Skip to main content

Stoking religious divisions is something Modi "still needs to do" in future: Pulitzer Prize winning journo

Counterview Desk
A New York Times feature (July 5) has said Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a campaigner during the elections may have “assiduously avoided religious issues, hewing to the economic growth platform that carried him to a landslide victory”, and he may have "tried to set a conciliatory, centrist tone, and some of his decisions since taking power have disappointed his far-right backers”. But the presence of Sanjeev Balyan in his council of ministers is “a reminder that stoking (religious) divisions remains a way to win votes, something that Modi still needs to do in order to build up a team of regional allies in the coming months and years.”
Minister of state for agriculture, Balyan holds a “high-profile post”, the NYT feature says, adding, “On the heels of an ugly episode of religious polarization, Balyan won election to Parliament in a landslide, delivering this sugarcane-producing region in the politically vital state of Uttar Pradesh into the hands of Modi’s center-right BJP for the first time in 15 years.” The feature has been authored by Ellen Barry as the main writer, who won Pulitzer Prize for international reporting in 2010 for "Above the Law," a series about corruption and abuse of power in Russia two decades after the end of communism.
What makes the choice of Balyan, a veterinarian, curious is that he “is a first-time officeholder famous for precisely one thing: After two Hindu men were killed in an altercation with Muslims in his district last summer, he rallied crowds of angry young men from his caste, urging them to protect their own kind”. Here, Berry quotes reports to say that Balyan, before the riots in Muzaffarnagar, would address crowds to say, “Wherever we will find people belonging to the Muslim community, by killing them, we will get our revenge”
“A week later, mobs of armed Hindu men descended on local villages, leaving around 60 people, mostly Muslims, dead and prompting tens of thousands of Muslims to flee their homes”, Berry says, drawing a parallel with Gujarat riots: “It was an echo of the episode that has haunted Modi’s political career for more than a decade. In 2002, not long after Modi had taken office as chief minister of Gujarat, riots broke out after Hindu pilgrims burned to death in a train.”
Berry recalls, how during the 2002 riots, “some Hindus blamed Muslims for setting a coach of a train on blaze, and “weeks of bloodletting followed. More than 1,200 people died, most of them Muslims. Modi, who has close ties to right-wing Hindu organizations, was long blamed for failing to stop the killing.” She quotes Neerja Chowdhury, a political analyst, to say, “It is one ballgame to win an election and an entirely different ballgame to run a country like India.”
Balyan taking oath to be minister
While the violence that tore through the Muzaffarnagar district last August “began with an ordinary quarrel”, and “some sharp words were exchanged” after the incident brawl, the riots shook following several developments. Thus, though the BJP “was not traditionally strong in the region, high-ranking officials became regular visitors to the Jat areas, making the three-hour journey from New Delhi”, and Balyan became the “true local champion”.
“Balyan and other leaders were detained several days later in what the police described as a preventive measure. In June, investigators submitted charges against them for ‘promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion’, and disobeying and obstructing public servants,” Berry says, yet adding, “In an interview “Balyan played down the importance of the charges, which he described as ‘the kind of case which can be slapped against anyone for political reasons’.”
Describing the riots, Berry says, “The weekend after the gathering brought another huge meeting of Hindu men — and a burst of violence. Groups of men armed with machetes and clubs coursed through the streets of Kutba Kutbi, Balyan’s home village, some chanting ‘Go to Pakistan, or go to the graveyard’, said Muslims who fled the village that day… They set fire to the mosque and Muslims scattered, some taking shelter on their roofs and others plunging into sugarcane fields.”
Berry quotes a Muslims who fled the village as saying, “We saw body parts lying about”. Eight men and one woman were killed in that one village, residents said, listing out the names. She quotes Indramani Tripathi, a top civil official in Muzaffarnagar, as saying, “I have never seen anything like it, and I hope and pray I never see such a situation again.”
Even today, “none of the village’s Muslims have returned to their homes”, Berry says, adding, “Though Hindus from Qutba occasionally pass through the new Muslim settlement, they do not stop, and the two groups regard each other with cold distrust, braced for new violence. Mohammad Jafar Siddiqui, 32, grimaced when asked about Balyan’s new post: ‘For his role in shedding the blood of innocentshe was rewarded with a ministership’.”
Pointing to how September’s riots were, to a great extent, “eclipsed by the seismic political events of the spring, when the BJP made a stunning showing in Uttar Pradesh, winning 71 out of 80 parliamentary seats”, in Berry’s view, “Voters in Uttar Pradesh were not exactly swept up in the Modi wave, with 62 per cent of them saying they would have voted for the BJP regardless of its leader, according to the Center for the Study of Developing Societies. Indeed, in his campaigning Balyan often explicitly departed from Modi’s centrist message.”

Comments

TRENDING

'Enough evidence' in Indian tradition to support legal basis for same-sex marriage

By Iyce Malhotra, Joseph Mathai, Sandeep Chachra*  The ongoing hearing in the Supreme Court on same-sex marriage provides space for much-needed conversations on issues that have hitherto remained “invisible” or engaged with patriarchal locker room humour. We must recognize that people with diverse sexualities and complex gender identities have faced discrimination, stigma and decades of oppression. Their issues have mainly remained buried in dominant social discourse, and many view them with deep insecurities.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Victim of communal violence, Christians in Manipur want Church leadership to speak up

By Fr Cedric Prakash SJ*  The first eleven days of May 2023 have, in many ways, been a defining period of Indian history! Plenty has happened in a rapid-fire stream of events. Ironically, each one of them are indicators of how crimes and the criminalisation of society has become the ‘new norm’; these include, the May Day rallies with a focus on the four labour codes which are patently against the rights of workers; the U S Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released its Annual Report on 1 May stating that conditions for religious freedom in India “continued to worsen in 2022”; the continued protest by the Indian women wrestlers at Jantar Mantar for the expulsion of the chief of the Indian Wrestlers Federation on very serious allegations; the Elections in Karnataka on 10 May (with communalism and corruption as the mainstay); the release of the fake, derogative and insensitive film ‘The Kerala Story’; the release of World Free Press Index on 3 May which places India

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Delhi HC rules in favour of retired Air Force officer 'overcharged' for Covid treatment

By Rosamma Thomas*  In a decision of May 22, 2023, the Delhi High Court ruled in favour of petitioner Group Captain Suresh Khanna who was under treatment at CK Birla Hospital, Gurugram, between April 28 and May 5, 2021, for a period of eight days, for Covid-19 pneumonia. The petitioner had to pay Rs 3,55,286 as treatment costs, but the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) only reimbursed him for Rs 1,83,748, on the basis of government-approved rates. 

Unlike other revolutionaries, Hindutva icon wrote 5 mercy petitions to British masters

By Shamsul Islam*  The Hindutva icon VD Savarkar of the RSS-BJP rulers of India submitted not one, two,or three but five mercy petitions to the British masters! Savarkarites argue: “There are no evidences to prove that Savarkar collaborated with the British for his release from jail. In fact, his appeal for release was a ruse. He was well aware of the political developments outside and wanted to be part of it. So he kept requesting for his release. But the British authorities did not trust him a bit” (YD Phadke, ‘A complex Hero’, "The Indian Expres"s, August 31, 2004)

Savarkar 'criminally betrayed' Netaji and his INA by siding with the British rulers

By Shamsul Islam* RSS-BJP rulers of India have been trying to show off as great fans of Netaji. But Indians must know what role ideological parents of today's RSS/BJP played against Netaji and Indian National Army (INA). The Hindu Mahasabha and RSS which always had prominent lawyers on their rolls made no attempt to defend the INA accused at Red Fort trials.

Polygamy in India "down" in 45 yrs: Muslims' from 5.7 to 2.55%, Hindus' 5.8 to 1.77%, "common" in SCs, STs

By Rajiv Shah Amidst All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) justifying polygamy, saying it “meets social and moral needs and the provision for it stems from concern and sympathy for women”, facts suggest the the practice is down from 5.7 per cent of Muslim families in 1961 to 2.55 per cent in 2006.

India joining US sponsored trade pillar to hurt Indian farmers, 'promote' GM seeds, food

Counterview Desk  As many as 32 civil society organisations (CSOs), in a letter to Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) and India joining the trade pillar, have said that its provisions will allow the US to ensure a more favourable regulatory regime “for enhancing its exports of genetically modified (GM) seeds and GM food”, underlining, it will “significantly hurt the livelihoods of Indian farmers.”

Modi govt 'wholly untrustworthy' on Covid data, censored criticism on pandemic: Lancet

By Rajiv Shah*   One of the world’s most prestigious health journals, brought out from England, has sharply criticised the Narendra Modi government for being “wholly untrustworthy on Covid-19 health data”, stating, the “official government figures place deaths at more than 530 000, while WHO excess death estimates for 2020 and 2021 are near 4·7 million.”