Sunday, July 28, 2002		Books

Lest We Forget—Gujarat 2002.
Edited by Amrita Kumar and Prashun Bhaumik. World Report in association with Rupa. Rs 195. Pages 154.

THE articles, when they were first published, were disturbing. Now in book form, they shake the consciousness and raise fundamental questions not just about the carnage in Godhra and genocide of Gujarat but also about Indian secularism and the State. All authors are leading writers and journalists who try to explain Godhra and the rest that followed, and pin responsibility for it. In the end readers might wonder if the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington contributed towards the targeting of Muslims, or has the alleged failure of the Indian secularism become a support system for both the Hindu fundamentalists and the failed state of Pakistan.

The book is divided in three parts. The first revisits Gujarat with those who reported the carnage and the pogrom. Re-reading them, a student of literature might perhaps understand as to how Sadat Hasan Manto’s story Khol Do has a sledgehammer effect on sensitivity, and, why the person wills to purge it out of the consciousness. The second and the third parts contain analysis and responses, which makes one wonder if the editors might not have done better if they had included a comprehensive article based on these writings. This would have immensely helped the reader form an uncluttered opinion of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. If that had happened then perhaps a discerning reader might well have questioned some of them as to how and why they have always shied away from admitting that Prime Minister Vajpayee might, after all, be really wearing a mask.

The book in the present form makes the reader wonder if the indulgence of the well-to-do people in arson and loot of Muslim properties is not to be attributed to the fact that over the years the fanatics have been well masked and that even the discerning and well-meaning journalists have contributed in building the moderate image of this class. The inability of the media to see through motives of those in high places has lent credibility and respectability to these forces. Even today they refuse to recognise the pattern which began with Pokhran and coursed through Kargil, the farce of Ramzan ceasefire, and the December 13 attack which was rightly termed as an attack on the Indian Republic and State, therefore justifying the mobilisation of forces. Yet, when the same kind of attack took place on the Bhubaneswar Assembly it was for obvious reasons hastily subjected to amnesia.

Gujarat is dangerous for the country because the well groomed have appropriated the role of the lumpen elements of 1984 and simultaneously the intelligentsia and opinion makers have allowed themselves to be influenced by the make-believe moderation of the Prime Minister. Or, perhaps Saba Naqvi Bhaumik is close to striking truth when she mentions the striking proximity of Gujarat to Arundhati Roy’s imprisonment. The Indian society has been manifesting intolerance for quite some time now and obviously the crisis is of political leadership rather than of the whole Indian state surrendering to the communal virus.

However, when read as a unit, the articles in the book not only provide answers to the conscience-pricking questions but also give reason to be optimistic. Dipankar Gupta and Romila Thapar remind us as to what leadership is all about when they recall the manner in which Jawaharlal Nehru had dealt with fanatical forces. Such leaders are not to be seen on the political horizon today, but there are, despite a depressing record in recent years, bureaucrats like Harsh Mander and Jayanti Ravi who respond to their conscience and the call of duty, rather than the political masters of the day, who would like to right the wrongs of history. There is hope for India to reconstruct itself as "a pluralist, humane state on the debris of hatred" as long as there are police officers like Rahul Sharma, who finding his force hesitant to open fire on a violent mob, not only took the rifle of a constable and shot, but recorded the fact in the log book, or, Saurabh Srivastava, who single-handedly doused the communal fire in neighbouring Rajasthan.

A reader might add that twice before we have witnessed mindless violence overtaking civil life. On both occasions we have collectively pushed the memories on the margin of our consciousness. We need to build a memorial, lest we forget the madness to which we succumbed in Gujarat as well as in Delhi for the victims of 1984 riots and those of the decade-long mayhem in Punjab.