Rajasthan: attempting a replication From Communalism Combat Archives
10, Nov 2001 | Teesta Setalvad
Serious attempts at a replication of the BJP’s Gujarat model of ‘Hindu rashtra’ are afoot in the neighbouring, Congress–ruled state. The most ominous is the Bajrang Dal’s ‘Trishul Diksha Samarohs’ through which ‘trishuls’ — carefully disguised Rampuri knives that can kill — are being distributed in lakhs
In Rajasthan today, government agencies, the administration and the police are under severe strain due to concentrated actions and campaigns being con ducted by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Shiv Sena — a new and visible presence in this region — the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal (BD), aided and abetted by the parliamentary wing of the Hindu extremists — the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Of immediate concern is the systematic distribution of a few hundred thousand ‘trishuls’ — cleverly disguised Rampuri knives, six–eight inches long and sharp enough to kill —, delivering the lethal instrument to ‘every Hindu household’ in villages where the Trishul Diksha Samaroh is conducted. As we go to press, over seven districts in Rajasthan have had active ‘trishul’ distribution programmes. Raipur, Kotda, Jaipur and Asind are only some of the places around which the campaign was being carried out. Most others have also been covered in this brazen attempt to militarise society in the garb of a religious programme.
The campaign raises serious ethical and legal questions, especially as it is accompanied by clever rhetoric, Hindus being exhorted through speeches and incendiary pamphlets to beware of the danger ahead and to arm themselves. In short, prepare for violence. (See CC, July 2000 and Aug–Sept 2001).
The trishul, like the kirpan, is exempt from the provisions of Indian law on the ground that it is a religious symbol. But when a weapon, specifically because of it’s religious symbolism, is used to arm persons already charged with hatred against other sections of society and is likely to be used as a terror tool, is such an exemption justified? Is this not tantamount to violating tenets of the Indian Constitution and the Indian Arms Act that are based on principles of a non–violent and non–armed civil society?
In mid–November, the Rajasthan government decided to seize a pamphlet jointly published by the VHP-BD. What did this pamphlet contain? And, if the police is empowered to take action against the provocative writings, what about the provocative arming of ordinary villagers with knives (disguised as trishuls) that can kill?
A case was filed against the publishers of the pamphlet, under article 153a by the Rajasthan police in end–September and the police applied to the state government, under section 95 of the Criminal Procedure Code that empowers the police with the power to seize any objectionable material. On November 12, the state government decided to seize copies of the pamphlet titled, ‘Hathon mein talwaren, seene mein hai toofan; raksha kare desh ki, Bajrang Dal ke jawan’, (‘The Bajrang Dal volunteers are defending the nation with swords in their hands and a storm raging in their hearts’).
Highly placed sources in the Rajasthan state intelligence wing told CC that the contents of this pamphlet, distributed in large numbers all over the state, were objectionable and malicious, with full potential to cause communal disturbances: hence the ban. The Rajasthan intelligence has made special note of the fact that the BD and VHP have claimed joint credit for the publication.
Rajasthan is clearly on the edge of a precipice.
At a recent public rally, chief minister Ashok Gehlot revealed that as many as 40 lakh ‘trishuls’ had been distributed by the BD countrywide. He has also written to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in late September, demanding a ban on the Bajrang Dal. The executive at the higher level of government is also showing clear resolve in tackling the communal menace. But down the line, at the division, district and tehsil level, the administrative and the police machinery have displayed either an inability or a singular lack of intention in enforcing the law in accordance with Constitutional principles.
“Nine years, in totality, of BJP rule has been used by the party leadership to successfully infiltrate echelons of the administration and the police,” Sriprakash Sharma, senior journalist and editor of Rashtradoot told CC. “Even now, sections of the top cadre of the IAS and the IPS visit the former BJP chief minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and the latter publicly flaunts this as he did a few weeks ago at Diwali.”
The brazenness with which the Hindu extremists relate to the authorities is well illustrated by the following example from Jahazpur town which has witnessed communal violence in recent months:
On Dussehra day, though section 142 (prohibition of any assembly with weapons) was in force, the VHP-SS-BD clan assembled in Jahazpur was bent on brandishing swords in the procession. But the deputy superintendent of police, Hemant Sharma, who had permitted the procession without arms, would not allow this. Many among the leadership and organisers took strong objection to this and actually insulted and roughed up the DySP leading him to file complaints against three members of the BD, VHP and the SS under section 148, IPC (rioting armed with deadly weapons), and against 13 others for assaulting and misbehaving with a public servant. Those booked include Moolchand Sonar of the SS (under section 108) and Dinesh Prajapat and Santkumar — for both offences and Kalu Joshi belonging to the BD and VHP under section 148. Will the police allow the cases to reach their logical conclusion to ensure that such attempts to defy the law are not made again?
The state saw three communal riots and 40 cases of communal tension in the year 2000. And, according to official police records, there have so far been four incidents of communal riots and 50 cases of communal tension in the current year.
Figures are said to be almost always deceptive and nowhere could this axiom apply more than in understanding the events that have ended up being classified as incidents of ‘communal violence’ or mere ‘tension’ by the state police in Rajasthan. This is because there is both a specific context to each incident of violence or tension and a discernible pattern in the techniques of communal mobilisation being used. Hate campaigns and criminal actions, including destruction of homes and businesses following attacks on places of worship have been the favoured methods of the ‘Hindutva’ brigade in Rajasthan as elsewhere.
Moreover, and this requires careful handling during any analysis, many districts of Rajasthan are the historical locales of genuinely ‘mixed’ communities especially among Hindus and Muslims. For example, in Beawar, where the Cheeta Mera communities are dominant, we can still find a brother each of common parentage, belonging to two different faiths and being married through pheras or nikaahs respectively. But Beawar in recent times has seen sharp polarisation.
Thus, since the mid–eighties, demographic and cultural changes have been motivated by both the VHP and the Tableegi Jamaat to concentrate their energies on ‘re-conversions’ in these areas and among communities, with a desire to de–Islamise or de–Hinduise them. As a result, peoples and communities who until a decade-and-a-half ago were indistinguishable in dress and attire, culture and custom, today carry unmistakable marks of a new religious identity and with this, the newly found zeal of a latter–day convert.
In Nasirabad, Ajmer district, violence erupted on April 4–5, the day of Moharram and Mahavir Jayanti. According to state intelligence agencies and the investigations carried out by the state unit of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), in the middle of the night of April 4, certain identified persons stoned the Laxminarayan temple and some of the idols on the outside were damaged. Street lamps on the main road of Nasirabad and vehicles outside homes were also broken.
Though the Moharram procession was disallowed, local Muslims kept their cool. However, the VHP brazenly burnt one taazia and upturned another when the taazia juloos was finally permitted. The police had to resort to lathi charge to control the situation. Curfew was declared. Some local advocates were charged with the offence of burning the taazia. To protest against this, lawyers in Nasirabad declared a bandh of the courts, which continued for a month–and–a–half.
On April 11 and 16, violence broke out at Beawar and Sawar when officials tried to pull down an unauthorised mosque (Masooda masjid) in Ravla Baria village and the Muslim villagers prevented them from doing so. In the hyped up propaganda about cause and effect that survives every incident of violence, state police and intelligence notch this one against Muslims who were defending an illegal structure.
But local residents, including R Kumavat who played a significant role in allaying tensions at the time, (see Peacemakers section) took the trouble to unravel the truth behind the hype. They found that while an overzealous administration was keen on actually destroying a half-constructed masjid at Ravla Baria, hundreds of mandirs in the district that line the hilltops and roads, including the Ashapura Mata mandir constructed by the VHP, have been allowed their unlawful existence.
In a society divided by sharp religious polarizations, the selective application of the Religious Places of Worship Act (that is in force in Rajasthan and West Bengal and which requires prior official permission for construction of a religious place of worship) is seen as one more attempt to show Muslims their place.
“In Beawar town, there are 6,000 Muslims and 75,000 Hindus. When we visited the area after the violence, we found that the Muslims had been terrorized. In Nasirabad, Ajmer, too, Muslims have been pushed into displaying a board outside the Jama Masjid that says, “Visitors from UP or Bihar will not be allowed to stay here,” Kavita Srivastava, a social activist involved with the Freedom to Information campaign and the PUCL, Rajasthan told CC. “This is in response to the systematic hype about ‘dangerous outsider madrassa education’ that is being used to fuel suspicion and ill–will against Muslims followed by violence. After the incident at Nasirabad and then, Beawar, there is desperation now among the Muslims who say, ‘we are bending over backwards. Ham kis had tak jayen?’ they ask (How far do we have to go to be allowed to live in peace?). Is this healthy?”
The violence in Rajasthan this year did not stop here. On July 16, the mazaar at the dargah of Hazrat Sayed Baba Vithal in Jahazpur, was destroyed (see box). A member of the BD was arrested but then, because of the pressure put by the local BD and VHP to terrorise locals into closing markets, the accused was released by the administration.
“They simply did not let anyone get arrested in connection with this incident,” says Bhanwar Meghvanshi, the local representative of the PUCL. Again, on July 26, in another incident that was engineered at Asind, the annual urs at the Badiya Baba Mazaar, scheduled for July 26–28 was not allowed to take place; the tents set up in preparation of urs were burnt and on July 27, worshippers were assaulted. On the same day a 400–year–old Savai Bhoj Masjid at Asind was rased to the ground. (See CC, Aug–Sept 01).
A chabootra was constructed at the site and the idol of Hanumanji brought from half a kilometre away was installed here. The name given to the deity was Pir Pachar Hanuman. After that, on August 10, at Vindhya Bhatar also in Jahazpur, another mazaar (Pir Babaji ki mazaar) was also destroyed.
The role of the media surrounding these actions is interesting. Both the local media and the administration projected this incident as a non-incident, claiming that the site was the shrine of Bhoot Bapji and the Meena community worshipped there. Therefore, by implication, what was destroyed was not a mazaar/dargah at all! The fact that a shrine (mazaar) built by members of the Meena community (in memory of Pir Babaji Baba) had to be destroyed by organizations who thereafter wanted to claim the site for cultural re–interpretation escaped even the public statements of the administration, initially. However, due to energetic interventions from citizens and groups, locally and from Jaipur, the administration had this mazaar repaired promptly. Soon thereafter, even the newly installed idol was removed.
Civil liberties groups are now pressing for reconstruction of the masjid at Asind. In the same area, on August 12, at Pandher Kasba, some miscreants destroyed the interior of the mosque, and copies of the Koran were burnt. Until today, no one has been indicted for the incident.
Incidentally, this is not the first time that the Asind mosque has been targeted. In 1985, 1990, 1995 and last April, it has repeatedly drawn the ire of communal forces for whom a tenth century masjid, cheek by jowl with a mandir — for many locals a touching symbol of tolerance and harmony for hundreds of years — was and is anathema. Incidentally, Gujjar Muslim women (Muslims are 30 per cent of the Gujjar population) worshipped as much at the local temple as at the mosque here.
These attacks on Sufi and other shrines of worship — that are visited by a majority of locals who are non–Muslims — were accompanied by the economic and social boycott of Muslim shops and businesses in Jahazpur and other smaller villages. This is reminiscent of the trends and techniques in violence used in Randhikpur–Sanjeli in Gujarat in 1998 and more recently , in Surat, Khed–Lambadiya, Rajkot and Ahmedabad in August 2000.
In the latter incidents, Muslim property worth Rs 15 crore was destroyed after the VHP general secretary, Pravin Togadia, declared, “Wahan ka jawaab yaha denge (We will give our reply to ‘their violence’ here. The reference was to the brutal killing of Amarnath yatris by militants in Kashmir). For a whole week Muslims in all these towns of Gujarat suffered heavy economic losses (see CC, August 2000). Gujarat’s Muslims had to pay heavily for the actions of external terrorists under a BJP government and the heavily communalised administration did nothing. Compensation has not been paid and the guilty are unpunished.
Similarly, for over two months in Jahazpur and other areas, the situation was grim. (See box, Nazirbhai Mohammad). While the impact of the economic boycott has been diluted somewhat since, due to some measures taken by the administration recently, the fact that those persons against whom FIRs and criminal cases lodged for criminal acts and violence have made no progress still suggest only a half–baked desire to tackle the situation.
Following a spate of these incidents, between September 10 and 14, the same forces targeted a small city in Rajasthan that is a symbol of communal harmony — Mandal.
“Hamirgarh,Bigor, Bangror, Badnor, Salaner, Bhilwara all these areas have become targets for communal incidents,” says Meghvansi, a Dalit who was formerly associated with the RSS (See CC, Aug–Sept 01). “The most significant part of the mobilisation is the blatant use of Dalits as aggressors against the minorities — Khatti, Kohli, Balai, Regar, Chamar, Bherwas, the Rawats. Different Dalit and tribal communities are being systematically communalised to serve the upper and middle caste’s motives to foment violence. Their aim is that the Muslims and Dalits, Muslims and tribals fall out, brutally among themselves.”
Muslims in Jahazpur, Beawar and Asind (Bhilwara), as also in Nasirabad (Ajmer) and even Jaipur are bitter. Attacks begin with blatant assaults on places of worship — articles and symbols of faith and culture — and, thereafter, escalate into bouts of violence during which there has been a systematic destruction of Muslim property in lakhs, especially in Beawar, Jahazpur, Asind and Pandher.
“Mujhe kya ibadat karne ka hakk nahin hai ye desh ke andar? (“Do I have no right to follow my own faith in this country?”) is the anguished plea of Nazir Mohammad, a local businessman from Jahazpur? “We have lost property in lakhs but the compensation we have been given is Rs. 5,000.”
The thinking that lies behind each action and the techniques used in the mobilization of local communities bear a chilling similarity to the sowing of deep–rooted divisions among the population in neighbouring Gujarat. Each individual incident is backed by systematic verbal and printed propaganda, unleashed on the public and the administration by outfits like the RSS, the BD, the VHP and more recently, the Shiv Sena.
The propaganda contained in these campaigns is a heady and poisonous mix of half–truths and historical distortions. The fact that the propaganda works — albeit in a scattered and non–uniform way — is evident from the subsequent portrayal of events in the local media, in the language of the administration and most critically, the police. Through this, the shrine that was until yesterday a mazaar or a dargah mysteriously becomes a mandir or poojasthal; the minority communities are isolated for violating the law related to construction of places of worship, while any number of unauthorized temples are allowed to come up unhindered; rumours of molestation and rape by Muslims on Hindu women are spread systematically and unsubstantiated accounts of cow slaughter are peddled to whip up sentiments.
In Gujarat, after each case of communal violence, rioting and tension since 1998 when chief minister Keshubhai Patel first took charge, the influence of the RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal over the administration in Gujarat became more firm (See CC. Welcome to Hindu Rashtra, Oct 1998 and subsequent issues). Similarly, in Rajasthan, too, the administration and the police are being strained and tested by these outfits that believe in blatantly flouting Indian penal law and the Constitution.
(In Gujarat, totally baseless propaganda about Muslim boys abducting Hindu girls and unsubstantiated allegations of Christians meticulously converting were used as useful tools in select areas to silence communities into non–protest when acts of violence against Muslims and Christians were launched (See CC, Welcome to Hindu Rashtra, October 1998).
Rajasthan, influenced by strong caste identities and sentiments that have survived in public spaces, with strong traditions of shared forms of ritual and worship between communities, is now seeing a battle for caste domination and power using the discourse of ‘Hindu identity,’ a discourse that is, unfortunately, the easiest currency to power. In its cover story, ‘Women Under Saffron’ in the November 1997 issue, Communalism Combat exposed the growing violence against women in Rajasthan under BJP rule. The then BJP chief minister, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and his deputy chief minister, Hari Shankar Bhabhra, had justified incidents of rape, acid throwing and molestation. (‘Why talk of humans, even gods cannot be sure of a woman’s character’— Bhabhra). Behind those systematic instances of organized violence against women then lay the crude reality of assertion by the Jat community of Rajasthan, traditional supporters of the Congress, being wooed by the ruling BJP. Today, the motives underlying many instances of organized violence against the Muslim minority in Rajasthan, are to grab power and land by the powerful, emergent Gujjar caste.
Behind these individual incidents of tension and violence lie two major campaigns being orchestrated by the Bajrang Dal and the VHP nationwide. The BD has been holding arms training camps of its cadres in UP, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan for the past two years. In the past three months, weapons disguised as trishuls have been distributed in lakhs. As a useful prop to creating a wider communal consciousness, the VHP also plans to visit every Hindu house as part of it’s 10,000 jalabhishek yatras in as many villages and small towns in Maharashtra, according to intelligence sources in Rajasthan.
It is not insignificant that UP, where the Ayodhya card has possibly been overused, is not the main focus of the sinister campaigns presently under way. All reports suggest that the BJP faces near-certain defeat in that state. Astutely aware of this ground level reality, the locale of the BD–VHP’s communal mobilization and militarisation is not UP, but other states. (See CC, Oct 2001)
More recently, there have also been attempts to focus this campaign on the systematic and conscious militarisation of civil society, a trend that has dangerous implications, given our fragile social relations.
Police investigation and intelligence agencies in some states have been wary of these blatant attempts to draw the country into a cynical replay of the spiral of violence and venom that climaxed on December 6, 1992. This is the factor that pushed three states, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan to demand political steps against the Bajrang Dal at the state DGPs meeting with Union home minister, LK Advani in September.
In Rajasthan, a silver lining in an otherwise bleak scenario is the formation of the Sampradayik Sadbhav Manch, an initiative of citizens that has been interacting closely with the state government. It was the initiative of groups and individuals who belong to this forum that resulted in the administration playing a more proactive role in Asind and which inspired the Rajasthan chief minister Gehlot’s demand for a ban on the Bajrang Dal.
Bringing the guilty to book in the spate of incidents that have rocked Rajasthan, however, remains a formidable, yet crucial, task. This will require strong political backing with a resolve to face the sustained disinformation that these forces have been skillful and successful in unleashing in the past. The secret behind their success, however, has always been the help rendered by a weak–kneed administration.
If the right to equal protection by the law and the fundamental principles of non–discrimination in their application were to become principles that guide the executive, police and administrative actions, the situation could be easily reversed.
The Original article may be read here
The laboratory of HindutvaTools Ø 40 lakh ‘trishuls’ distributed nationwide by the Bajrang Dal in the past few months. Ø These ‘trishuls’ are in fact sharp 6-8 inch long Rampuri knives that can be used to kill. Ø ‘Trishul’ distribution and other arms training camps by the BD and VHP also reported from Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. Ø Jalabhisheks conducted by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad where by its own admission, it seeks to approach ‘every Hindu home in 10,000 villages countrywide’. This running in parallel with the BD’s ‘Trishul Diksha Samarohs’ suggest a sinister repeat of the bloody countrywide mobilisation through the Ramshila poojans in the 80s and Advani’s rath yatra in the early 90s. Techniques l There is a serious bid in Rajasthan to engineer Dalit–Muslim and Muslim–tribal conflicts. l Shrines or dargahs that are symbols of syncretic worship and defy notions of a monolithic Hinduism or Islam are being systematically targeted. l After the attacks and destruction, in the vocabulary of the administration, the aggressors and most of the local media, dargahs become ‘poojasthals’ overnight. l Attempts at polarizing the community market space in kasbahs and villages, through coercive tactics — enforced bandhs and strikes, extended closure of markets and cessation of economic activity — are used to pressurise police and administration into releasing those arrested for criminal acts or to prevent arrests and punitive actions altogether. l Long years of Jan Sangh/BJP rule in the 60s and then under Bhairon Singh Shekhawat in the early and mid-90s have heavily communalised the state’s administration and police. l Senior IAS and IPS officials openly visit the BJP leader and former CM, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, and the latter flaunts this aggressively Targets q To crush the spirit of religious minorities and reduce them to a fearful, desolate, desperate and resentful state; a de facto status of second class citizens. q To strain, test and negatively influence, the secular, principled and neutral visions and actions of the police and administration. The Original article may be read here |
‘Dargahs main targets in Bhilwara’Bhanwar Meghvanshi Bhilwara has become the testing ground for communal forces like the VHP, the RSS and BJP, especially in the last 3–4 months when there have been over half a dozen serious incidents. Believe me, the story does not end here. Their next target is at Kareda, where there is a monument to the Sufi Saint, Sahlena Sarkar Baba who is very dear to people of all religions — Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians. The fact is that only 30% of worshippers here are Muslims whereas over 70% are Hindus; this is not acceptable to communal forces. How can they accept Hindu devotees having faith in a Muslim Baba? We have been telling the administration to protect the shrine adequately. This dargah, like others in Rajasthan, was targeted and burnt down earlier also. At present the most ominous development in Bhilwara is the systematic distribution of the fatal weapon called ‘trishul’ under the Trishul Diksha Samarohs. This programme took place in Kotda. At present, it is under way at Asind. Hiraram Gujjar, the man directly implicated in the Asind dargah destruction is personally conducting the programme, going from house–to-house, village-to-village, distributing ‘trishuls’. These ‘trishuls’ have been distributed in very large numbers. Is this not a serious thing? Dargahs are the main targets of communal forces here. These incidents are systematic the technique use by the forces is chillingly similar-the same group that was responsible for the attack at Jahazpur also carried them out at Bhilwara. There is also a systematic attempt to communalise the Gujjar community and the legacy that Rajesh Pilot left behind is being manipulated for this. Behind all this is the aggressive bid for leadership among Gujjars. Earlier Gujjars never called themselves Hindu; they were simply Gujjars. You would not find Gujjars at RSS shakhas previously. But now you see them in the RSS and even the Bajrang Dal. The Hindutvakaran of the Gujjar is on. As disturbing, and this is something we have just learned, is that in some parts the Muslim League is preparing to retaliate and is distributing ‘Sulemani talwars’. You can imagine the frightening prospects for peace, with the administration silently watching as ‘trishuls’ and talwars are being freely distributed by organisations even when section 144 is in force! The Original article may be read here |
‘Rule of law must prevail’Sriprakash Sharma
The Original article may be read here __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Militarising Hindu societyOver the years, Sikhs scattered across the globe have successfully defended their right to say no to a helmet even at the workplace in countries where a workman is legally obliged to wear them as a safety measure. To do so, they have argued, would mean removing the turban from their heads, which for them is a religious obligation. Back home, some years ago, on being elected to the Lok Sabha, Simranjeet Singh Mann had insisted on his right to carry his kirpan inside the Indian Parliament. Wielded as a weapon, the kirpan could kill. But devout Sikhs maintain that the kirpan for them is an obligatory religious symbol, not an offensive weapon. Even post September 11, an American court has ruled that the kirpan on the person of a Sikh is indeed to be treated as a religious symbol. It can be argued that what is kirpan to a Sikh a trishul is to a Hindu. And it is precisely for that reason that both are exempt from the provisions of the Indian Arms Act. Indians are all too familiar with the sight of sadhus moving around the country with the three–pronged trishul at the end of a pole, which also serves as a walking stick. So far so good. But now? As we all know, a very large number of people from the Sikh faith whom we encounter in daily life — offices, schools, public places — still wear turbans. But we come across very few Sikhs who still carry a kirpan. And apart from sadhus, one can hardly think of Hindus, however devout, who move around with trishuls. What then does one make of the Bajrang Dal’s countrywide Trishul Diksha Samarohs in the course of which, according to Rajasthan’s chief minister, Ashok Gehlot, over 40 lakh Hindus have already been gifted with trishuls in recent months? Has the Bajrang Dal launched a campaign to turn all Hindus into devout sadhus? Given the track record of this extremist outfit, given its arms training camps across the country in the last two years, and given recent calls by some from the sangh parivar to Hindus to prepare to ‘defend’ themselves, religiosity is the least plausible motive driving the current campaign. The most incriminating aspect of the Bajrang Dal’s trishul is that it looks nothing like what one associates with sadhus — if anything, as Congress leaders and police officials point out, they are nothing but Rampuri knives that can kill, specially crafted to look like a religious symbol. Without a shred of doubt, the Bajrang Dal is engaged a national programme to ‘militarise’ Hindus. If this should shock all peace–loving Indians, what is even more shocking is the fact that the insidious game plan has not created a national uproar. While drawing attention to this highly disturbing trend, our cover story this month also highlights what appears to be an obvious attempt on the part of the sangh parivar to replicate its highly effective experiment of communalising BJP–ruled Gujarat in neighbouring Rajasthan, a state presently under Congress rule but a traditional Jana Sangh/BJP bastion. It is not insignificant that apart from the large–scale distribution of ‘trishuls’ and incendiary pamphlets now banned by the state government, as also the VHP’s jalabhishek programme, there appears to be a pre–mediated plan at work to destroy mazaars and dargahs which for long have been the common meeting ground for Hindus, Muslims and people from other religions, too. And, as is also evident from the report of the fact–finding team of human rights activists who visited Malegaon to investigate last month’s riots in that town, the sangh brigade now appears to be working on a plan (in Maharashtra as much as in Gujarat and Rajasthan) whose aim is not so much to kill as to economically cripple the Muslim community. Elsewhere in this issue we have reproduced a report from the Daily Star published from Dhaka that presents a grim account of the highly condemnable, countrywide attacks on Hindus — murder, rape, loot, arson, nothing has been left out — in Bangladesh from the moment the Jamaat–e–Islami backed Begum Khaleda Zia was returned to power. Without doubt, religious intolerance and communal violence is a sub-continental scourge — Christians were attacked in Pakistan recently in ‘retaliation’ to America’s bombing of Afghanistan — and has to be fought at that level. The Original piece may be read here |
Image Courtesy: Representational/ patrika.com
