Silver Lining
In The Dark Clouds

I read with interest in the International Herald Tribune of today the op-ed of Dr. Ramesh Thakur, Deputy Rector of the UN University. I always respected his writings, opinions and optimism. He has found some positive signals in the dark days in Gujarat where members of different communities helped each other, in the utterance of the Prime Minster in calling the incidents in Gujarat a disgrace to the country, the different opposition parties uniting in denouncing the violence and hatred in Gujarat, and in getting the events confined in one state in India.

He ultimately found the strong Indian Democracy surviving the torment and come out stronger. But is that really the situation? Because we have now leaders with clay and heavy feet and who want to adhere to their chair at the cost of people.

Lal Bahadur Shastri resigned on a railway accident for which he was not even indirectly involved. He took moral responsibility. In case of Gujarat the Chief Minster aggressively announced in CNN and BBC that he was the only person responsible for all the lives of the citizens of Gujarat. And yet the killing did not stop and he never even accepted his failure. He never considered even of a public apology for the failure of his administration and definitely never offered to resign. His two ministers were enclosed in the control room of the Ahmedabad Police Headquarters and interfering in the police operations but never came out in the open. Where was the collective responsibility of his ministry?

We hear the whisper that the Prime Minister laments that he is being isolated by the hawks in the party. What stops him to at least to threaten them to resign at this juncture? We respect him. He should not have faced this ignominy to hang on and preside over the disintegration of the society! Why is he hanging on to power when he does not have any! It is a credit to other states like West Bengal; Andhra Pradesh and even much maligned Bihar where the law and order was maintained even in this provocative situation. In all such states the proportion of the police and the population is certainly not different than in Gujarat. Then how they could maintain the calm when the so-called 'modern' state of Gujarat failed under Mr. Mody?

The rot in the Nehru's secular India started with the Shahbanu case. That was the beginning of the downfall. The hawks in the fundamentalist parties were waiting for that entry which unfortunately a progressive Rajiv Gandhi offered to them in a platter. It is unfortunate that we can not name any major legislation for social reform after the independence. I think it will be impossible for the politicians of today to pass a bill like abolition of Sati. All the parties lack the backbone and only look at the vote bank for a limited purpose.

What Mr. Thakur missed in his identification of the silver linings is the resilience of the people. I heard President Musharaff the other day in his message on Pakistan Day. According to him the dream of a separate Muslim state for the sub continent was fulfilled when Pakistan was formed. But he was totally wrong and missed a simple statistics that India has still higher Muslim population than Pakistan. The mistake was to divide the country on religion and now we are all paying that price. Unfortunately Indian leaders are also planning to build a Hindu Nuclear powered India forgetting the strength we have over our neighbors of a multi cultural multi ethical society. Neheruvian Economics may be obsolete today but not his secular dreams. That is our strength and our people are the strength. This is the land that gave us Sufism and the great saints like Kabir, Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia, Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Lalan Fakir.

The political boundaries of the nations are falling due to new economic boundaries. The nation state is no more the permanent boundaries. The economic zones are the new frontiers. The mythological boundary between the nations even on religion will be a matter of past very soon. We must look beyond our sheltered and fractionated vision. India is strong when we respect our inclusiveness. It is the mixture of all cultures and languages and religions, which gives us the unique inclusiveness.

What happened in Gujarat is shocking that the educated youth; middle class students were the culprits. The well to do people in their vengeance and greed came and looted the shops, burned houses and killed people. They are cowards. All mobs are cowards. But who incite them are even spineless. They remain in their confines and shelter and take political advantage. The only way to break the nexus is to spread the message of inclusiveness and stop the hatred with which they are playing. They have spread this vicious propaganda even far off to the NRIs in west also. In order to remain nostalgic to their customs and culture these ' successful' people have become even more fanatic in their shelters far away from the homeland and become the greatest supporter for the fanatics. The USA campuses have become the breeding ground of these neo fanatics. Other young Indians should stop them.

However it is a fact that in spite of all the weaknesses our system totters and marches ahead. The statement of Justice Verma brings us hope of an independent Human Rights Commission. The judiciary is still not so sold out as the administrative or police services. The youth are yet not fully brain washed and still honest. The lesson is that the ordinary people can not trust on the administration to protect them as they can not even defend themselves. Let us create a new movement completely outside the government system. The government system are NOT any more reliable in India whichever party is in power.

There are more dark clouds than the silver linings. But we all know the clouds will not remain. The Aandhi is coming and after that the sky will be clear for a new India.

Let us all put people in the centre!

– Gourisankar Ghosh
While flying to London on my way to Chennai
25 March, 2002

See also:
Understanding Gujarat by Samir Walji
Stories that Must be Told by Syeda Saiyidain Hameed
Reflections on the Gujarat Massacre by Harsh Mander  
Fire of Fanaticism by Ram Puniyani 
Hey Ram! by Gourisankar Ghosh 
Genocide in India: A Planned Program by Meena Menon   
Communal Violence by Dr. CS Shah

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