Crime against Dalits

Not a single Dalit has been convicted in the Naroda-Patiya case, in which 93 Muslims were massacred. And in earlier judgments of Sardarpura, Ode and Dipada Darwaja, too, not a single Dalit was convicted and sentenced. All these judgments have exposed combined strategy of RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal, BJP to make Dalits scapegoat in 2002 genocide. After sprinkling blood of innocent, Mr. K K Shastri, president of Vishva Hindu Parishad in an interview with rediff.com intentionally appreciated role of Dalits in the riots. As if to substantiate Mr. Shastri’s claim, more than 700 Dalits were arrested in Ahmedabad city only. As the later events unfolded, none of them was involved in gruesome massacres. I gave detailed account of these arrests in my book ‘Blood Under saffron.’ (See the link: http://bloodundersaffron.blogspot.in/)

After 2002 a great debate was manufactured on the role of Dalits in anti-minority violence. Everybody was in search of a culprit, bali ka bakra (in Gujarati we say ‘holi nu nalier’) And they found poor Dalits who themselves were helpless victims of Hindu varn-vyavastha. It was really tragic that ‘Crime against humanity’, the monumental account of the genocide failed to draw a line between the perpetrators and the victims and wrongfully identified Dalits with upper caste-backward marauders. 

Crime against humanity (an inquiry into the carnage in Gujarat – findings and recommendations) writes, “Dalits and members of the de-notified tribes like Waghris and Chharas were active in the violence in urban areas, especially in the more gruesome instances of rape, killing and bestiality. The tragedy behind this pattern lies in the fact that influential and dominant sections of caste Hindu society have driven wedge among the oppressed sections, pitting Dalits, Waghris and Charas against the Muslim minority. In urban Gujarat, especially Ahmedabad, Dalits and Muslims live in close proximity. The lower castes were cynically trained to indulge in violence of a kind that dehumanizes the perpetrators themselves. The Tribunal has recorded evidences to show that, especially in the past two years, in Gujarat, the Bajrang Dal paid salaries of Rs. 3-5,000 to lure unemployed Dalit youths to camps where indoctrination against the Muslims were the main activities.” (Page 35, volume 2, patterns of violence, Crime Against Humanity). 

 In 2002, when I translated 492 pages of two volumes of this document after a request from Teesta Setalwad through her aide Raiskhan, I found that role of Dalits in the riots was blown out of proportion, I asked her about this anomaly when she came to office of Council for Social Justice (CSJ) to get some important documents and in the presence of Valjibhai Patel, secretary CSJ and Raiskhan, she confessed that it was a mistake. Sometimes even a work with most bona fide intentions results in undesirable consequences. Nobody can doubt integrity of concerned citizens’ tribunal’s role in 2002 genocide. But, tribunal had not included a single testimony from any of the prominent Dalit leaders and activists. The voluminous report gave biased version on role of Dalits and it damaged interests of Dalits nationally and internationally. Actually, tribunal should have criticized role of Gujarati Sahitya Parishad, the most prestigious literary body of Gujarati writers, who unanimously elected wretched, intellectual rascal Mr. K K Shastri as president of Sahitya Parishad and directly legitimized the sins of VHP. In 1985 we, Dalit writers, protested against selection of Mr. K K Shastri in front of Gujarati Sahitya Parishad in Ahmadabad. Even today, Gujarati writers are not ready to repent and apologize for their past sins. 

The reality was different. During 1981 to 1991 all Dalit mahollas surrounded by Muslim majority simply disappeared from the map of Ahmedabad city. Shahpur Vankarvas (birth place of famous Urdu poet Jayant Parmar), Maheshania vas, Jamalpur Khand ni sheri, Nadia vad, Tajpur vas, Jamalpur Pagathiavalo mahollo (birthplace of Manu Parmar, MLA and minister of Congress, who was known as Mia Manu) were deserted. The rise of Hindu Fascism in Gujarat worsened Dalit-Muslim relationship and both were victims of the fascism. (refer ‘blood under saffron’).   

Dalits of Gujarat are not puppets of RSS. We have fought our battles in our own way. The retaliation of Dalits in 1981 anti-reservation movement and subsequent boycott of Holy festival, the great rally of o.4 million people in the capital city Gandhinagar in 1985, boycott of Gujarat Samachar, the fierce response of Ramabai colony massacre in 1995 – these are few examples of Dalit power. The fighting spirit of Dalits had been dampened by combined assault of NGOs and Sangh Parivar after 1990. But, Dalits (and with them all marginalized sections of Gujarat) promise. Sooner the sky will change the color.

 

From carnage to carnival

What is the meaning of these endless debates and discussions, consultation and chronicles, symposium and seminars on 2002 genocide of Gujarat? What is the meaning of mining the detritus of the Gujarat pogrom for positive stories? What is the meaning of praising our so-called syncratic (or stinking) culture, our unity in diversity (or disparity), our federalism (or feudalism)? What is the meaning of these endless narratives aiming at igniting collective conscience of civil society?

Call to punish Narendra Modi is must. The murderer must be prosecuted. But, is there any provision to purge and punish a defunct and degenerated judicial system of a state (and perhaps, entire country)? There is a high court, agitated and excited on cows sitting and distracting traffic on roads. It does not move a millimeter, it does not awake Suo Moto, even if thousand are massacred in broad daylight in a state where the chief minister and his colleagues marshal the hooligans hired for mayhem and mass slaughter unprecedented in the history of a nation. I have read such narrations in Genghis Khan, Nadir shah, Taimur  Lang ……………. Narendra Modi. There must be a full stop.

The legal activism is praiseworthy. Can we pat our back by citing example of one and only Bilkis Banu? Minal devi, mother of king Sidhraj Solanki, ordered to change plan of a pond to protect hut of a widow. Jahangir commissioned a bell. Under medieval darkness, Justice was like a sound and light show, full of visual effects. Our judicial systems are like a tunnel of fatigue and frustration. Temples of justice are facing danger of being overtaken by rabid communal, irrational, casteist forces. An organization is openly distributing tridents in the streets, are they not more harmful then wondering cows?  The silence of three - police, politician and judge, is scorching and treacherous. Certainly, I am also talking about this trident!

They killed Ehshan Jafri. No, they killed the democratic representation of a community. They annihilated the most legal, political aspirations of a group. For me Jafri is a symbol of one of the noblest representatives of civil society. He was face of Muslim moderation. A fact, that Muslim can become leader of main stream politics. They want to turn this fact into a fiction. Muslim must be a terrorist or a bootlegger. Muslim cannot be our leader. This was the message. In 1985 a slogan was written on the wall of civil hospital in Ahmedabad, "burn gaddar, Ehshan Jafri". It takes them 25 years to complete their pernicious and vicious agenda. Story is not just about murder and rape.

When BJP made Kalam president of India, another slogan was written on the walls of Ahmedabad, "they gave Abdul Latif, we give Abdul Kalam." Community may need good scientist, but it can not survive without good representatives. If your democracy does not provide this simplest opportunity, then it is hell. Such hells produce blood-soaking trauma centers and traumatize the most innocents on earth.

Commemoration’s flash point is not exactly 2002. We cannot sum up history in ten years. Mr. Modi is a student, definitely a novice in this pathshala of fanaticism. We cannot forget K.K. Shastri (Keka) who was unanimously chosen as president of Gujarati Sahity Parishad, the most creditable and the most reputed literary institute of Gujarat. By choosing Keka, the then president of Viswa Hindu Parishad, the Gujarati writers, the most enlightened stock of Gujarati creed, stamped Keka’s authority as an intellectual. They endorsed his list of 3000 mosques. They joined chorus of “Ram lalla hum ayeng, mandir jarur banayenge.” Twenty five years on, not a single Gujarati writer has expressed remorse for selection of Keka as Sahiya Parishad’s president in 1985, and we are expecting such gesture from an illiterate, drunkard of Chamanpura! It is pitiable pathology of our polity.

Massive efforts are on to camouflage the suffering and sorrow, anguish and agony of masses under enchanted, captivated and enthralled mist of masti and manoranjan. When the survivors were running from pillar to post to get justice denied and delayed, the rulers were inventing new avenues of amusements, recreations and celebration of their victory. Only one phrase suits their efforts - from carnage to carnival. It was exactly a carnival of cannibals, not silently whispering on their successful carnage, but trumpeting big drums given by Radias, Tatas, Adanis and Ambanis.

Rs. 120 million riverfront schemes displaced thousands thrown on the outskirts of city and they celebrated it in their own style - the kite festival; Air-conditioned tents with cost of Rs.7000 per unit have been installed for ranotsav (for political honeymoon in desert!) in Kutch where average 50 to 85 percent people in villages migrate in search of employment. Rs.300 billion is the amount of profit Mr.Tata has booked, after being allotted land at Rs.900 per square foot, the market value of which is Rs.10,000 per square foot. Rs.2500 strong Nirma group of companies’ owner Mr. Karsan patel, the richest person of Gujarat, was allotted the most fertile land of Mahuva for the construction of a cement plant. (In his lesser known village Ruppur, When Karsan’s relatives usurped graveyard of Dalits in 2003, the advocate general of state appeared on behalf of patels to defend the respondents in a writ petition filed by Dalits. Ruppar is constituency of Anandi patel, the in- charge of Modi’s Sadbhavna Celebration.) The cannibalistic celebration of carnivals is creating a self deceiving atmosphere where aggrieved may find solace in musical melodies.

Unfortunately we have creamy celebrities, not lofty leaders. We have celebrities, wherever they go, they immediately attract attentions of bite-hungry media. We have celebrities addicted of rummaging their names in the headlines of daily news papers. We have celebrities who never dare to thrash ‘rogue’ media which has precipitated and polarized entire Gujarati masses. Can anyone forget that news item published on the day after Godhara tragedy in one of the leading Gujarati dailies on “Muslims cutting breast of Hindu girls.” The rapes on Muslim women were the only result. Can our law punish that vernacular daily? (Our organizations are fighting two such cases in courts). They had done it in 1981 against Dalits. They have done it against Muslims in 2002. (they isolated both communities one by one and then made them fight each other, and now, we are dealing with projects about their unity!)

I called for political encounter of Mr. Narendra Modi in a recently held convention in Godhara. Some misconstrued it as support to congress. The fact is congress has been taking soft Hindutva line after Godhara. In coming legislative election congress may win or may not. Can congress fulfill political aspiration of minorities? Can congress give adequate representation to Muslims? This is the question we must ask to ourselves and congress. In 1981 there were nine Muslim MLAs, at present they are only four. Merely defeating BJP cannot be our goal.

(Paper presented in seminar organized by Institute of Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution (IPSCR) under programme ‘Insaf ki dagar par’, 10 year commemoration of genocide, 2002 Gujarat)