Is there a connection between the old anti-Narendra Modi forces based in the United States, most notably the Coalition Against Genocide (CAG) and the US House of Representatives Resolution on Monday, November 18, praising the US Government for abiding by its 2005 decision to deny a visa to the Gujarat Chief Minister who is now the Prime Ministerial candidate of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)? The Resolution is being seen as an unsubtle hint to the Obama Administration to continue to shun the Gujarat Chief Minister.
In a direct interference in the internal affairs of India, that too at a time of crucial Assembly elections to five States (generally regarded as a semi-final before Parliamentary elections next year), the US House Resolution 417 urged the Congress Government of India “to publicly oppose the exploitation of religious differences and denounce harassment and violence against religious minorities, especially in the run-up to India’s general elections in 2014.” This can virtually be read as an encouragement to the Indian people to vote for the Congress party in the general elections.
It is pertinent that currently the only major instance of ‘harassment’ of religious minorities (read Muslims) comes from the UPA ally ruled Uttar Pradesh, where the Samajwadi Party regime has been unequal to the challenge of maintaining law and order and is now blaming the BJP for the troubles in Muzaffarnagar. As reported in a section of the press, neither Lucknow nor the local district administrations have been able to restore the old communal amity in the affected districts. Those accused of triggering the initial conflagration remain free (at the instance of an important minister), while persons from unaffected villages were lured into relief camps to inflate the numbers of displaced and show the BJP in a bad light.
But now, though the violence has died down, the State Government pleads inability to send the persons in relief camps back to their villages, and is instead exerting pressure on the families to abandon their homes in lieu of a compensation of Rs five lakhs per family. While it is not known if this is a fair compensation, this is possibly the first case in independent India – barring the forced exodus of Kashmiri Pandits – in which affected persons have not returned to the old homesteads.
Strangely, neither the National Human Rights Commission nor the National Commission for Minorities has seen fit to take note of this development. This makes one wonder what is the mandate of these bodies, and if they amount to anything more than a gubernatorial perch for well connected persons. The chairperson of the National Commission for Women, Mamata Sharma, was so uncomfortable in the heat during a field visit at the height of the tension that she had to be constantly fanned by village women.
The contrast to Gujarat cannot be starker. It may be recalled that following the riots that broke out after the Sabarmati Express ferrying Hindu pilgrims from Ayodhya was torched at Godhra Station on February 27, 2002, a tailor named Qutbuddin Ansari emerged as the ‘face’ of the riots. The close-up of him pleading for his life with hands folded and tears in his eyes was moving enough the melt the stoniest hearts. For long it was not known what had become of him – did he survive, and why did the photographer taking the picture do nothing to save him. Apparently, he was saved by the Rapid Action Force; yes, the police did do its job, only it was overwhelmed by the popular sentiment and numbers.
Five years later, in 2007, Ansari emerged, lambasting the manner in which his photograph was exploited by the ‘bleeding hearts’ industry, and begging to be left in peace. Expressing dissatisfaction with his own attempts to rehabilitate himself in other States, he returned quietly to Ahmedabad and along with his brother now makes a decent living running a unit that stitches branded shirts. This natural rehabilitation was facilitated by a Chief Minister who had mastered the art of managing law and order; the rest is traditional Gujarati enterprise, Hindu or Muslim.
It is thus supercilious and unwarranted for the US House to adopt a view that “Contrary to the tolerant and pluralistic traditions of the Hindu faith, strands of the Hindu nationalist movement have advanced a divisive and violent agenda that has harmed the social fabric of India.” Facts on the ground speak otherwise.
What is disturbing about the US Resolution is that it seeks to include religious freedom and human rights in India in the US-India Strategic Dialogue. This is an infringement of national sovereignty and must be resisted. It is true that the US House Resolution took note of the Godhra atrocity, but it harps on the US International Religious Reports and their fictitious claims that the riots left around 2000 dead; official statistics given in the Indian Parliament are about half this number (790 Muslims and 254 Hindus).
Right on cue, the spokesperson for the Coalition Against Genocide, Kannan Srinivasan, a collection of NGOs allegedly fighting for ‘justice’ for the victims of the 2002 riots, let the agenda out of the bag, “It is a sad day for all Indians, that a man whose complicity in mass violence and suppression of minorities is acknowledged internationally, happens to be the Prime Ministerial candidate of a major political party in India.” This clearly suggests a conspiracy to derail Narendra Modi.
It is interesting that in October 2011, the CAG wrote to the then President of India, Pratibha Devisingh Patil, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chief Justice of India, Justice SH Kapadia, seeking their intervention to prevent the arrest of Sanjiv Bhatt, a 1988 batch IPS officer and incorrigible Modi-baiter, for allegedly speaking the “truth” about the 2002 riots. The Coalition said it was launching “an international campaign” on behalf of Bhatt.
But in July 2013 the Union Home Ministry granted the Gujarat Government permission to dismiss Sanjiv Bhatt from service on grounds that he misused his official position and indulged in anti-government acts. The action came after a constable filed on FIR claiming that Bhatt had forced him to file a false affidavit saying Bhatt was present at a February 2002 meeting called by the Gujarat Chief Minister wherein, Bhatt alleged, Narendra Modi asked officials to go easy on rioters; this led to hundreds being killed in communal violence.
The Coalition signatories, all US-based, included the Aligarh Muslim University Alumni Association of Northern California (AMUAA-CA), Alliance for Secular and Democratic South Asia (ASDSA), Alliance of South Asians Taking Action (ASATA), American Minority Physicians of Indian Origin (AMPI), Association of Indian Muslims of America (AIM), Association of South Asian Progressives (ASAP), Campaign to Stop Funding Hate (CSFH), Chippa Foundation of America, Coalition for Secular and Democratic India (CSDI), Dharma Megha, Forum of Inquilabi Leftists (FOIL), Friends of South Asia (FOSA), Global Movements/Urban Struggles, India Foundation, Indian American Association (IAA), Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), Indian Minorities Advocacy Network (IMAN), Indian Muslim Education Foundation of North America (IMEFNA), Indian Muslim Relief & Charities (IMRC), International Service Society, International South Asia Forum (INSAF), Muslim Peace Coalition-USA, Muslim Youth Awareness Alliance (MYAA), NRIs for Secular and Harmonious India (NRI-SAHI), San Jose Peace and Justice Center, Sikh American Heritage Organization (SAHO), South Asia Solidarity Initiative (SASI), South Asian Magazine for Action and Reflection (SAMAR), South Asian Progressive Action Collective (SAPAC), Supporters of Human Rights in India (SHRI), The Center for Conflict Studies (CCS), Vaishnava Center for Enlightenment, Vedanta Society of East Lansing, Washington Watch, Youth Solidarity Summer (YSS).
These forces have reactivated themselves in the run-up to the 2014 parliamentary elections.
Niticentral.com, 20 November 2013