Global
War On Terror And Anniversary Of Gujarat Riots
Saeed Naqvi
The post 9/11 global war on terror was
officially launched with attacks on Afghanistan on October 7, 2001. It was
exactly on that date that Narendra Modi was sworn in as Gujarat Chief Minister
for the first time. He had been sent from New Delhi to replace Keshubhai Patel
as Chief Minister but was not even a member of the Vidhan Sabha.
The coincidence mentioned above is
probably not relevant, but it is an interesting detail.
Extensive coverage accorded to the
anniversary of the 2002 Gujarat Riots (it was more of a pogrom) has brought
back images.
A distinctive feature of the riots has
remained unnoticed. This was the first time in history that authors of a
communal conflagration had taken advantage of the anti Muslim sentiment televised
globally in the context of the global war on terror. In the world beyond India,
Gujarat was muffled by the din and the fireworks in Afghanistan. But the global
anti jihadist atmosphere was a shot in the arm of communalism in India. This
aspect of globalization added a shade or two to Indian saffronization. This
deepening saffron was to come in handy in the February 2002 Gujarat riots – and subsequently.
In a sense, the tussle between hard and
soft saffron within the BJP during Atal Behari Vajpayee’s Prime Ministership
was won by the hardliners when Pakistan’s Gen. Pervez Musharraf was sent away
empty handed from the Agra summit in July 2001. Vajpayee and his Foreign
Minister, Jaswant Singh, were inclined towards improved relations.
Within two months of Agra, 9/11
happened, generating a global atmosphere which was a Godsend for the
hardliners. New Delhi began to dream dreams: it would now be in the first
league fighting Islamic terror. But Americans had their own priorities.
Pakistan, an ally since inception and having a long border with Afghanistan,
was enlisted as the frontline state in the global war.
It was a piquant situation for New
Delhi. Its plaint in all global forums had been that it was persistently
plagued by cross border terrorism from Pakistan. And now on the big occasion,
Pakistan had been given the pride of place to wage war on “global” terror.
I can never forget the lunch at US
ambassador Robert Blackwill’s round table. Pranab Mukherjee, then an opposition
leader, asked the ambassador: how could Pakistan, which was the source of
terrorism in India, be invited by the Americans in the global war against
terrorism. Blackwill’s reply was unforgettable:
“Yours is an old regional quarrel; what
Pakistan is fighting with us is the global war on terror.”
It was only after the December 13, 2001
attack on Indian Parliament and the subsequent military mobilization bringing
the neighbours with nuclear weapons in an eye-ball to eye-ball confrontation,
that the Americans pretended to shift gears. The situation was full of ironies.
Two nuclearised neighbours, rearing to fight each other were extraordinarily
yoked together by the mightiest power (remember the US was still basking in the
sole super power moment) to fight global terror.
In a situation so conducive to
saffronization, state elections to the key state of UP suddenly covered the
horizon.
It would naturally be a hardline
campaign. I still remember the then BJP President Rajnath Singh, going hammer
and tongs at SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India). Kar sevaks (volunteers)
in their hundreds of thousands would be allowed to assemble in Ayodhya. They
would be allowed to nurse expectations that a BJP victory in UP would be a
signal to build the temple.
At the moment of victory, Lauh Purush or
the Iron Man, Home Minister, L.K. Advani, would rein in popular enthusiasm in
Ayodhya. The BJP would assert itself as the “party of governance”. But the earth
moved from under the feet of the Kar sevaks and, indeed, every BJP supporter on
February 24, 2002 when the UP results came in. BJP had lost. It must have been
in a state of high agitation that Kar sevaks boarded the Sabarmati Express on
its 30 hour journey from Ayodhya (Faizabad) to Ahmedabad.
In a detailed report on the anniversary
of the riots, Deeptiman Tiwary of the Indian Express quotes an eye witness,
Umesh Chandra Dixit, who boarded the Sabarmati Express on February 26, 2002. He
and four others were pushed out of the train by “Kar sevaks from Gujarat”. It
was the S6 coach of this train that was gutted in Godhra killing 59 passengers,
all according to officials, Kar sevaks.
The day the BJP lost UP, it also lost
two by-elections in Gujarat. It was in these unhelpful circumstances that Modi
eked out his first electoral victory from Rajkot. But the overall mood in the
BJP camp was of having been vanquished. Then, on February 27 Gujarat was
ablaze.
The late Founder and Chief of Vishwa
Hindu Parishad, Keshavram Kashiram Shastri, made a rare admission. In a
remarkable interview to Sheela Bhatt of Rediff, he owned up.
“It had to be done” said Shastri, “but
the choras (boys) did a bit too much.”
When I met Jayanti Ravi, collector of
Godhra a few days after the riots, she could not be very helpful. She was not
handling the case. It had been quite unusually handed over to Vijay Vipul,
Director General, Anti Terrorism Squad. No preliminary investigation had been
done. Remember, after 9/11, terrorism was the global flavour.
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