Terrorism and civil war

The glide from the startling exposure of the Hindutva extremists’ involvement in Malegaon blast to the Mumbai attacks in our consciousness has also registered a slide from terror to civil war scenario. What if we are inadvertently sucked into a civil war? No need to say that sensible people would never like to have a civil war in the country. But the situation may so develop where retaliatory strategies as adopted by Modi et la in Gujarat is applied to the rest of the country in varying degree.

There are two groups of people who speak of civil war. One is the paranoid, who see more devils around them than there are actually and who do not see within to discover the one they have. The other group is of the seriously concerned citizens who fear the well being of commonalty rather than their immediate community of believers or of interest. Rajnathsingh belongs to the first and Arundhati Roy to the second. The BJP president’s possibility of civil war is held out as an ominous threat and this acts as a ploy. The aim is greater political clout to carry out the long cherished Hindutva dream of a Hindu Rashtra. That of Roy is premonition, feeling of uneasiness as a warning of approaching danger, a cautionary signal to awaken others to the danger. The aim is to prevent disaster and avoid catastrophe.

These two subterranean parallel feelings are surfacing from time to time during the hype created by terrorist attacks in India, attacks in Pakistan are no matter of concern for us, nor for that matter the ones in Afghanistan. The ominous threat of civil war acquired a pitch when Sadhvi Pragyasingh Thackur, Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit and Sudhakar Pandey had the police on their back. Their startling disclosure of hard-core Hinutva elements’ penchant for extremist design in terror threatened to let the cat out of the bag. The momentum of fighting terrorism was moving full steam against the Muslim society within the country as it was craftily choreographed to serve the political interest primarily of BJP and incidentally of the Congress. Then came the motor cycle of the Sadhvi which threatened to give away everything, including the secret of the attack on Samjhauta Express February 2007 that would belie all that that gone before.

Rajnathsingh had the confidence of having 52 lakh Bajrang Dal activists laced with military training and even armed and 45 thousand RSS units scattered in the length and breadth of the country. Such an awesome power would “awe and stun” the “enemy” within in this so-called war on terror that would otherwise be the civil war he has in mind. He has proven ability as chief minister and home minister of UP. He did not send intelligence report on the behaviour of the car sevaks of the Sabarmati Express as it passed through his state on February 26-27 2002. If he had warned the Gujarat intelligence department perhaps Godhra would not have happened. This is borne out by what ADGP Intelligence RB Sreekumar said later. The clamour for more stringent Pota according to this group is intended to perpetuating injustice exponentially. The People’s Tribunal on Pota consisting of Ram Jethmalani, Justice Suresh, Justice DK Basu, KG Kannabiran, 2004, found that [1] less than 2% conviction of people against whom the law was slammed [2] denial of bail, and [3] confession only as proof, played havoc with victims who were almost entirely Muslims. This prompted Roy to remark “anti terrorism laws are not meant for terrorists; they are for people that governments do not like.” It is a universal truth that BJP and the whole Sangh parivar hates the Muslims and other minorities.

Arundhati Roy, unlike the cussed politicians, is a creative writer and is more sensitive about the direction in which the wind is blowing. She says that denying justice to a whole segment of population is gross injustice and sure recipe of disaster that would pave the way for civil war. There are scores of people accused of crimes, including crimes against humanity, who are moving around freely with impunity. What their victims must be feeling about the justice system in the country! The most outstanding is Babu Patel alias Babu Bajrangi. According to his own confession freely given; he started the massacre of Muslims in Naroda Patiaon February 28, 2002. Along with his horde of 30 he collected 23 guns from fellow Hindus by force. If anyone refused they threatened to even kill him. But they could hardly need the guns to slaughter the Muslims as they herded them into a hollow ground at the point of their swords and trishuls. They burnt them using petrol they freely sourced from the government stock of the adjoining state bus depot. At 2.30 am next day an FIR was lodged against Bajrangi. Indeed so many he and his horde had killed that the commissioner issued order to shoot him on sight. His murderous crowd was made up of members of the Chhara tribal community who were instigated and prepared for such an eventuality by the RSS. Subsequently the police arrested Bajrangi and others. For more than six months VHP distributed money and ration to the families of the arrested accused Chharas and then they discontinued. VHP secretary Praveen Togadia had personally promised them help. Jaideep Patel of VHP was in contact with Bajrangi all the time when the massacre was taking place. Comparing the pogrom with Haldighat battle, Bajrangi said “we set them on fire and killed them.”

A criminal of this level of murder and mayhem had no other than the Chief minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi who sheltered him in Gujarat state guesthouse on Mount Abu against the laws he himself had sworn to uphold for the protection of the people of his state. The chief minister also got Justice Mehta to give bail to Bajrangi. Later he appointed Mehta to submit along with Justice Nanavati the Nanavati Commission report on Godhra. If injustice is repeatedly heaped upon people ad absurdum it may make them insensitive, like a surprise first blow, for sometimes but not for all the time.