Skip to main content

Godhra aftermath made Modi strong, changed Hindu psyche, depressed Muslims

Harsh Thakor* 

The Godhra train burning on February 27, 20 years ago, will go down in history as a breeding ground of Hindutva. In its aftermath from February 28 a communal carnage was unleashed targeting Muslims -- a manifestation of the saffron ideology. It is ironical that burning of the train coach was staged on February 27, the day the Nazi storm troopers set fire on the German Parliament, Reichstag, in 1933, weeks after Hitler was elected as German chancellor.
Narendra Modi, as Gujarat chief minister, sought to whip up Hindu chauvinist hysteria to capture vote bank. The intensity was comparable to the riots after the demolition of Babri Masjid in Mumbai, or earlier the Sikh riots in 1984 in Delhi. Similar to Babri Masjid, it completely transformed the psyche of Hindus. Ever since, the Muslim psyche has been demoralised and the community alienated.
To quote Harsh Mander, “There was a distinct, tragic and ghastly feature of the state sponsored carnage unleashed against the Muslim minority in Gujarat, which was the systematic sexual violence committed against young girls and women. Rape was used as an instrument for the subjugation and humiliation of a community. A chilling technique, absent in pogroms unleashed hitherto but very much in evidence this time in a large number of cases, was the deliberate destruction of evidence.”
He adds, “Barring a few, in most instances of sexual violence, the women victims were stripped and paraded naked, then gangraped, and thereafter quartered and burnt beyond recognition. The Gujarat carnage stands out for its extensive and specific targeting of women, young girls and children, who were subjected to the most sadistic and vicious forms of violence.”
It was a reminder that our parliamentary democratic system is secular only in form and not in essence. The policies of successive Congress regimes paved the path for the ascendancy of Hindu communalism. Who can forget the Congress patronage of Shiv Sena in Bhiwandi riots, the opening of the doors of the Babri Masjid in 1986 and support to Rath yatra in 1990?
One can recount instances of Congress endorsing brick worship and lighting Ramshilas to win elections. It never revoked the demand to build a Ram Mandir in the decade before the demolition of the Babri Masjid. It was this very policy that set a fertile ground for a leader like Modi to sprout in Gujarat. Activists like Teesta Setalvad were hunted down and incriminated, which testifies to fascist tendencies.
Historians need to dwell into the archives which record how for a sustained period a tempo or breeding ground was sown to whip up anti-Muslim communal hysteria, culminating in the massacre. There was continuous ebb and flow in various commissions in projecting what led to the burning of the S-6 Godhra coach of the Sabarmati Express in Godhra.
One trend placed the blame on Muslim activists, while others projected how it was a plot hatched by the Hindutva forces. The Nanavati-Mehta Commission appointed by the Gujarat government went out of the way to distort events. However, the Concerned Citizens Tribunal made a historic intervention in investigating the truth. Its findings are in striking contrast to the lies of the government-appointed Nanavati Commission.
Still we must never obliterate from our memories the numerous instances of Hindus and Muslims not abstaining from the scene and saving many a life. There were many examples of Hindus giving food and shelter to Muslims and vice versa. One is touched by the cultivation of a brotherly relationship between Qutbuddin Ansari, a victim of the riots, and Ashok Parmar, who inadvertently became an instrument of rioting. Ansari inaugurated Parmar’s footwear store. Parmar earlier launched Ansari’s biography.
The saffron ascendancy to power has had a wide-ranging impact. Textbooks began being written in order to tarnish the image of Muslims as though historically they waged a conspiracy on India by destroying temples and robbing Hindus of their rights. They give no credit to the Muslims for the heroic role they staged in confronting the British colonialists. Today discrimination of Muslims has reached an unprecedented height.
A strong tide erupted, exonerating Modi of any responsibility for the 2002 genocide. In 2012, Modi was cleared of complicity in the violence by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the Supreme Court of India. The SIT rejected claims that the state government had not done enough to prevent the riots. In July 2013, allegations were made that the SIT had suppressed evidence. In April 2014, the Supreme Court expressed satisfaction over the SIT's investigations in nine cases related to the violence, and rejected a plea contesting the SIT report as baseless.
Thanks to support it receives from NRIs, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad has sprouted into a big organised Hindutva force. Activists of Chinmaya mission world over today openly profess that Muslims are enemies, indoctrinating Indian youth. And in Gujarat, the organised democratic and left movement has been ineffective in checking the escalation of Hindutva politics. The trade union movement has been turned simply ineffective. Gandhians failed to diffuse the communal onslaught.
In Mumbai certain organizations and NGOs played commendable role forming a joint front of democratic and secular organizations. They held a sustained postering and leafleting campaign to help those undertaking relief programme for Gujarat Muslims. The secular spirit of Mumbai could not be broken. A joint statement condemning the BJP and Modi was published by five Left groups. In many a basti area secular self-defence forces were set up which stung the saffron brigade.
Ashok Parmar, Qutubuddin Ansari
Intellectuals like Randhir Singh, Sumanta Banerjee, Romila Thapar, Rana Ayub and Gautam Navalakha rebuked the saffron brigade, and so did several civil liberty groups in Delhi. Efforts in similar direction were made by students of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai. Fronts like Jagrut Kamgar Manch and Lok Shahi Hakk Sanghatana did creditable work in quelling communal hysteria in that period in basti areas.
Though officially classified as a communal riot, the events of 2002 have been described as stage managed by many scholars, with some commentators alleging that the attacks had been planned, and the attack on the train an act of premeditated violence. Other observers have stated that these events had met the "legal definition of genocide," or referred to them as state terrorism or ethnic cleansing.
The United States banned Modi from travelling to the United States due to his alleged role in the attacks. The allegations centre around several ideas. First, the state did little to curb the violence, with attacks continuing well through the Spring. Secondly, there was suppression of freedom of religious relief.
Throughout the violence, attacks were made in the complete presence of police stations and police officers who did not intervene. In many instances, police became part and parcel of the mob fury. 
Instances of mass violence included the Naroda Patiya massacre that took place directly adjacent to a police training camp and the Gulbarg Society massacre, where Ehsan Jafri, a former Congress parliamentarian, was among those killed. At one Muslim locality, of the 29 deaths, 16 were caused by police firing into the locality.
Some rioters even had printouts of voter registration lists, allowing them to selectively target Muslim properties. Even the Muslim Wakf, located within the confines of the high security zone and just 500 metres from the office of the chief minister, was not spared.
--- 
*Freelance journalist based in Mumbai

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".

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.

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

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)

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.”

Savarkar 'opposed' Bhagat Singh's, Netaji's dream of India, supported British war efforts

By Shamsul Islam* In a shocking development, the student wing of the RSS put the busts of martyrs Bhagat Singh and Subhash Chandra Bose with Savarkar's on one pedestal at the University of Delhi late in the night on August 20, 2019. Bhagat Singh sacrificed his life for a socialist-democratic-secular republic and Netaji raised Azad Hind Fauj (INA) consisting of people of all religions and regions for armed liberation of India.

Undermining law, breastfeeding? Businesses 'using' celebrities to promote baby food

By Rajiv Shah*  A report prepared by the top child welfare NGO, Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India (BPNI), has identified as many as 15 offenders allegedly violating the Indian baby food law, the Infant Milk Substitutes Feeding Bottles, and Infant Foods (Regulation of Production, Supply and Distribution) Act 1992, and Amendment Act 2003 (IMS Act), stating, compliance with the law “seems to be dwindling by the day.”