[sacw] SACW #2 | 01 Mar. 02 [Wave of 'Communal' Violence Strikes India]

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire - Dispatch #2 | 01 March 2002 {INDIA SPECIAL}

[ Please Note: there will be no SACW posts from March 2 to March 3]
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#1. Fire of Fanaticism (Ram Puniyani)
#2. Press Note from Vadadora (Rohit Prajapati & Trupti Shah)
#3. India Death Toll Rises in Religious Rioting
#4. Fresh riots rock Gujarat
#5. - US concerned over communal tension
- Canada urges India to calm passions

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#1.

Date: Fri, 1 Mar 2002 13:09:19 +0530 (IST)
From: Ram Puniyani
Subject: Article on Godhra etc

Fire of Fanaticism

Ram Puniyani

The incidents of Godra have shaken our conscience to no end. What can be
more condemnable than the violence, violence against innocent Human
beings, violence in the name of religion, violence perpetrated apparently
in and around the issues related to temple and mosque? Promptly it got
propagated that those who committed the crime were 'Muslims' and as a
reflex action 'Muslims' have been brought on the firing line, their
households on fire in Ahmadabad with the state machinery obliging the
rioters by looking the other way around. While Ahmadbad is being burnt
state apparatus is merrily declaring that 'situation is under control'!
Yes it has been under control of those who have deeper motives in keeping
the flames of communal hatred alive.

The backdrop of the incident is very revealing. A party, BJP, which is
part of the Sangh Parivar, (whose other members are VHP, Bajarang Dal etc,
all whose controllers come from the same stock, volunteers, swaymsevaks,
trained in the politics of Hindutva, with the goal of Hindu rashtra in
mind,) looses its grip in many a states in the state assembly elections.
As soon as the exit polls start showing the doom of the Party of Hindu
Rashtra, its family members," 'saints' and co." raise the pitch of their
histrionics for building temple for Lord Ram. The 'saints' of the VHP and
the Parivar soon realized that the emotive appeal built around the temple
is not yielding the dividends as it used to do in the yesteryear. Barring
the hardcore supporters of Hindu Rashtra all other fringe supporters who
were brought in by the emotional appeal of Ram Lalla soon realized that
what they need more then the Temple at Ayodhya is bread and butter,
shelter and clothing, education and employment, health facilities and
drinking water, and so they realized their folly of falling in for the
party of Hindu Rashtra and vote with their tummies to stage its route in
the elections. On the top of it even the 'holy Saints' were not able to
draw the expected crowds to the 'Holy Yagnas' and other campaigns. So
finally the communal politics meets its death! If these issues don't bring
the votes to the kitty of BJP, it has no future.

One recalls that BJP's earlier edition; Jana Sangh had begun its politics
on the slogan of Cow Protection. It asserted the Cow is 'equivalent' of
our mother. But people at large, those who are unable to take care of
their own mother who gives them life, did not fall in the trap and the
support base of Jan Sangh did not take off. During eighties as if 'by a
stroke of genius' Sangh Parivar discovered the need for Ram temple in
Ayodhya and by now since an elite, upper caste/class urban middle class
was in for opposing the social transformation, the campaign clicked. And
the rising communal venom got focused through the Ram Temple agitation.
Interestingly it got its real 'flesh and blood' after the Mandal
commission implementation and in due course the Babri demolition and post
demolition riots gave the party of Hindu Rashtra, what it needed
desperately, power to eat into the very ethos of our harmonious culture,
syncretic traditions and the values of Indian Constitution.

Now BJP's electoral success was based on its 'hard core' prepared by RSS
shakha training and by drawing the fringe, novice populace who
intermittently submit to the appeal of "Lord Ram ' in the political area.
So what are the 'lessons ' to be learnt by the Sangh Parivar from this set
back? Number one that Lord Ram will no more be able to collect the votes
for them. Number two they have to carry on with the spoils of power by
taking the allies along. So with multispeak in actioe different languages
are spoken, secularism by Vajpayee, threat of Terrorism by Advani, needed
to keep the facade of NDA agenda by many of them.

Coming back to Godhra. This writer has a feeling of deja vu while hearing
the blame that 'Muslims' have done the dastardly crime. In case of Mumbai
riots blame on this community was based on a very simple logic. Since the
victims are Hindus, (Mathadi Workers in Dockyard or Bane family in
Jogeshwari) so the culprits must be Muslims. Fortunately today at least
after the Shrikrishna Commission report the mist is clear and 'Muslims'
exonerated from the crime, but not from the popular memory? The
retaliation or whatever that is, duly supported by the BJP Govt, stalks
the streets and the clear targets are Muslim. One believes that not
controlling the riot when it can be controlled is connivance if not an
outright support. Today one does not know who burnt the train for sure.
What were the incidents, which led to the mob coming together, getting
armed with petrol bombs etc? One has some reservations in believing
outright that in the "laboratory of Hindu Rashtra", Gujarat, any "Muslim'
group can plan it so well under the nose of the most efficient Swaymaewak
Narendra Modi. Surely there is more to the 'Muslim involvement' in Godra
train incident than meets the eye. But how does that matter. What is
important is that in a society where the popular psyche is doctored
against minorities, broad masses can jump to such quick conclusions and do
the rest?

The immediate aftermath of this will be an increased flow of Kar Sevaks to
Ayodhya. There again another swayamsevak will ensure that whatever is
needed to keep the flames of politics of Hatred aflame is done, even if
one has to pay the price of that with human blood. Afteall unfair is fair
in politics of power and more so if this politics is projected in the name
of God or religion. One can see the minor repeat of the Post Babri
demolition scenario. With the violence spreading and those in power
calculating as to what is more beneficial to control this mayhem or to let
it go on, as that may be more profitable for one's politics.

Whosoever is the real culprit behind the incident, one thing is sure.
Nothing would have served the Sangh Parivar politics better. With the
waning of the appeal of the Temple the 'threat of terrorism' and in turn
the threat of 'aggressive Muslim community' has to be brought up to keep
the electoral base alive. As such this community, which has been
ghettoized due to regular outburst of communal-violence can hardly be
regarded as a threat to the highly muscular Sangh Parivar support. However
one should note in passing that during last five decades the percentage of
the victims of communal violence have their own tale to tell. The 12.4% of
the Muslim minority has an 'enviable' 80% representations in the riot
victims! Who so ever says that they are not well represented? In most of
the inquiry commission reports (Teesta Setalvad, Communalism Combat,
March 98), have indicated that though it is projected that it is Muslims
who start the violence, generally the events are so manipulated that
either they are cornered to throw the first stone or simply blamed for it
out of the blue. One does not know whether the present event has similar
interpretation or something else. Only a proper inquiry will tell the
truth but meanwhile those who wanted to bake their political bread have
already achieved their purpose.

Where do we go from here? The popular psyche has been doctored by Sangh
Parivar into believing that Muslims are the villains, terrorists and all
that. It is that which sustains the violence in deeper sense. We have to
ensure that this much and no more has to be our motto. All those committed
to the Human rights have to come together and put and end to the violence,
which is sustained by hatred for the 'other'. A chain of peace committees,
cutting across different shades of political opinion but committed to
plural culture, have to come together to put an end to violence on the
streets and violence in the mind. The distractions form the real social
agenda, the agenda for growth and development, the agenda of social
transformation towards social, economic and political justice has to be
brought back on the scene on urgent basis.

(Writer works with EKTA, Committee for Communal Amity, Mumbai)

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#2.

Press Release
Date: 1-3-2002

Bandh in present circumstance means peace living people should remain at
home and the communal and Mafia types of mobs are allowed to do whatever
they want. That is exactly what happened yesterday and the Government
response and the response of the police was very negative.
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The incidence of Godhara is shocking and it requires very tough and
immediate action against the involved persons. The life of Kare Sevak and
other people can not be compensated by killing of more innocent peoples. No
human being can justify the killing of other innocent people in the name of
retaliation to Godhara brutal killings. Yesterday It is shamelessly
observed that before the High Court of Gujarat one truck with driver put to
fire. And just very next to Government of Gujarat office of Waqf Board put
to fire. Many more such incidence taken away the innocent lives. The chain
reaction will kill more innocent peoples. The Chief Minster is making vague
and mischievous statement. His casual statement regarding what happened
yesterday indicates his disgusting mind. Any bandh called in such a
situation and that is even by the known communal organisation should not be
supported by the Government. It is unfortunate that the present Gujarat
Government supported the bandh which lead to more killings and such
incidences created more divide between communities. Bandh in present
circumstance means peace living people should remain at home and the
communal and Mafia types of mobs are allowed to do whatever they want. That
is exactly what happened yesterday and the Government response and the
response of the police was very negative. It is high time for both -
Central and State Government to take tough action on the communal forces of
both the communities. People are looking for action not the casual and
formal statements. As if this was not enough the bandh is extended in other
part of India. This mean that the communal organisation want to repeat the
Gujarat in other part of India also. We are shocked and surprised why the
Government is not very serious about it and taking tough action against
such groups ?

Rohit Prajapati
Trupti Shah
37, PATRAKAR COLONY,
TANDLJA ROAD, Vadodara - 390 020
PHONE NO: 0265 - 334461

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#3.

The New York Times
March 1, 2002

India Death Toll Rises in Religious Rioting
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The New York Times
PHOTO: Hindus pillaged and burned houses on Thursday in Ahmedabad.

Filed at 2:42 a.m. ET

AHMADABAD, India (AP) -- Hindus set fire to homes in a shantytown in 
western India early Friday, killing at least 27 Muslims as they 
slept, police said. A state official confirmed that the latest 
violence raises the death toll in two days of religious attacks to 
158.

Home Secretary K. Nityanandam said 158 people had died throughout 
Gujarat state since Hindus began looting, burning and killing on 
Thursday, in retaliation for a deadly Muslim attack on a train. The 
fiery train assault in the small town of Godhra on Wednesday killed 
58 people, mostly Hindu nationalists.

Of those slain in reprisal attacks since, 111 had been killed 
Gujarat's capital, Ahmadabad, Nityanandam said. The death toll could 
go higher as the victims of the shantytown fire were pulled from the 
ashes of their huts, he added,

At least 1,200 people have been arrested in rioting since Thursday, 
Nityanandam said.

Police said 63 people, including two municipal councilors in Godhra, 
have been arrested on murder charges in the train attack. Hindu 
nationalists said the action was not sufficient.

Nityanandam said 900 soldiers were marching in the streets of 
Ahamadabad, where arson, gunfire and stabbings continued through the 
night. Hundreds of people crowded into hospitals for safety.

In the latest attack, about 300 Hindus set fire to a Muslim-dominated 
shantytown in an industrial area at about 2 a.m. Friday, Deputy 
Police Commissioner P.B. Gondya told The Associated Press.

``We have recovered 27 charred bodies. The people were asleep when 
the incident happened,'' Gondya said. At least seven women and eight 
children were among the dead, he said. Another 42 people were 
hospitalized, some with burns over 80 percent of their bodies.

``Many people had already left the slum on Thursday afternoon due to 
fear that they could be targets,'' Gondya said.

Hundreds of shops and homes owned by Muslims were burned overnight.

Defense Minister George Fernandes flew to Ahmadabad on Friday and a 
total 1,300 soldiers were deployed, officials said. In addition to 
the 900 patrolling Ahmadabad, State Information Secretary Anil Mukim 
said 200 would be sent to two other towns.

There were fears the violence could spread as Hindu nationalists 
called for a countrywide strike, but most Indians went to work 
Friday, including in the capital, New Delhi.

There was some stone-throwing in Bombay, the nation's commercial 
capital, located in a state adjacent to Gujarat. A train carrying 
thousands of passengers was derailed in a northeastern Bombay suburb 
when about 100 Hindu activists placed concrete blocks across the 
tracks. No injuries were reported.

The vast majority of Thursday's violence was in Ahmadabad, where 
furious Hindus wielding iron rods and cans of kerosene roamed 
blockaded streets, attacking Muslims in their homes, shops and 
vehicles. Others made bonfires with looted goods, and 20 men tore 
down a small mosque.

J.S. Bandukwala, a Muslim and human rights activist in Ahmadabad, 
said his house was attacked by Hindus who ``lobbed burning rags and 
pelted stones,'' before his Hindu neighbors took him to safety.

In Thursday's worst violence, about 2,000 Hindus set fire to six 
homes in an affluent Muslim neighborhood in Ahmadabad. At least 38 
people were burned to death, including 12 children.

Some trapped residents made frantic telephone calls to police and 
firefighters. But police said they arrived two hours later and 
firefighters were delayed by more than six hours because of blockades 
by rioters.

A former lawmaker, Ehsan Jefri, fired at the rioters when they tried 
to enter his house, but he was dragged out and burned alive.

A curfew was raised in 32 towns across the state and police assumed 
emergency powers to detain people if they were suspected of plotting 
violence, officials said Friday.

``Police can't protect each lane and bylane,'' said Police 
Commissioner P.C. Pandey, responding to criticism that police 
silently watched the reprisal attacks on Muslims without intervening.

The attack on the train came as tensions have been building between 
Muslims and Hindu nationalists who traveled by rail between Gujarat 
state and Ayodhya, in northern India. The World Hindu Council plans 
to start building a temple in Ayodhya next month on the ruins of a 
16th-century mosque.

The 1992 destruction of the mosque by Hindus sparked nationwide riots 
that killed 2,000 people.

This week's violence is believed to be the worst Hindu-Muslim 
fighting since 1993 riots in Bombay -- also related to the 
destruction of the mosque in Ayodhya -- killed at least 800 people.

The government has called for calm, fearing bloodshed could spread 
quickly in this nation of more than 1 billion, where Hindu-Muslim 
fighting killed nearly a million people after independence in 1947.

Rajendra Singh, the police superintendent in northern Uttar Pradesh, 
said 10,000 paramilitary troops had surrounded Ayodhya to prevent 
violence. Some 20,000 Hindu activists have gathered to pray for the 
temple construction.

Indian officials often blame longtime rival Pakistan for internal 
strife. Some police and state officials, speaking on condition of 
anonymity, suggested that Pakistan's spy agency, or the Islamic 
militant groups with which it is linked, may have incited Muslims to 
attack the train.

They provided no evidence, and no official has drawn any link between 
the violence in India and the al-Qaida terror network of Osama bin 
Laden.

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#4.

BBC
Friday, 1 March, 2002, 06:26 GMT
Fresh riots rock Gujarat
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_1848000/1848149.stm

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#5.

NDTV.com

US concerned over communal tension

Friday, March 1, 2002 (Washington ):
The United States has expressed concern over the recent outbreak of 
communal violence in India, which has claimed several lives and 
caused large scale damage to property.
"The US condemns the attacks on innocent civilians and the senseless 
violence that resulted in the deaths of so many innocent people," 
State Department spokesman Phil Reeker said yesterday. He offered the 
condolences of the United States to the people and the Government of 
India.
He also condemned sectarian violence in Pakistan and urged both 
Governments of India and Pakistan to avoid being provoked into 
responding with violence against innocents.
Replying to a question whether setbacks to the BJP in the recent 
elections would have any impact on the Indo-Pakistan stand-off on the 
border, Reeker said: "We would not comment on internal Indian 
developments. Certainly our views on the India-Pakistan situation are 
well known."

o o o

Canada urges India to calm passions
Canada has urged the people of India to end sectarian violence and 
reiterated calls for the Indian government to try to calm passions in 
the land, after more than 98 deaths over the past two days.

"All we can do is really inform everybody that this is not going to 
solve the problem in the end and ask everybody to stop the violence," 
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham told reporters 
yesterday in Ottawa.

"We've always urged the Indian government to try (to) make sure the 
passions are calmed," he said. "I don't think (the outbreak of 
violence) is beyond the ability of the Indian government to control 
it."(PTI)

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