Local leaders among both Sikhs and Hindus claim to have put hundreds of people in touch with the BNP. Says a BNP leader: "We have had the support of Hindus and Sikhs before and now we have that support again." The BNP has been distributing CDs and audio tapes on its policies which include a warning from someone who describes himself as Sikh and talks about how his father was hacked to death during the Partition riots.
"The BNP has identified Muslims as their enemy number one," says Munaf Zeena, chairman of the Council of Indian Muslims. "If anyone joins that bandwagon they must realise that if today it is the Muslims, tomorrow it will be their turn."
That’s the extreme end of a divide that has grown between Hindus and Muslims in recent weeks, despite some scattered shows of symbolic unity. Some Hindu gestures have not been enough, says Zeena. "The silent majority needs to tell us what they believe."
Lord Adam Patel, a Gujarati Muslim, was the Indian Muslim voice in the House of Lords. He is now the leading voice in Britain against the BJP government. "I had always believed Vajpayee was a moderate man, but I was wrong," he says. Lord Patel is now leading a campaign in Britain to ban the VHP.
Hindu leaders say Muslims issued no statements condemning the Godhra massacre, that they never issue statements against terrorist killings in India. In Leicester, Muslims from Highfields and Hindus from Belgrave would often go to the same music programmes by groups from Ahmedabad. They don’t any more. Their leaders do not talk to one another, they instead lead rival delegations to the foreign secretary.
Jack Straw has met one Muslim delegation after another. A week ago he attended a large Muslim meeting in Blackburn in north England. The meeting was called there for a reason: it is Straw’s constituency. Blackburn had an electorate of 72,621 in last year’s election. A little more than 20 per cent of the electorate are minorities, and a large section of those are Gujarati Muslims. The seat has not always been that safe for Straw who has held it since 1979. In 1983 his majority dipped to 3,000. In a close election the Gujarati Muslim vote could tilt the scale. This could hardly have been lost on Straw when he chose to spend half a day at the meeting. He said nothing controversial; what mattered was that he stayed, and listened.
Few believe that the British took a hostile stand over Gujarat to satisfy Straw’s constituency needs. But his constituents have been quick to spot the opportunity for access. A group of Hindu leaders sought to counter that influence in a meeting with Straw. Who can deny that the Indians are divided, and the British rule.
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