Editorial

Healing Wounds of Gujarat

When Smt. Sonia Gandhi said communal forces and fanatics pose the biggest challenge to the country today, she was speaking for the whole country. The unabated violence in Gujarat in the last two and half months have proved beyond doubt that India as Nation State is passing through the most difficult phase since independence. Indeed the secular roots and convictions of the nation are on a crucial test as also its resilience to accommodate diverse aspirations and adjust to changing socio-economic scenario. The most worrying factor is that while the unexpected challenge is confronting us all, the expected response to deal with it is missing. Though the continuing violence is claiming lives everyday, the State and Central Governments appear inexplicably apathetic which can only be construed as criminal negligence. There have been communal clashes in the country in the past, but there were also instant and sincere efforts to resolve them. This is perhaps the first time State and Central Governments have not only failed to assess properly the communal climate but also failed to act promptly. This shocking inaction of the Gujarat and Central Governments give rise to legitimate doubts if the parties in power have a game plan to exploit the clashes.

After an on the spot tour of the violence-ravaged State, Smt. Sonia Gandhi felt so pained and asked in utter disbelief, "is this the same Gujarat which has given a message of love and non-violence to the world? Is it the same Gujarat which has established new example of progress and development?" She lamented that some people were trying to convert Gandhiji’s Gujarat into Godse’s Gujarat. Smt. Gandhi was the first to condemn the Godhra violence and cautioned the Central and State Governments about the law and order. She wanted the Centre and Parliament which was in session to immediately condemn the violence and take precautionary measures. For some strange reason neither the Central nor the State governments, dominated by the BJP, chose to accept her advice and warnings. It is now widely accepted that it was a blunder. Even Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee openly admitted in the Lok Sabha that Parliament should have condemned the violence when it started. He accepted the mistake. If only Smt. Gandhi’s advice was heeded and timely action taken, so many hundreds of lives would have been saved, the secular fabric would not have been so much strained and the nation’s reputation and image would not have been so much tarnished. The blame for this criminal inaction goes entirely to the BJP. The BJP will surely pay for this. But how to bring back genuine normalcy in Gujarat, how to restore fraternal relations between the two major communities and how to reinfuse harmony and confidence in the people who were victims of the communal hatred and violence? The BJP has done what it could — destroy communal harmony.

It is naive to expect it to apply balm on the wounds it inflicted on unsuspecting innocent citizens. It simply cannot. Infact, confidence building measures would not succeed as long as Narendra Modi remains Chief Minister of Gujarat. If Prime Minister Vajpayee is genuinely unhappy over the massacres in Gujarat, he should even at this late stage muster courage and sack Modi. Unless he does this his talk of sympathy for the victims will carry no conviction. The Congress party has a great responsibility towards crest-fallen and severely wounded Gujarat. Our partymen have already begun peace marches in the state following the directive of Smt. Gandhi. They should not be deterred by the fact that Congress is not in power. They should do everything possible, particularly prevent fresh clashes, to bring sparkle to diamond-rich Gujarat. By doing so they would also strengthen the secular bonds from which springs the remarkable and fascinating cultural mosaic of India.