Constitutional, Not Communal

It reminds one of Frankenstein and the monster he created.

Surely the irony does not escape the home minister when "as a person whohas always felt proud of his association with the Ayodhya movement" hefinds himself urging " the VHP leaders, more particularly ShriAshok Singhal" whom he holds "in high esteem, to abandon their courseof action"?

Is he reminded of being the urgee in circa 1992? When hewas the one being urged to desist from his yatra?

Is the Prime Minister reminded of that yatra when he is musing and gettingdelusional about national sentiments and walking the high road to peace?Or at least when appealing to the assorted goons of the VHP "topostpone their agitation and help the government in maintenance of peaceand brotherhood in the country"?

But why am I blathering on like this and getting concerned with recenthistory? (No, I shall not digress here on what is being done to historytext-books. Perhaps that is what our HRD minister thinks Naipaul meant by "historicalcorrections"?)

Don't I know that the apparently pre-meditated attack on Sabarmati Express(does any one even find the name ironical?) today, which resulted in the deaths(or more correctly, murder) of around 60 people, who happened to be kar-sevaks(correction, because they were kar-sevaks) was the handiwork, after all,of "jehadi Muslims" who have a long history of communal violence?

Haven't I heard about Babar and his santaan? Don't I know that intelligencereports suggest that terrorist organisations like Lashkar-e- Toiba are planningto attack Ayodhya after infiltrating in small groups? Don't I recall the Bombayblasts where there is conclusive proof of Pak-involvement?

Yes, I have and and I do, which is why I am worried about thefast-deteriorating communal condition in the country. It might not be apparentor perceptible yet to those who refuse to see, but you just need to talk to Muslims to find how insecure theyfeel.

Various VHP spokesmen are already issuing warnings that Hindus willnot remain "silent spectators". The redoubtable Bal Thackeray hasalready wondered aloud once again whether this is Hindustan or Pakistan that theHindus are living, or rather dying, in.

It is frighteningly deja vu 1992 all over again.

(Is it yet another irony that ten years on, the Liberhans Commission in theAyodhya case was examining the then prime minister Narasimha Rao today? Whileone of the main accused is in charge of the home ministry?)

Which is why, the need for finding and punishing the guilty of the incidentat Godhra station today is of immediate importance. And it is also time toreflect over the whole concept of righting wrongs.. The Hindutva brigadeis apparently still smarting over the destruction of temples centuries ago whichit was out to avenge with the destruction of the Babri masjid. One version oftheir argument was that they hadn't got justice from the courts, and anyway thecourts could be over-ruled. Besides, there is the favourite citation of the Shahbano case judgement, and why then should the Hindus be made to honour the court verdicts.

Many, and not just the Muslims, feel that the law of the land should havecome down heavily on the guilty, that it was not a communal--or a Hindu-Muslim--issue but simply one where the law of the land, which ought to have prevailed assupreme, was violated with impunity, with the guilty safely ensconced inpositions of power.

One is reminded of the much-justifiably-derided Musharraf and his Jan 12 speech where hebemoaned that the writ of his government did not run in many quarters and vowedto set it right. Whether he was posturing or not is not the point. What isshocking is that none of our assorted netas in power have seen it fit toeven speak up firmly against the various flouters of the law. The general janta--people like you andme--is therefore entitled to conclude that thisdeafening silence is indicative of the vested interest the political class hasin keeping these communal and criminal fundamentalists of various denominationson their side.

Instead of being treated as common criminals, they are being described as"men of eminence", they are "being urged" and "appealedto", and getting invites to the prime minister's house for juice and"dialogue".

While no body can condone or rationalise away the inhuman and barbaric incident at Godhra today, isn't it time that while we watch out for the jehadi groups from across the border, and those maddened by the mullahs and their maleficmadrasas, we very urgently and firmly need to address the problem caused by these pseudo-nationalists and other assorted slurs on Hinduism who have become its self-appointedthekedars?

Spare a thought for those killed today--murdered in cold blood. How many deaths will it take till we know thattoo many people have died?

For full coverage, please see Barbarity At Godhra and Ayodhya