• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Rasheeda Bhagat

IT IS difficult for victors to be repentant. And even more difficult for the Gujarat Chief Minister-designate, Mr Narendra Modi, who pulled off a spectacular victory in the Assembly elections, to be either repentant or magnanimous. While what happened in Godhra was condemnable, not once during his election campaign did he say that what followed in terms of the targeted violence, both physical and economic, on the Muslim community was wrong too.

Godhra was a single incident and, even today, there are questions on how it actually happened. The talk in Ahmedabad these days is that only six of those who were burnt alive in that compartment were "Ram sevaks". The others were ordinary passengers.

Anyway, returning to the matter of apportioning the blame fairly and equally, it would have been politically naïve to expect Mr Modi to do soprior to the elections. The Godhra tragedy and the attack on the Akshardham temple were the main pillars of his election campaign, the underlying theme being that if the people of Gujarat did not want to become victims of Islamic terrorism, they had better vote for him. With the Hindus of Gujarat, or the majority of them, perceiving him as their sole saviour, he got a rich harvest of votes, which has made him a hero in the Sangh Parivar today.

But once the State was firmly in his hold, with a two-thirds majority and the kind of victory politicians can only dream of, he was expected to promise a healing touch and say that, while the past cannot be undone, his government would strive to put Gujarat back on the rails of economic recovery and communal harmony.

But in the brief interviews Mr Modi gave to the electronic media on Sunday — even as he took major swipes at them for what he termed their "biased reporting" — there was not a single word of assurance for the Muslims of Gujarat. Of course, they had not voted for the BJP; in fact neither Mr Modi nor his party had even asked for their votes, perhaps in the fear that the majority community would be displeased with such an appeal. So, to repeated questions on whether he would give an assurance to Muslims that their lives and property would be safe in a BJP-ruled Gujarat, his only response was to sing the "appeasement" mantra.

And about 24 hours later, hounded by the `M' word, all Mr Modi would say was "Justice for all; appeasement for none". What exactly does Mr Modi mean by "appeasement" of Muslims?

For decades, if the Congress has indeed "appeased" anybody, it was surely the hardcore Muslim fundamentalists; mainly the mullahs and the maulvis — all male, of course.

If a young and not-so-mature Rajiv Gandhi gave in on the Shah Bano issue, who was appeased then? The male-dominated, hardcore Islamists, of course, in whose scheme of things it was perfectly all right for a male to throw out his wife with just three words "Talaq, talaq, talaq". To add insult to injury, the man would, courtesy the Muslim Women's Law, have to pay only a token or measly sum as maintenance. But thanks to our courts, despite that atrocious piece of legislation, today, a divorced Muslim woman does have the right to adequate maintenance under other laws of the land.

Let the BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre undo the damage done by Rajiv Gandhi's Congress and reverse this oppressive law against the Muslim women of this country. Of course, it would stir a hornet's nest, but there are several areas where Indian Muslim women need to be protected or liberated from their own repressive, religious injustice and orthodoxy. This writer is all for a Uniform Civil Code, as it would indeed give Indian Muslim women equal rights and social security.

Let us not forget that when it comes to violence against women and the harshest forms of oppression, no religion comes to the rescue of the thousands of miserable women.Contrary to what Mr Modi and his friends may shout from the rooftops, if any real pampering of the Muslims has taken place, how come their prosperity and enhanced social status are not visible? Partly due to discrimination, partly due to their own folly, and partly due to the stranglehold of the clergy on the community, Muslims continue to remain comparatively poor and backward.

The Modi mantra of paanch ke pachchees is a lie. Large families are the norm among the poorer sections, regardless of caste or community, and this has a lot to do with high infant mortality in such socio-economic groups. Or else, the percentage of Muslims in Gujarat would not have remained below 10 per cent over long years.

From Mr Modi's verbal and body language, it seems the tribulations of the Gujarati Muslims are far from over. One thing is certain; no Muslim industrialist or businessman is likely to commit any fresh investment in Gujarat. Several hoteliers from the Cheliya Muslim community, whose hotels were systematically targeted, vandalised and burnt down during the March 2002 riots, have shifted operations to Mumbai, with a resolve never to return to Gujarat.

This community has put up "pure vegetarian" hotels on the national and State highways of Gujarat and over 90 per cent of their clientele is, or rather, used to be, Hindus because their kitchens and dining halls are far cleaner than most other hotels, and the rates extremely competitive.

One such hotelier, whose hotel was burnt down, had told this correspondent in May: "Many of us run these ventures on a co-operative basis, and our capital comes from the savings of farmers, retired people and widows from our villages. We have to give them a regular monthly income because, without that, there will be no food in their homes. So we will have to look for a safer place to run our hotels."It is learnt that the Muslim chief of a software major, while addressing the students of a prestigious institute in Ahmedabad soon after the communal riots, had said that communal harmony was essential for attracting FDI into India.

His speech was widely reported and he got a phone call from a senior IAS officer "cautioning" him not to touch on such "sensitive issues" while in Gujarat, or his safety might be threatened! So, obviously, Gujarat, at least for now, will be a strict no no on a Muslim investor's list. But, then, Mr Modi can easily tell the community that he wants neither their money nor their votes. He has a rich enough NRI Gujarati Hindu community to draw from. A far cry from the days when, as a cub reporter, in the late 1970s, I had covered an election meeting of another eminent Gujarati politician, Morarji Desai, in Chennai, when he had told the Bohra Muslim traders, Amney tamara vote aney note, bevey joiye! (We need both your votes and notes!) Now, that was indeed the true Gujarati spirit.

But then much water has flowed down the Sabarmati since those days, and today's Gujarat is a different story on the communal divide front. Ironically enough, Mr. Modi's landslide victory might cause some headache for the BJP-led NDA Government in the days to come. The VHP has already raked up the Ram Mandir issue; jubilant and saffron clad MLAs in the Assemblies of Bihar and Chattisgarh have vowed to establish BJP rule in these States — though Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, two States bordering States of Gujarat, stand a better chance — and there is talk of the saffron wave giving BJP a clear majority in the next Lok Sabha.

Some BJP enthusiasts even believe that Mr Vajpayee should no longer wait for 2004, but cash in on the Hindutva wave, dissolve the Lok Sabha and call for mid-term elections. As though this country has immense surplus funds that can be frittered away on the whims of our politicians.

(Response can be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in)

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail
Comment on this article to BLFeedback@thehindu.co.in

Stories in this Section
Going nuclear

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line