Season of machinations and ugly plots
BY RK MISRA
Starving national self respect to feed individual vanity is like a
desperate disease requiring a dangerous remedy.
Thus it is that a political
game unfolding on the chessboard of a city in Gujarat is seeking
to dim the sheen of the 2014 mandate
that put Narendra Modi and the BJP in command with a clear majority in
Parliament. And with unpleasant international ramifications.
Why else are the ethnic
fires being stoked in Vadodara city of Gujarat just as Prime Minister Narendra
Modi had embarked on his historic visit to US, a country which refused to give
him a visa until he assumed charge of India?.This is a question that many
people are asking here. There clearly are wheels within wheels, and many are up
with their old, tired, and still lethal games. That includes some in the Sangh
Parivar as well.
The ghosts of the 2002 communal riots that followed the Godhra
train carnage could take some rest for now. Moreso because, Modi is on a visit
that is very important for the country. It constitutes a personal landmark for
him as well. A mighty nation in constant denial was forced to bow before a
national mandate and give him the honour due to the Prime Minister of a strong,
sovereign democratic republic. It is then that some elements in his own state seeks to mar the show with a stained reminder?
There is merit in such a line of thought. The sequence of events
point to a design in the happenings in Vadodara. The nine nights Navratri celebrations attendant with it’s garba and popular revelry
may be an important hindu occasion, but all and sundry irrespective of caste, creed and religion take part in it with equal fervor. That has been the case and
tradition from time immemorial.
The bonhomie witnessed in Gujarat on the occasion is a matter of
national pride. True, there may be an Imam Mehndi Hasan who makes an
irresponsible remark but there is also Malek Nazir Mohammed whose sound systems
are in high demand in Vadodara in every
Navratri and who begins work every year by seeking Lord Hanuman’s blessings. There are countless others of all
faiths who work to make the largescale navratri celebrations in Gujarat a great
success. Fair enough If the VHP wants Imam arrested for hurting hindu
sentiments but does it go out to fete those of other faiths who reach out to
make it a success? What about Imam Mehndi Hasan, a religious leader in
Mahuva town who donated five bighas (around12,000
sq metres) of land for a hindu temple. What
about Anees Quereshi, the muslim butcher and his wife and three children who
install Ganesha idol in their home at Shivrajpur in Panchamahal district and
perform arti during the ten- day long festival. Myriad such examples of
communal amity exist for those who have the eyes to see India’s splendid
multi-cultural heritage.
None of these mattered when the VHP queered the pitch for banning
the entry of muslims at the garba venues in Gujarat Where was the VHP for the last over a decade when Narendra Modi
ruled over Gujarat with an iron fist? Why did it not make the demand to check individual identity cards
at garba venues for all these years?
After Modi took over as the chief minister of Gujarat the Navratri
celebrations in the state were flagged off
with a high profile official event attended by the chief minister
,foreign dignitaries and the top names
from a cross-section of society. As a journalist who attended this event, this scribe saw numerous VHP leaders attending these
events. No one ever told Modi that they would post VHP volunteers to check
identities. Except for mild murmurs in quiet asides the VHP did not unleash a
public protest when the Modi government
led a drive to demolish all the illegal roadside temples in the state capital
of Gandhinagar. This was quite simply because they dared not. A state level VHP
office bearer spent an extended time behind bars when the Modi government
slapped charges of sedition on him for sending out SMSs against CM Modi on the issue of L.K. Advani’s pro-Mohammedali
Jinnah comments during his Pakistan
visit .
Fact is, the communal
temperature in Gujarat, in general and Vadodara in particular was sought to be
raised in a planned manner. Love Jihad pamphlets were pumped into Vadodara
prior to the recent by-elections to the Lok Sabha seat vacated by Modi warning
of a ‘minority conspiracy’. Then came the provocative VHP diktat not to allow
muslims at garba venues. There were feeble denials about the parentage of the
pamphlets which carried the names of VHP office bearers but nothing more than
that, while a Hindu Janjagruti Samiti came to the forefront in Ahmedabad.
It fell on the lot of the Prime Minister to state that the Indian
muslim will live and die for India and the Anandiben Patel government to issue
an notification against discriminating garba revelers on religious grounds. It
was the VHP which challenged Additional Chief Secretary (Home) S.K. Nanda’s
‘authority to issue the notification on garba and restrictions on loudspeakers
at midnight. If Nanda does not have the authority to ensure the rule of law, should
the power to engineer civil strife be
handed over to the VHP?
Whether related or not, but the trouble in Vadodara was sparked off
when the image of a hindu goddess was
superimposed on that of another religion. Again when a semblance of order was
restored, it was the stabbing of a boy belonging to a minority community that
re-ignited it.
The implications are obvious. However the million dollar questions
is, why is the spectre of communal trouble in Gujarat sought to be recreated at a time when the Prime Minister Narendra Modi was touring the US?
One such communal conflagration has dogged him no end and the timing of this engineered trouble (Yes, it
was engineered) done with dubious intentions, hides a raging internecine war
within the saffron organs. Who does not know of the all- hate-no love
relationship between Modi and VHP head honcho Dr Pravin Togadia.
Adding to the complexity are three other factors. The political
contribution of those within the fold who would not mind if Chief Minister Anandiben Patel’s image is dented;, the
contribution of those within the bureaucracy, conspiring to overtake S.K. Nanda, the present Home
department chief first in line of seniority for the chief secretary’s post; and
of those who don’t want the new police
commissioner of Vadodara, E.Radhakrishnan to succeed. The extension period of
the present chief secretary ends this month. It is all-round machination season in Gujarat now!
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