who fled their homes for a few days to return only after the rathyatra was over.

In Ahmedabad and in Baroda, a silent yet effective boycott of Muslims, socially and economically, continues. A few icons from the Gujarati business community have tried to counter the hate politics led or encouraged by the Gujarat government. (See Good News section). But schools in Ahmedabad and Baroda have now, more so than before (See CC, ‘Face to Face with Fascism’, April 2000), bid good–bye to Muslim students.

For the state, Gujaratis and the rest of India, post–genocide Gujarat presents a grimmer challenge than before. Constitutional breakdown has been evident there since 1998 when the BJP assumed power in the state. The period between end–February and May provided grim evidence of what the ideology of supremacy and hatred can achieve when it comes unto its own; post–May, Gujarat has settled into a state that lives outside the Indian Constitution; normalcy for ‘us’, trauma for ‘them’.

In his book, We, Or Our Nationhood Defined, which many consider to be the ‘Bible of Hindutva’, the revered ideologue and sarsanghchalak of RSS, Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar (‘Guru Golwalkar’) wrote in the mid–30s:

"The foreign races in Hindusthan (Muslims and Christians – ed) must either adopt the Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect and hold in reverence Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but those of the glorification of the Hindu race and culture, ie, of the Hindu nation and must lose their separate existence to merge in the Hindu race, or may stay in the country, wholly subordinated to the Hindu Nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment — not even citizen’s rights. There is, at least, should be, no other course for them to adopt. We are an old nation; let us deal, as old nations ought to and do deal, with the foreign races, who have chosen to live in our country."

Were he to be alive, Guruji would proudly proclaim today’s Gujarat as the ‘Hindu Rashtra’ of his dreams.

Yet, the institutions of Indian democracy and those who man them seem oblivious to or complacent about the ominous implications of Gujarat for the rest of India. What more will it take to shake them out of their complacency?

(With field reports from Rais Khan.)

Archived from Communalism Combat, July 2002 Year 8  No. 79, Cover Story 1

The post Godse’s Gujarat appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The Islamic Relief Committee and the Federation of Civil Liberties are two Muslim associations that have lead or
sponsored certain initiatives.

The Jansangharsh Manch, a secular group from Ahmedabad, is also leading some of the cases related to compensation and police atrocities in Gomtipur.

The Citizens for Justice and Peace and CC are handling some criminal cases like the Gulberg-Chamanpura massacres, besides appearing before the Modi government–appointed KG Shah Commission of Inquiry. (Subsequently, Justice DH Nanavati has been appointed co-commissioner). They have also filed writs both in the Gujarat High Court and the Supreme Court.

The People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Baroda and Citizens Initiative, Ahmedabad, have also carried out some legal surveys and assisted with filing affidavits before the Shah-Nanavati Commission. Majlis, Mumbai, India Centre for Human Rights and Law and Lawyers Collective are some of the other organisations that helped individuals file affidavits before the Commission.

Cases before Supreme Court

In April, Mallika Sarabhai and other concerned citizens from Ahmedabad filed a petition challenging the appointment of the Shah-Nanavati Commission and urged that the NHRC be given full powers like a commission to investigate the Gujarat happenings.

Another writ petition filed by many prominent activists and citizens from Ahmedabad and Mumbai urged court directive to hand over major investigations in Gujarat — Godhra, Gulberg Society, Naroda Pattiya, Sardarpur, Visnagar, Kediad, BEST Bakery, Odh etc — to the CBI since the conduct of the Gujarat police has been questioned even by the NHRC. This petition was drafted by advocate Mihir Desai. Both petitions pending admission which have been clubbed together by the Supreme Court and are to come up for hearing in end–July.

In early April, senior advocate Girishbhai Patel appeared in a public interest writ petition urging a fresh date for board examinations given the dislocation caused by violence filed on behalf of scores of students. The Gujarat HC refused to entertain the PIL which was then taken up by India Centre for Human Rights and Law (advocate Colin Gonsalves) in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court directed the government to set a new date for the examinations.

Cases before Gujarat HC

In the Gujarat High Court, senior advocate Nirupam Nanavati appeared with Suhel Tirmizi in the relief camp petition. Suhel Tirmizi is also actively involved in the recording of affidavits for filing before the Shah–Nanavati Commission. Senior advocate Mihir Desai, who has also taken an active interest in legal aid work post–genocide Gujarat, settled the draft of the petition.

In all, over 3,100 affidavits have been filed here by individual complainants before Commission.

Sardarpura massacre, Mehsana

Thirty–four persons, mostly women and children, were burnt alive in a small room in Sardarpur village. In all, there are 46 accused and they have been released on bail through four different applications filed before the additional sessions judge, Mehsana, D. R. Shah. Four applications have been filed for cancellation of bail of the accused by advocate Hashim Qureshi appearing for the victims’ families.

The public prosecutor in the district court, Dilip Trivedi, is also a general secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Mehsana district. (He gave an extremely provocative statement on February 28 to the Sandesh daily).

The four applications for rejection of bail are on the grounds that even after being released on bail, the accused attacked a mosque in the same Sardarpur area. (FIR no. 110/2002 dated May 13 is launched with the Vijapur police station.). The PP did not take any objection to cancellation of bail. The High Court has issued notices in all these four matters filed under section 439(2) of CrPC. Chargesheets have been filed.

Deepla Darwaja, Visnagar, Mehsana district

Twenty–four persons were attacked and subsequently burnt to death. Thereafter, with a view to destroy the evidence, the culprits collected their remains and dumped it in a lake situated in a Patel community area.

Two cancellation of bail applications have been filed by advocate Hashim Qureshi against the 43 accused released on bail. Shockingly, the same PP (Mr. Trivedi) who never objects to bail applications by the VHP and the BJP had in this case, registered his ‘no objection’ to bail being given to the accused.

These applications have made several pleas, the main ones being that the police conduct in non–registration of names of accused, deliberate non–recording of panchnama and subsequent failure to help locate the victims’ bodies all ensured that easy bail was obtained. Prima facie there appears to be biased police conduct, a patent example of culpable negligence. Therefore, a special criminal application has also been made challenging the same.

Gomtipur police atrocities case, Ahmedabad

This case pertains to the death of six persons in reprisal killings by the police on April 21, after a police constable was killed at Dani Limda. Significantly, there were no disturbances in the area on that day, no members of the majority community reside anywhere around where the victims were targeted or shot dead.

Hanifabibi Bashir Ahmed Sheikh (42) a woman residing at Modi Chawl: She was killed because police constable Prakash hit her on the head. The VS Hospital post–mortem report shows cause of death as shock as a result of firearm injury. There is no FIR registered. No compensation has been given to date.

Kalubhai Sheikh (20), male, residing at Jhoolta Minara, Ahmedi Society: Just in front of the society, the police fired from the police chowki. He suffered a head injury and died on the spot. The post-mortem report from VS Hospital identified the cause of death as due to shock as a result of firearm injury.

Naziabibi and Mehmood Husein Sheikh (daughter and father) aged 18 and 42 respectively residing at Patel Chawl, Kamdar Medan: While cooking in her kitchen, Naziabi was hit by a police bullet, and she died on the spot due to head injury. Her post-mortem was done at the VS Hospital. Her father, Mehboob Hussein Sheikh was shot at in the same incident, outside the house.

Abrar Ahmed Hanif Qureshi (22),male, residing at Patel Chawl, Kamdar Medan: Though the main gate of the chawl was closed, police aimed from a hole in the gate. Neck injury, died on the spot. Post-mortem at VS Hospital.

Mehboob bhai Sultan bhai Sheikh, (22), male, residing at Maniarwada, Gomtipur: The police entered the chawl from a private house. Deceased was on the roof of his house when one police constable along with several police personnel beat him mercilessly. Then the constable, using a private firearm concealed in his socks, shot him from point blank range.

Four different applications have been filed before the Gujarat High Court on behalf of the victims and supported by the Islamic Relief Committee, praying for the special investigation by the crime branch and inquiry against the culprits/police constables and for compensation.

The grounds: The police authority totally failed in discharging their duty as per the provisions of the Police Manual, particularly Clause 45, 53, 55, 60 and 61 of part 3 of Volume 2. Therefore, this is a fit case for inquiry through proper channels, by proper office, as per the hierarchy of the police department.

In a case of Darmishta behn, the Gujarat High Court has led down the law on payment of compensation. The court ruled that when great loss and injustice is caused to a person who has loss his beloved, and his life has become miserable by way of an atrocity by the police officer, then he is not in position to meet with any orthodox litigation and proceeding. Therefore, interim compensation can be awarded under Article 226.

Dr Bhavnagari Case, Ahmedabad

On February 28, when many areas of Ahmedabad and the state of Gujarat were being attacked, a large mob of 5-7,000 had targeted the Paldi area of Ahmedabad where. Dr Bhavnagari, a respected doctor and his son lived in the Delite Apartments.

Dr Bhavnagari owns a licensed gun and is also an ace shooter, being a member of the National Rifle Shooters’ Association. When the mob advanced close and threatened the doctor and his family, he used his gun and fired. Two persons were injured and later one fell victim to the bullets.

The police arrested Dr Bhavnagari despite there being a strong case under section 66 onwards of the Indian Penal Code that permits a person firing in self–defence when his life is endangered. The police also filed an FIR against both the Dr Bhavnagari and his son on the ground that both had fired. The son surrendered to the police in late March.

Though the police had met one of the survivors of the bullets on March 3, they recorded his statement only on March 14. In his statement, the young man had stated that both father and son had fired in which two persons died. Applications for anticipatory bail filed for both father and son by advocate Haroon Momin were rejected in the City Civil and Sessions Court, Ahmedabad. The bail applications were then pending before the Gujarat High Court.

In its report, filed under section 159, CRPC on June 24/26 before the Sessions Court, the police stated: "If he had not fired, he could have died. A mob of 1,500–2,000 had attacked the building; shops were burning, they had deadly weapons and it was only when sections of this mob climbed the staircase of Delite Apartments that Dr Bhavnagari and his son fired."

When this report was filed in the Sessions Court, Chetan Shah, advocate for the VHP (he is appearing in all their cases) asked to be joined as party. Magistrate Purani turned down the application saying that he had no locus standi. The matter for deliberation on the police report under section 159 was pending.

Meanwhile, 90 days had passed since Dr Bhavnagari’s arrest. Under section 167(2) of the CrPC if no chargesheet has been filed within three months, a person has to be released. Both appeals for bail came up before the HC. Granting bail, the judge, Justice Behram J Sethna passed unwarranted strictures against two police officers — additional commissioner of police Satish Sharma and PI NH Joshi – for filing it’s report under section 159.

He says, "Therefore prima facie I am of the considered opinion that by submitting the aforesaid report, both of them have committed contempt of court for which even contempt proceedings could have been initiated against them; however on the request made by learned additional public prosecutor, Abhichandani and on the assurance given by PI Joshi that that in future this will not be repeated I have not thought it fit to initiate such proceedings. However I am fully convinced that the attempt made by both the police officers Shri Satish Sharma, additional CP Sector I and PI NH Joshi in ‘trying to interfere with the administration of justice by submitting the report dated June 24, 02 and June 26, 02 is a serious misconduct for which both the police officers should be dealt with strictly by way of departmental proceedings by the state govt. When the last day for filing chargesheet was June 30, 02 they submitted such report at the last minute and allowed the main accused to get the bail."

Archived from Communalism Combat, July 2002 Year 8  No. 79, Cover Story 4

The post Punish the guilty appeared first on SabrangIndia.

June 16, 2002
Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Prime Minister of India
New Delhi.

Dear Prime Minister
Having visited Gujarat and being in touch with the distressing situation there, I intend to contribute a sum of Rs. 1 crore from my allocation under "Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme" (MPLADS) for relief and rehabilitation of the victims of the recent communal violence in that state. I may be permitted to do so.

Under MPLADS every MP is entitled to an allocation of Rs. 2 crore per year for development works in his constituency or state. However, the Rules were relaxed to permit allocation by MPs under MPLADS for the victims of the Gujarat earthquake last year and of the Orissa cyclone in the year before. Similar relaxation may now be permitted for the benefit of the victims of the recent Gujarat holocaust.

If the rules are relaxed most MPs would like to utilise a substantial part of their allocation under MPLADS for this noble purpose. A contribution by a large number of Parliamentarians will motivate the people of the country to also contribute for this worthy cause.

I also urge you to kindly issue an appeal to all our countrymen to donate generously for this cause on the same lines of the appeals issued by you at the time of the Gujarat earthquake and the Orissa cyclone.

The above becomes necessary since the state government has not yet taken effective steps in this matter. The recommendations of the National Human Rights Commission including those relating to relief and rehabilitation are not being implemented effectively.

May I, therefore, request you to direct the state government to take the following measures urgently:

i) The compensation for the damaged/burnt/destroyed houses should be paid as per the norms adopted for the earthquake victims;

ii) The compensation for Ghat Vakhri (compensation for burnt/looted household articles) should be a minimum of Rs.20,000.

iii) Immediate allotment of house sites to enable the victims to relocate themselves with honour and dignity.

iv) Involving housing finance institutions like HUDCO, NHB, CANFIN Homes, LIC etc. to advance loans liberally with minimum paperwork and at nominal interest rates. The repayment period should be spread over a period of 20 years and it should begin after three years from the date of construction of the house.

With personal regards,

EDUARDO FALEIRO

MP, Rajya Sabha

Editors: As we go to press, Faleiro who has just returned from a tour to Turkey, told CC that all that he has so far got from the PMO in response to his letter is a formal acknowledgement. Meanwhile, a number of party leaders and MPs whom CC spoke to supported Faleiro’s initiative, especially in view of the fact that neither the governments in New Delhi and Gujarat, nor India Inc. have been particularly forthcoming in providing succour to the survivors of the genocide in Gujarat. Many felt that a substantial contribution from parliamentarians, would provide the badly needed emotional balm, apart from relief and rehabilitation in physical terms.

"It’s a very good idea and we should all support it," said the independent Rajya Sabha MP, Kuldip Nayar, adding that such a step would be a most welcome departure in parliament history. The problem in Gujarat is so colossal that what the government has done so far is a mere drop in the ocean, he said. "I am sure a lot of MPs will like to contribute to this effort once a decision is taken in this regard," he added. Stating that not all MPs might be willing to contribute Rs 1 crore out of the funds at their disposal, even Rs. 10 lakh per MP (5 per cent of the funds at their disposal), the contribution from 850 MPs from the two houses could add up to a substantial Rs. 85 crore.

"The BJP will not be enthusiastic about such and idea. It could work only if party leaders take it up seriously with the government," said an MP from the Samajwadi Party, adding that he would gladly push the case within his own party if the Congress top brass took a lead in the matter.

"It is definitely a good idea and we will certainly pursue the matter," Sitaram Yechuri, CPI(M) politburo member told CC when contacted for his response.

Meanwhile, not content with a mere acknowledgement of his earlier letter to the PM, Faleiro intends to follow up his earlier letter with a fresh missive arguing that his suggestion should be acted upon especially considering that a substantial amount of the MPLADS funds remains unutilised by many MPs.

Archived from Communalism Combat, July 2002 Year 8  No. 79, Cover Story 5

The post Open letter to PM appeared first on SabrangIndia.

I hope the organisers of the CII Gujarat Annual Day function will excuse me for apparently ex-ceeding my brief by directly ad-dressing the causes and consequences of the current civil disturbances in Gujarat. However, I propose to break with our customary practice of being politically correct in the belief that I am still being faithful to the CII’s outlook to business life which is modern, liberal, tolerant and caring of people.

Business As Usual – Soon?

"The business of business is business", said Milton Friedman, the celebrated American free market economist. Most businessmen all over the world would, at first thought, agree with him. So why are we, a collection of businessmen, meeting today to discuss among other things, such distinctly "non–business" themes such as Secularism?

The answer lies partly in the implied other half of Friedman’s statement, that: "the business of government is government."

So, if government governs well, business should be free to concentrate on business.

Another great American thinker, Peter Drucker said while referring to the huge role that business plays in a healthy society. "It is the social responsibility of business to make a profit." Meaning, thereby, that businesses must remain profitable, if they are to continue to employ people, create wealth and enrich societies in the many ways that they do.

But what happens, when governments don’t govern? Or, they mis–govern?

They can misgovern by errors of commission; for example, by persecuting a section of their citizens, as is happening in Zimbabwe or Iraq; or by errors of omission, by failing to govern, by failing to maintain law and order, and by failing to provide to citizens their fundamental rights to life and to work.

And when there is such a failure of government leading to disruption in civil life; the striking of terror among labourers, shopkeepers, teachers, judges; the closure of markets; an exodus of people who are consumers of the products we make and services we offer — then is it sensible, indeed is it even ethical, for business to say: "our business is only business…" and then to bury their heads in the sand and debris of the rubble created by almost four weeks of unlawful and barbaric behaviour? Because, when labour flees and markets close and consumers stop buying, what future do our businesses have?

In my view, we have no alternative — if we are concerned for the future well–being of industry and trade in Gujarat — to pause for a moment’s reflection on the causes and consequences of the events of the last four weeks.

It will be a sad mistake, I believe, for us to indulge in wishful thinking that riots and civil commotion are just a part of our life, they come and go like the occasional hurricane off the coast of Florida, that the damage will be repaired, (courtesy government grants and Insurance claims), and soon we’ll be back to "business as usual." Because, what we are experiencing in Gujarat are not mere riots; nor will all the damage be repaired; nor will business bounce back. Gujarat has been wounded deeply this time, it is still bleeding, and as we shall see, the seeds are being sown for still worse to come.

Who does Gujarat belong to?

Your famous poet and social historian Narmadashankar Lalshankar (who died in 1886) is remembered for his great poem "Jay Jay Garvi Gujarat", in which he celebrated all those cultural icons which provided a sense of identity to all who lived in Gujarat. In asking "who does Gujarat belong to?" he listed all the castes, communities, religions, sects; then says, not just these, because Gujarat does not belong to any particular group; he continues, that Gujarat belongs to all those who speak Gujarati; and then, not satisfied, goes on to say that Gujarat also belongs to non–Hindus, the Parsis, Muslims and the non– ‘savarna’ communities. Narmad believed passionately that, around such a cultural imagination — truly secular in spirit — a sense of belonging could be forged for the Gujarati people.

Narmad followed a great Jain tradition of compassion and tolerance; and Gandhi followed Narmad, converting a whole nation to espouse the idea of ‘ahimsa’. So what has brought this great tradition, in this great state, to a point where a recent documentary title sums up the present situation: "Genocide in the land of Gandhi?"

It may be best, though distasteful, to confront certain facts directly. The more openly we speak about these, the more likely we are to be able to deal with them:

• The horrific incident at Godhra was a crime against humanity and it is to be utterly condemned. Its culprits need to be found, tried and dealt with in the most severe way that our laws provide, including if necessary with the death penalty. In the words of Professor Bandukwala, "Whoever committed that crime was surely one of the worst enemies of the Muslims."
• The civil disorder in Ahmedabad, as it escalated into a combination of looting, arson and attacks on people, quickly revealed one clear pattern: that the maximum number of atrocities were committed against Muslims and Dalits.
• The vernacular press in Gujarat played a highly regrettable role in the run up to, and during, the disturbances. Many Muslim establishments bearing non-Muslim names, were specifically listed by these papers; and all of these were subsequently torched to cinders:
• An amazing de–humanisation could be seen in the behaviour of those on the streets. Most were young in age — in their twenties or less. To hear 12 and 15–year–old boys screaming for rape and murder, reflects a brutalisation that is difficult to comprehend in a land that was the breeding ground of ‘ahimsa’. A new and disturbing trend is now to hear women also expressing themselves in support of brutal retribution.
• As the genocide spread from Ahmedabad to other cities and the countryside, a systematic attempt could be seen to target and destroy the economic base of the Muslim community.

A Riot… or Genocide?

Let us reflect on two dimensions of this tragedy. First, the specific targeting of the Muslim sectors of employment and commerce does not hurt Muslims alone. It requires no great intelligence to understand that they are a part of the larger economic chain in the Gujarat economy. So attacking Muslim traders, shops, establishments, factories — deals a blow to the economy of Gujarat, and hurts the larger community as well.

Second, the notion that a ‘kriya’ (action) gives rise naturally to a ‘pratikriya’ (reaction) needs to be firmly dismissed as being both fallacious and dangerous. We’ve heard this time and again in the history of mankind, as a justification for violent and aggressive behaviour. Again, to hear this from a leader in the land of Mahatma Gandhi leads one to wonder how a non–violent doctrine which once united the whole of India, has degenerated so rapidly into an alibi for not being able to — or not being willing to — maintain law and order.

Likewise, leaders of the Shiv Sena in Bombay, when threatened with a suit for damages by the owners of a fine private hospital in Thane that was recently set on fire by Sena activists, (because their leader died in that hospital after sustaining injuries in a car crash) pleaded that the rioters be excused, because they were "naturally" emotionally upset by the death of their leader.

If it was your charitable trust that had set up and was running this fine hospital and now it had to be shut down because it was destroyed beyond repairs, how valid would you find this argument?

Consider the arithmetic of the situation:

• Fifty–six ‘kar sevaks’ are killed (let it be repeated) in an utterly condemnable atrocity.
• As a ‘natural’ reaction, somewhere between 600 innocents, that too in another city, are killed; and then hundreds more are burnt or butchered in the other towns and villages in Gujarat.
• So, if the government does nothing to swiftly punish the perpetrators of Godhra, Ahmedabad and the killings elsewhere, they, and we the public that elects our governments, have accepted (or condoned) the principle that, 18 innocent lives are fair retribution for each kar–sevak killed.
• What if this chain of reasoning is carried one step further? For the thousand people now dead, would it be a "natural" emotional counter–reaction, in the ratio of 18:1, for 18,000 more innocents to be slaughtered? You cannot fault the logic, or the arithmetic?
• Therefore, the citizens of this state — and particularly we businessmen — must do everything we can to refute this utterly dangerous proposition, that an act of violence can lead naturally to a counter–action of violence. It is nothing but a self–serving political argument, which if given greater currency, will surely wreak terrible damage on the economy of Gujarat and of India.

Who Loses?

Earlier, I had said that we can no longer contemplate the recent events as a passing storm and expect that soon it should be business as usual.

In today’s economy, it can no longer be so.

• Workers can vote with their feet. Much good labour may desert the State, adding to poverty and unemployment in Gujarat and other states.
• The poorest, daily–rated worker always suffers the most in a riot. There are more Hindu daily rated workers than Muslims in most of our cities, so the majority community — at the lowest level of subsistence — is also dealt an economic blow.
• For every one person killed in riots, a dozen more may lose their breadwinner and hundreds more become homeless. What do we gain by impoverishing our consumers?
• Economies need stability and confidence in their future to attract investment. The flight of capital from this State cannot be counted at this moment; but in a while, it will be evident. It is safe to predict that hundreds of crores of investment will be turned away over the next few years, if normalcy doesn’t return NOW. Is this a price that the citizens of this State should pay in the long run, so that a few leaders may have the temporary satisfaction of "teaching some people a lesson."
• Finally, (staying only with the economic arguments) Indian business and industry, for ten years, have never lost an opportunity to berate the government at the Centre for not doing enough to help Indian industry become globally competitive. Yet, what happened in Gujarat, without industry (except for CII) raising its voice, will directly result in Gujarat becoming less competitive in future.

Its access to a good workforce, experienced managers and Indian and foreign investment is already being undermined. We know that already British Gas (due to invest $500 m in the State) the foreign strategic partners of Maroli Port, McDonalds, Samsung, LG, and a host of others are openly discussing a review of their investments in Gujarat.

Are We A Secular State?

Thanks to much confusion in the way we use English, we seem to have lost our understanding over the last 50 years of the correct meaning of the word ‘secular’. (It is interesting that there is no equivalent word for ‘secular’ in Indian languages!) The English word has always been used in contra–distinction to the word ‘religious’. While a purist definition would actually imply ‘anti–religious’, the generally accepted meaning the world over, is that a secular state is one where the State remains indifferent to, and neutral between, the religious beliefs and practices of its citizens. In short, the separation of Religion from the State.

The Constituent Assembly debates on the subject were heated, with many attempts to propose the concept of equal support for all religions, an idea contained in the phrase ‘sarva dharma samabhava’ — a phrase now so misused and confounding in its practical application, that it ought to be given a holiday. This should stop our political leaders from rushing around the country, at your and my expense, worshipping at shrines of whichever religions are politically expedient for them.

Dr. Rasheeduddin Khan, former Director of the Indian Institute of Federal Studies, has often being quoted on his well-accepted definition of secularism:

"… the secular character of the State is exhibited when it remains distant from, and distinct from, religion–dominated politics. In pursuit of State activities, it should show a respectful indifference to religion and keep a vigilant distance from political communalism.

"… the State in India is not a federation of religions; nor an aggregation of religious communities. It is an association of citizens – free and equal – irrespective of caste, colour, sex, language, region or status. A modern State is based on a Constitution… therefore a secular State should act as a secular State, no less and no more."

In short, a society is secular when any individual can go about his business confident that no one will harm him on the basis of his religion. Religion belongs to the home, the family, the temple or church or mosque — but not in public life.

Why have we found it so difficult to operate secular forms of governance in India? Let us state some more unpalatable truths.

Pre–modern India was very communal. If it was a Hindu State, there was no equality before the law, no equality of citizenship. It depended on your caste; even punishment depended on your caste. If it was a Muslim State, all others were second–class citizens. It is only in modern India that some concept of equality before the law is surfacing.

Yet, in the 1970s, Indira Gandhi brazenly undermined this spirit by building her vote–bank of Kshatriyas, Harijans, Adivasis and Muslims, known as KHAM. Even now, when a major political leader in Bihar aggressively attempts to unite Yadavs and Muslims, we don’t bat an eyelid. With over 35% of Gujarat’s population consisting of Patels, Banias and Brahmins, is it surprising that caste politics is still in full play?

If we are failing as a secular State, it is because equality before the law is not being practised. Unless we try to remove caste and religion from public life, secularism is going to be very difficult to uphold.

Can We Teach Minorities A Lesson?

Consider another set of numbers.

The population of Muslims in India is approximately 120 million. If they were a nation on their own, with a population of that size they would be ranked the 9th largest nation in the world! Does it make sense to threaten a war against such a large community in our midst, with slogans such as "go to Pakistan – or the Kabrastan?"

The moment people begin to believe such slogans, seeds of deep insecurity will be sown in a vast population dispersed across every part of our country, cities and villages. Should such a community turn hostile, then in today’s world of advanced weaponry and suicide bombers, it is not difficult to envisage the majority community being subject to immense threat and risk, that may endure for generations.

Omkar Goswami, CII’s chief economist, in a recent article, quoted a few lines from a poem (‘Remorse for Intemperate Speech’) by YB Yeats:

"Out of Ireland we have come.

Great hatred, little room

Maimed us at the start

I carry in my mother’s womb

A fanatic heart."

The Sangh Parivar may derive satisfaction from pulling Muslim minorities down a peg or two; but the appalling consequences of their actions will be to breed a whole new generation of terrorists both in their own fold and among the communities of Muslim and Dalit victims. Imagine an "intifada" type situation permeating the cities of India, where will the Hindus then turn? Especially when all the international goodwill we have recently built up will vanish and we shall be regarded as not different from our neighbours across our northwestern borders.

Is it not, therefore, our duty as educated, secular and modern thinking Indians, to roundly condemn their hateful and suicidal slogans? Should we not be putting every pressure on government to clamp down sharply on the distribution of pamphlets spreading virulent nonsense about minorities?

Minority Rights… or Human Rights?

One lesson of history is worth remembering: that a society that turns against other minorities, soon ends up by turning on its own. Consider, too, that our nation is replete with minorities — not just Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis and others; but most strikingly, Hindus have the largest minorities of all! Indeed, who or what is the Hindu majority? What happened to Brahmin superiority in Tamil Nadu? What’s happening to upper castes as the lower castes form coalitions? Is the numerical superiority of Dalits in several states fully appreciated? Adivasis are now organising and striking back. Indeed going back a little in time, have we forgotten that over half the Mughal elite that ran the Mughal administration were Rajputs?

The issue for all of us in CII is not to sweep these embarrassing caste – political issues under the carpet; but to take a clear stand with governments that we do not believe in an India segmented by caste. We don’t make our soap, shoes, TVs, cycles and pharmaceuticals for this caste or that. And, we would wish to recruit our work force from all communities based on competence and productivity.

It’s high time we spoke up for industry and commerce and declared that we don’t believe in religious rights or minority rights, but only in human rights.

Business Can & Must Act

For these economic reasons alone – and without even touching on the more fundamental ethical, social and cultural issues — we have a duty to take an unequivocal, public position in advocating at least the following:

• The government of the state — on its own or seeking whatever assistance if needs — must ensure the maintenance of law and order throughout the state, in an impartial and non–partisan manner.
• Extraordinary efforts must be made, swiftly, to bring to book the culprits of Godhra; and to identify the key leaders of the riots and the genocide that ensued. Special courts or judicial procedures should be put in place to accomplish this.
• If the government is tardy in its response, every support and assistance must be given to the Citizens’ Public Inquiry Commissions that may have to be set up, chaired by eminent retired judges, to carry out independent investigations and place their findings before the public. (This was done in Mumbai after the 1992/93 riots and only then did the true facts of what happened emerge, thus permitting charges to be framed against the culprits.)

If the government attempts to obstruct such efforts, we must publicly resist them. Once the opportunity to book culprits is lost, the seeds of new terrorism will be sown.

• We should extend unqualified support to the rehabilitation programmes under formulation by CII’s Gujarat chapter; and those already being run by voluntary organisations; offering finance and human resources.
• We should accord the highest priority, in the plans of CII, to build back business confidence and restore economic activity in the state.
• CII should ask to become involved in planning projects relating to upgradation of services and infrastructure in the Walled City of Ahmedabad, where living conditions have remained conducive, over decades, to eruption of disturbances at regular intervals.
• In the longer term, CII should endorse and lend support to the creation of Mohalla Committees (along the lines of those in Mumbai, Bhiwandi and Vadodara) to create more "Ram–Rahim tekdas."
• CII should join the voices against politically motivated transfers by government, of upright and capable civil servants and police officers. CII has a vested interest in ensuring that administration remains in clean and competent hands.
• If we don’t have the time to do voluntary work ourselves, can we enable our womenfolk — (behind every manager stands a great woman) — to spend time with voluntary organisations to pacify the disconsolate and render relief to the thousands of victims in relief camps?
• Above all, we shall have to stop being a silent constituency and gather courage — as Deepak Parikh of HDFC did yesterday — to speak up for upholding the secular values in our Constitution.

We should condemn fundamentalist leaders of all religions. Bhindranwale never spoke for all Sikhs; neither the Imam Bukhari nor Shahabuddin speak for all Muslims; nor do Ashok Singhal or Uma Bharti speak for all Hindus.

Show the Way:

With tens of thousands of Muslims huddled in relief camps, and with government reluctant to reach out to them as they should, can we, as individuals, make any difference?

I’d like to close by quoting Professor Bandukwala, who barely escaped with his life from Vadodara while his house and library were gutted by the mobs. In a recent talk at Bombay, full of compassion and wisdom, he recalled a fable of Tagore, about a man on the shore watching the sun set over the sea.

The sun proclaimed "Now, darkness will descend, and you will be lost." The humble man, who was with his family and friends lit a small candle and said, "this is no sun, but it will give us light enough to find our way."

Thank you.

(We have reproduced above the full text of his address at the CII Gujarat Annual Day, Ahmedabad, 30 March 2002)

Archived from Communalism Combat, July 2002 Year 8  No. 79, Forum

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