Two riots

Could a crime against humanity like communal riots, mass murders et cetera ever be forgivable? I have been thinking about this for the last few weeks because of some development in the national politics in the recent weeks. I don't think anyone who cares for justice would love the idea to forgive or forget such a crime ever. Post Independence, India have witnessed uncountable incidents of communal riots. Among them, in my view, two riots were significant in some very important aspects. One was the anti Sikh riot in the northern part of the country after Mrs. Gandhi's assassination in 1984 and the other one was the anti Muslim riot in Gujarat in 2002. The reason I say these two riots significant than several other riots was the roles of the people / party in power were shockingly very different than in several other cases of riots. The parties in power and government machinery had strongly and openly supported the rioters which I think was not common in any other case of riots which are still very much alive in the public mind. The scale of massacre and loss of properties in these two riots in independent India were simply overwhelming and that was possible because of the state administrations' sponsorship in both the cases to a massive extent.

In 1984 the Congress party machinery had supported the anti Sikh violence openly. Mrs. Gandhi's elder son Rajiv was quoted as saying "when a big tree falls, the earth shakes" on the anti Sikh violence (Please refer: http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/India/India/Article1-352523.aspx). On 31st October we had lost the iron lady and then Rajiv and his men's organized revenge act with the active participation of the administration claimed some 11000 lives mainly in the northern part of the country. That was a great display of affection for a mom!! The party had never objected to the actions by men like Jagdish Tytler, Sajjan Kumar, Lalit Maken, the famous Amitabh Bachchan et cetera during the Sikh massacre in and around the National Capital because they were busy in 'Khoon ka badla khoon' (Please refer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_anti-Sikh_riots). All of these men were rewarded by the party some or the other way. Manmohan Singh's apology on behalf of the Congress party in 2005 for their role in the entire episode had hardly brought any relief to the victims and their families. In fact, that sounded a crocodile's cry because the party is still trying it's best to hush up the investigation by CBI of the 29 years' old history. However, can any message of condolence or apology ever erase a brutal past? Forgiving the murderers of '84 is not an option history can let us have. Cases are still going on in courts - that's the only hope left for justice.

And in 2002 we had seen the sitting Chief Minister of Gujarat showing his knowledge of philosophy / physics while supporting the violent actions of the rioters after the Godhra massacre. The country were shocked after the horrific attack on the passengers of the Savarmati express and immediately riots broke out across cities of Gujarat organized by VHP and BJP workers. We were shocked once again when the most powerful man of the province said "Every action has it's equal and opposite reaction" on the post Godhra riots (Please refer: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/2002-gujarat-riots-sit-report-indicts-narendra-modi-on-many-counts/1/128595.html). The details of Naroda Patiya massacre (Please refer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naroda_Patiya_massacre), Best Bakery massacre (Please refer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_Bakery_case) during the turbulent times of 2002 still shiver me in pain. Perhaps it was an irony that human massacres of this level were happening in Mahatma's home state. We talk about development in Gujarat, is any development going to heal the burns of 2002 ever for the victims? Can any sane person think to pardon the architects of the 2002 riots ever? I am not a saint, I cannot pardon anyone who burnt children, women and men to death. When people hail the Gujarat Chief Minister for the so called development in the state, one fails to understand that 'Gujarat model' means 'either you listen to me or face the consequences', 'either you live in peace and harmony or remember Naroda Patiya'. Have we become so undemocratic and so fascist that we have to follow a development model whose basis is nothing but fear? Choice is ours and it has to be between justice and brutality.

One must know that taking a strong and uncompromising stand against the state sponsored brutalities of 1984 and 2002 never means that this is a stand in support (even remotely) of either Mrs. Gandhi's assassination or of the brutal attack on the passengers inside the train compartment at Godhra. This is a stand against the people and the state who actively participated and supported the massive scale brutal revenge on entire communities for that kind of act for the purpose of teaching the communities some lessons. This is a stand against the people who shattered our idea of rules of laws. This is a stand against an uncivilized thought like revenge and a fascist mindset. If our stand is not clear, unbiased and uncompromising against any form of brutality in a modern society we would definitely fail the idea of justice altogether.

That's all I have to say about that!!

An open letter to Buddhadeb Bhattacharya's party

Comrades!

I understand that the greatest achievement of Red parties being in power for 34 years in West Bengal was to upgrade the living standards of the people belonging to financially lower and lower middle class. I am a great supporter of the Operation Barga. I do believe that one incident changed the livelihood of the poor in our state in a big way. But the people belonging to financially middle and upper middle class were the greatest losers in the Red era. Until the beginning of the 90s, this class have left the state in massive numbers. We have seen factory owners, factories in and around Calcutta being 'gherao'ed on a regular basis. We have seen the government sponsored strikes in the state (i.e. extra holidays in the calendar :P). We were frustrated on you, there was no formidable opposition in the state and that's the reason you had ruled the state for record number of years. Then there was new industrial policy of the state government to invite private sector investors and then there was Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. We had felt definite hope about the rejuvenation of industrialization in the state. Now you have lost power because of a massive negative publicity, bad media management and definitely some soft stands on the administration's part against Principle Opposition Party mainly in Singur and Nandigram. Also, the allegation of atrocities on the peasants in Nandigram played a huge role in dethroning the Red parties from power after 34 years.

At present we have a government in the state who do not seem to have a very clear vision on anything imaginable. Forget about industrialization and financial growth of West Bengal. In little more than 18 months of the new regime we have already seen the people who had voted for the change, have felt betrayed by the new government on several matters. There have been serious issues against the government in these months e.g. human rights violation (The Jadavpur University Professor incident), being callous about citizens' safety (Park Street and lots of other incidents of violence against women) and etcetra etcetra. We do not know if there have been any major investment or any hope of such investment in the near future in the state at all.

So the stage seems to be bright for the Red parties again. But what the rubbish is this two days all India strike huh? I strongly believe that Mr. Bhattacharya does not approve the strike politics of his party. Every sane person in this country knows that a damn strike cannot solve any damn problem of the country apart from letting people have a free holiday. I still believe that Left party leaders are some of the best speakers among parliamentarians. So, raise your voices in Parliament about the issues you are letting people have free holidays in the name of strike (believe me dudes, I am a fan of your strikes because I do get a work-free day :P). There are hell lot of forums available in the system, learn to use them, hire media managers and speak your concerns out to the media. People have long been failed to understand if the strikes have anything to do with any of the so called issues the strikes are called for. You say, you care about the poorests and they are the ones you call the strikes for. You really want us to believe that the mango people even know about the so called issues? Lot of the issues you 'want' to raise by such strikes are relevant - I do agree. But why strike? What's that going to do? Did any of the strikes in the past do any good to anyone in this country? Please wake up dudes! If you do not come out of your 'strike' politics I think your party is going to be obsolete in the coming 10 years to the max.

Cheers!!