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NEWS & LETTERS, April 2002
Riots in India leave hundreds dead, thousands homeless
Fundamentalists turned parts of the western state of
Gujarat in India into killing fields in the week following Feb. 27. Allegedly in
retaliation for an attack on Hindu revivalists by Muslims, which left 58 mostly
women and children dead, mobs, spurred on by the organized Hindu Right,
ransacked the homes, businesses and places of worship of Gujarat's Muslim
citizens. Over 700 were killed in some of the most brutal acts that India has
seen in its 55 year history. In the wake of this brutality, more than 35,000 have
been left homeless and are now living in refugee camps in their own home state.
Muslim businesses remain shut down in several towns, and property owned by
Muslims has been destroyed or damaged. Many in India feel that the riots in Gujarat were not
spontaneous mob actions, but a planned, systematic, genocidal attack on the
Muslim minority. The Gujarat state government, headed up by a Hindu
fundamentalist party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), did virtually nothing to
stem the tide of violence, and remains unapologetic about the inactivity of the
police in the face of the violence. Although India has seen many clashes between Hindus and
Muslims, these most recent riots signal something new and ominous. It is the
first time that such violence has unfolded under a central government headed up
by a right-wing Hindu fundamentalist party, with overt ties to militant,
terrorist organizations such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). At no other time have India's secular ideals
been so thoroughly threatened. Following on the heels of the Gujarat massacres, the RSS
issued a statement calling for Indian Muslims to "behave" and work to
"earn" the respect of the nation which is nothing less than a threat.
The VHP meanwhile has announced its intention to travel to 750 different cities
with the ashes of the Hindu victims of the Godhra train massacre. The roots of the current conflict go back to 1992, when
the BJP, which had no electoral clout, led a mob in the destruction of a 16th
century mosque in the city of Ayodhya. Since that incident, which led to the
death of over 2,000 people all over South Asia, the BJP has legitimized itself
by winning a majority of seats in the parliament, and by forging ties with other
regional parties. Some believe that the Gujarat riots were a response by the
Saffron Brigade (a term used to designate Hindu fundamentalists) to the serious
losses that the BJP suffered in recent assembly elections in four states. The Supreme Court handed down a verdict that preserved,
for the time being, the secular ideal by preventing groups like the VHP from
holding religious ceremonies on the disputed land surrounding the mosque. There have been many peace vigils and marches all over
India, and calls for the resignation of the Chief Minister of Gujarat state,
Narendra Modi, as well as the Home Minister, L.K. Advani, the leader of the
movement that destroyed the mosque in 1992. This shows that the BJP has not
succeeded in destroying the secular and humanist voice in India. It is
misleading to state, as the western press does time and time again, that though
India "claims" to be secular, the majority of Indians are
"Hindu." This ignores the fact that Indian culture and identity is not
bound by any one religion. Although Muslims are a "minority," they are
an integral part of the identity and culture of the Indian nation. One can no
more separate Muslim from Indian, than Black from American. People are demanding an end to the communalism and
militarism that the BJP-led government has fomented for the last five years.
With the possibility of nuclear holocaust looming large in the region, there is
no time to lose. --Maya Jhansi |
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