The continuing communal violence in Gujarat shames India. A death toll of anything between 2,000 and 5,000, according to Indian human rights agencies and some foreign embassies in New Delhi, is cause enough to worry any country. However, what should shame and worry India more is the government connivance in the violence, at both national and local levels. Ordinary Indian Muslims, who were not accused by any one of any involvement in the Godhra atrocity, are being killed and terrorized. The charge leveled by many that the local BJP government has actively been involved in stoking up the violence has now been confirmed by, among others, the New York-based Human Rights Watch. It says that its investigations found that state officials had been directly involved in the killings of hundreds of Muslims. That makes what is happening in Gujarat a pogrom — coolly orchestrated by a local government that acts on the principle that violence against an ethnic group will bring it public support.
What turns shame into unpardonable guilt is the way in which the Gujarat government’s BJP allies in the central government have deliberately turned their back on the scandal. The opposition has brought Parliament to a standstill, arguing that nothing merits its attention more than the Gujarat crisis, not even the budget. It is difficult to disagree with that, when the accusation is that a gross human rights violation has taken place that seriously weakens India’s integrity.
The opposition motion, speaking of "grave concern over the failure of the administration in ensuring the security of the minority community... especially in Gujarat" ought to rally politicians from all hues if they have India’s best interests at heart. To oppose such a motion is to publicly endorse the Gujarat government’s pogrom. That is why when the opposition talks about Gujarat continuing to "burn and bleed" and accuses its state government of deliberate involvement in the massacres of Muslims, the rest of the world nods in agreement.
Sadly, grave though the crisis is, those who imagine that it will be the undoing of the coalition are likely to be disappointed. Three small coalition partners are critical of the Gujarat government; the leader of one, the Lok Janshakti Party, has resigned, his integrity intact and his words ringing that India has been shamed by the events. But the coalition will limp on. It is motivated by self-interest, not moral integrity. It knows that if it does not stand together, it will sink apart. No one knows that more than Prime Minister Vajpayee, the man who consistently — and disingenuously — presents himself as the moderate who has done nothing wrong and, therefore, has no reason to apologize for anything he or his associates get up to.
But it is India that will suffer. The BJP government in Gujarat has blood on its hands. But ignoring this, Vajpayee and his Cabinet not only destroy the country’s good name (and in the process make themselves partners in crime), but also polarize the country to an extreme degree. Hindu militants are being encouraged to attack Muslims, knowing that the police will again stand by and do nothing, while Indian Muslims — and other minorities too — must feel increasingly alienated from a state that regards them as desirable targets.
