Stop the bulldozers

The evils of rabid communal hate being built up against the Muslim minority in our beloved land should arouse in our conscience sentiments similar to those aroused by South African writer Alan Paton’s 1948 novel on apartheid, Cry, The Beloved Country. In civilised countries, minorities are treated with soft hands by governments formed largely by majorities. 

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Modi’s words help him win elections. Why does he not use them to stop the hate sweeping the country?

In Romania, where I spent four years as Ambassador, the Hungarian minority of 8 per cent of the total population was concentrated in the Transylvanian region bordering Hungary.  They inhabited four of Romania’s 40 districts, spoke in Hungarian among themselves and practised a different version of Christianity, the Calvinist, whereas the Romanian majority followed the Orthodox communion.

This 8 per cent minority demanded that the language of the administration and the courts of law be Hungarian! The demand was conceded to a major extent. Representatives of this minority are installed in both the political and the bureaucratic leadership in Bucharest.

Temples, mosques and gurdwaras abound in UK cities. In my interaction with the native Brits, I have never heard any complaint about ‘azaan’, only astonishment about the hijab and its purpose in an open society. In the US, too, where many of our compatriots have permanently settled, the kaleidoscope of religions, languages, dress, dietary habits, are all automatically accepted. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians of colour are accepted as citizens with equal rights and, of course, responsibilities.

PM Modi has a large following among expatriates in the UK and the US. They flock to meet him whenever he visits, which used to be fairly regularly till Covid struck. They must have briefed him on the reasons for their change in nationality and the improvement in the quality of their lives. Besides, Modi must have noted that three Hindus, of whom one is from Gujarat, occupy top positions in Boris Johnson’s ministry and that the US Vice-President and surgeon-general are also Hindus.

These facts Modi should share with sadhus and sants who advocate the extermination of Muslims and a ‘ghar vapsi’ programme for Christians. It is time for Modi to speak up and address his core followers who avidly follow each and every word that flows from his mouth. Those words help him to win elections. Why does he not use them to stop the hate and division that is sweeping this country today?

If he does not intervene, the long-term consequences for our country will be forbidding. He should stop his cadres from organising processions through Muslim localities with open swords, chanting provocative slogans. Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti processions had not been organised before, at least as far as my knowledge goes. It appears to have been planned deliberately to create conflict and terrorise the minority community!

What does the regime hope to gain from such provocations? Electoral advantage is one. But was UP won by lynchings and love jihads? Has the data been analysed? BJP’s core constituency of advanced castes do not need such stimuli to vote for the party.  The OBCs, whose vote was crucial for victory, were lured by the Yogi’s street action on ‘criminals’ and the free rations distributed for six months to tide over lean times. Is it wise to create discord in the country for temporary gains without factoring in the consequences of this ill-advised strategy?

The BJP’s spin doctors will make it out as if the minority community was the aggressor. That is a rarity, born of madness and frustration. In any riot, the minority is sure to be worsted.  Surely, they do not harbour suicidal tendencies. In my experience in Maharashtra and Gujarat, the minority always readies to defend itself in its own localities. They never enter the lairs of the other because that would be madness.

The criminal underworld, of which Muslim gang-lords form a prominent component, supply the arms and material for defence. They also depute the muscle available with them at all times. The local police are aware of their movements. They know the identity of those who are capable of mounting the defence.

The majority community, at such times, are guided by extremist elements among their ranks. Their foot soldiers are drawn, as can be expected, from the lumpen.

The police, in better times, would detain the usual culprits till the battle subsided. But times have changed.  Now, the police follow orders from the political establishment. The unusual decision to take out processions to ‘celebrate’ Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti in so many states, including MP, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat and Delhi, disclosed a pattern that had to be conceived and planned centrally.

How and why were the police caught unawares? Did they give permission for the routes chosen? Why did the processionists carry swords and other weapons, like lathis? How did the defenders know that their mosques would become targets of attack? These questions need to be answered lest we prematurely conclude that the majority planned the attacks to sow discord.

The use of bulldozers to demolish the houses and shops of Muslims, many of them poor, presented a sorry example of a civilised society. No notices, as required by law and the rules of jurisprudence, were given.  BJP CMs, known to be just and upright, like Shivraj Singh Chouhan in MP, took to the bulldozer! I guess he did it to show that he, too, could go the extra mile, like Yogi in UP.

The bulldozers were to be used against stone throwers in communal flare-ups, and so it was. But when the illegality of the action was pointed out, the police quickly changed tack and said it was used against illegal squatters. Where and when will all this drama and these injustices end? Surely, the Supreme Court and the high courts can, and will intervene?