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For the last two months the "secular" pack and the media have been busy weaving myths and half-truths following the carnage at Godhra and its bloody backlash in the rest of Gujarat. Samples: These were the worst riots in Gujarat; only Muslims were its victims; Sangh Parivar and riots are synonymous; the Narendra Modi Government is hounding the minorities and giving a free hand to the Hindu rioters; Gujarat is still burning; etc. Pseudo-intellectuals have even termed the riots as a "Pogrom of the minorities" and called shots at Modi with words like "Hang the murderer".
Now, the facts. Out of 31,000 arrests made throughout the State in connection of riots, 80 per cent are Hindus. Out of approximately 800 killed in Gujarat, one-fourth are Hindus. Out of 140 killed in police firing, 80 were Hindus. Also, out of 100 killed in police firing in the first three days, more than 70 were Hindus.
The secular pack is outraged over the "fact" that Gujarat, the land of Mahatma Gandhi, which was an island of peace, has been set afire after the emergence of the Sangh parivar as a dominant force. The first part of the statement (regarding Gandhi) is half-true and the rest is a total lie. No doubt Gandhi was born in Gujarat but so was Jinnah, the father of Pakistan.
Now, the truth about the rest of the "secular" proposition. Beginning from the 1714 Holi riots in the Mughal period, Ahmedabad has witnessed no less than 10 major recorded riots. On September 18, the last day of Urs celebrations in 1969, routine movements by cows of Jagannath temple sparked off riots. An altercation took place over the killing of a cow. An attack by 1,000-strong Muslim mob snowballed into a historic riot in which 560 people were killed, over 1,000 injured and thousands rendered homeless. The 1985 riots over Rath Yatra procession were spread over a period of five months from February to July. There was certainly no Sangh parivar in 1714, and it was not a dominant force in 1969.
This brings us to another myth that
riots are engineered by the Sangh parivar. In other words, there
should have been no communal riots in India prior to the genesis
of RSS in 1925. But history of riots is older in the country. Was
there a Sangh parivar in 1921, when over 5,000 Hindus were killed
by the Moplas of Malabar? Even today, the cold blooded conspiracy
for Godhra carnage is a chilling reminder of Jinnah's call for Direct
Action Day on August 16, 1946. Between August 16 and 19, nearly 20,000
people perished on the streets of Calcutta, with no succour till
the vultures and kites descended on the corpses.
The RSS was formed by a disciplined
Congressman Keshavram Baliram Hedgewar in 1925 at Nagpur in response
to the support Congress extended to the communal elements. For many
years, its influence was restricted to Maharashtra. So what explains
riots in entire British India from 1893 to 1947?
With a Muslim population of not less than 93 per cent, Kashmir valley was no base for the RSS. Why, then, more than three lakh Kashmiri Pandits were forced out of their homes and hearths to become refugees in their own country? Have Muslims ever been forced out of any part of India, including vast areas under Sangh parivar domination? The secular pack would say that the Constitution and rule of law did not allow the Parivar to do such a thing. How come the same Constitution failed in Kashmir?
Fact is that the Parivar believes in Hindutva, based on equal respect to all faiths.
The secularists have generally kept quiet about the plight of Kashmiri Pandits, and, in fact, repeatedly extended support to separatist elements in the Valley in the garb of protection of human rights. When such secularists scream about riot victims in Gujarat in a selective manner, their motives are obviously less than honest.
Similarly, the continuing exodus of Hindus and Chakma (Buddhist) minorities from Bangladesh never pricked the conscience of the secularists. In 1951, the Hindu population of Bangladesh (East Pakistan) was 22 per cent, which dropped to 13.5 in 1974 and further to 10.5 by 1991. Presently, it has touched 8 per cent - and Bangla Hindus are likely to disappear in another 20 years - for the trend seems irreversible.
Three million Hindus have left Bangladesh between 1974 and 1991 at the rate of 375 persons a day. India also receives a high influx of Muslim infiltrators from Bangladesh. They have altered the demographic pattern of several bordering districts in Assam, Tripura and Bangladesh. Any secularists protest over these developments? None.
The secularists and the media claim
to be speaking for democracy and civil society. On the basis of a
media trial, they want Mr Modi to be hanged. Rather than allowing
the elite ensconced in their air conditioned offices in New Delhi,
to sit in judgement on Mr Modi, the BJP would like the people of
Gujarat to give their verdict. Those who oppose elections are "democratic"
and those who are asking for it are termed as "fascists". Since when
has holding of elections become undemocratic?
Still another canard being spread
is that Mr Modi deliberately delayed requisitioning the Army. In
the past, Gujarat had seen riots where a Congress Chief Minister
took more than five days to call in the Army. Mr Modi did so within
16 hours, at a time there was a large and indefinite deployment of
Army at India-Pakistan border.
One more myth is that Gujarat is still burning whereas the truth is that the State is limping back to normalcy, notwithstanding the provocative role of the secular pack and sporadic violent incidents. There are enough hints to it.
From March 18 to 28, the first phase of SSC and HSC Board examinations were carried out smoothly. Over 1.2 crore students participated in various examinations throughout the State with an average attendance of 98 per cent. Nearly 1,700 village panchayats went to a fully incident-free polling on March 11 - the voters' turn out was 75 per cent. The observance of Muharram with around 2,000 Tazia processions throughout the State went off peacefully. Holi was completely peaceful. Around 6,000 Haj pilgrims returned to the State in the meantime and were warmly welcomed in their villages.
Italy born Congress president Sonia Gandhi has emerged as the head of the pack weaving "secular" myths. Nowadays, she is like a sponge, erasing the gory past of 1984 anti-Sikh riots and soaking in the future with dreams to lead the nation in the backdrop of Gujarat carnage.
It does not bother her conscience
that these myths and half-truths have blackened India's image in
the international community. I have no doubt that truth shall triumph
over the myths in the long run. I can't help agree with Charles Darwin:
"False views...do very little harm, for everyone takes a salutary
pleasure in proving their falseness; and when this is done, one path
towards error is closed and the road to truth is often at the same
time opened."
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