Cusayi Lohe
[dropcap]I[/dropcap]t was the subsequent mass killing of Muslims that won Narendra Modi landslide victories in Gujarat and brought him huge political mileage so as to be projected as BJP’s Prime ministerial candidate. Narendra Modi was rewarded by RSS for his role in 2002 Gujarat riots and more importantly for his strong Hindutva image.More than a decade after killing in Gujarat, Narendra Modi has neither expressed regret nor has been held accountable for those mass deaths. In May 2005, the government informed Rajya Sabha that 254 Hindus and 790 Muslims were killed in Gujarat in the post Godhra riots of 2002. A total of 223 people were reported missing, 2548 sustained injuries, 919 were rendered widows and 606 children were orphaned. Properties worth billions of rupees destroyed mostly belonging to Muslims.
Scores of official and un-official fact-finding teams visited Gujarat and brought out gory details of the tragedy. All of them were unanimous in holding the state government and Narendra Modi, personally as being responsible for this unprecedented human tragedy. If Modi had been a non partisan Chief Minister as the constitution mandates him to be, he should have expressed genuine regret for having failed to arrest such wanton destruction of lives and properties. Instead he and his minions kept repeating to justify the genocide with mischievous theory that it was a mere reaction to the Godhra incident. Neither Modi nor BJP realized that by linking the organized carnage carried out by the Hindutva gangs with the mysterious burning of a coach of the ill-fated Sabarmati train on Feb 27, 2002, was actually exposing their guilt instead of covering it up.
Narenda Modi’s anger was palpable after the Godhra incident; he vowed revenge. Harish Bhatt the then National Coordinator of the Bajrang Dal admitted on camera. Bhatt was a part of the meeting in which Narendra Modi told them they could do whatever they wanted for the next three days. After that, Harish Bhatt says, “He asked us to stop and everything came to a halt.’’
Some Hindus admitted on camera that they were not there that day and that the police had filed false statements in their names without their knowledge and they had colluded to serve Hindutva.
BJP MLA Haren Pandya had disclosed that Modi asked Police not to come in the way of a Hindu backlash. Pandya was murdered under mysterious circumstances three months after he made the disclosure.
Senior IPS Officer Sanjiv Bhatt who was later suspended by the Gujarat Government disclosed that Modi said in high-level police officers closed-door meeting, that this time the situation warrants that the Muslims are taught a lesson to ensure that such incidents do not occur ever again. Modi said that emotions were running high among the Hindus and it was imperative that they be allowed to vent their anger.
Not only did the Modi government allow the mob fury to continue unabated, it also tried to shelter the perpetrators from the law. Modi himself arranged for Babu Bajrangi, the prime accused in Naroda Patiya case to stay at Gujarat Bhavan in Mount Abu and transferred two judges to help Bajrangi get bail.
BJP and Narendra Modi in the process of covering up their misdeeds have left trails of lies and subversion through force, intimidation, deceits and bribery.
Narendra Modi is a member of RSS and a Hindu Nationalist. The obvious reason for anointing Narendra Mode as BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate ahead of LK Advani was because Modi is a strong proponent of Hindutva ideology.
The essentials of Hindutva are one nation, one people and one culture. According to Hindutva ideology, the following are the criteria by which a person becomes a Hindu (1) Birth and growth in Indian territory (2) Belonging to Indian race possessing Indian blood (3) Appreciation for and practice of all customs and tradition of Hindu Sanskrit (4) Acceptance of India as fatherland and Holy land (5) Sanskrit as the common language (6) Allegiance to one of the religious of India such as Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism.
According to Hindutva ideology, religious identity is considered as the basis of national identity. In the process, a homogenous and monolithic identity is created. The religious identity is considered as the cultural identity of a community and the base of nationality formation. According to them, India is a Hindu nation. Indian culture is Hindu culture and Hinduism is the only possible basis for Indian nationalism. A non-Hindu cannot be an Indian, he is the enemy. For Savarkar, Hindu is not a concept but a nation because for them, India is both ‘Pitui Bhoomi and ‘Punya Bhoomi’. Therefore India is Hindu nation, naught else.
Spearheading religious hatred is another agenda of Hindutva. False stories and myths are created to malign the Muslims and Christians. Hindutva also propagates the abolition of special privileges granted to minorities and ask for dissolution of the present National integration committee because this Committee gives assurance to maintain their entities separate and gives them special status and privileges . Therefore, Hindutva works for uniform civil code.
Some of the prominent hindutva organizations are:
1. RSS
2. BJP
3. Shiv Sena
4. Swadeshi Jagaram manch
5. ABVP
6. VHP: It was started as a reaction to the activities of the Christian Missionaries. The immediate cause of its launching was the granting of statehood to Christian majority Nagaland.
7. Bajrang Dal: A militant auxiliary of VHP. They counter about any force against Ram and his dharma
Hindutva believes that those groups like Khalistan and Naga movements are anti- national and any political parties associated with them or give preferential treatment to such groups are traitors. Hindutva targets against the liberal ethos of society. It demands homogeneity of Hindu culture. It gives great importance to women’s dress code. It takes up the responsibility of moral policing. It is built around emotive appeal of religion and it targets Muslims and Christians as the cause of all evils.
The writer is a Social Worker
based at Kohima
