COMMUNAL VIOLENCE

Shiv Sena Cannot Have its Way

Editorial, The Mainstream

Much is being written these days on  corruption in public life and the menace of criminalization of the polity. However, that should not lead one to the conclusion that the struggle against fissiparous trends, particularly the scourge of communalism, eating into the vitals of national unity has been relegated into the background and lost its priority importance now that more than three years have elapsed since the demolition of the Babari mosque at Ayodhya and there has not been any spurt in communal violence. In fact the recent events in Maharashtra have in a flash highlighted the significance one should continue to attach to the danger posed by the communal approach.

It was believed that chastened by the responsibilities of running the State administration, the alliance partners would at least adopt postures which would be different from their rabid communal stance while in Opposition and during the election campaign. Such naive hopes have been dashed to pieces by the systematic steps the combine... has taken to undermine the interests and rights - and hence the confidence - of the minorities. The abolition of the State Minorities Commission, the scrapping of the Haj Committee, the disbanding of the Urdu Academy were not measures to bring the Muslims into the "mainstream" of national life as the proponents of Hindutva would make us believe. In the name of doing away with the so-called "appcasement" of Muslims as their political rivals had practiced while in power, the Sena and the BJP were actually aiming to place the minorities in a disadvantageous position and inject an element of fear in their minds that runs counter to the cherished values of secularism independent India has all along firmly sought to uphold.

The latest - and perhaps the gravest - attack on the minorities' sense of security in Maharashtra has come with the State Government's decision to wind up the Srikrishna Commission probing the gruesome and ghastly communal riots which rocked Mumbai in December 1992 and January 1993 following the destruction of the structure of Babari Masjid by a bunch of Hindu fanatics. It is beyond dispute that those riots were organized in a cold blooded manner they did not happen in a spontaneous outburst of senseless hatred and the organization which lent cover, sustenance, strength and vitality to the miscreants was the Shiv Sena. The State Government's action in winding up the Srikrishna Commission has thus exposed itself to the charge of blatant partisanship: the compulsion of covering up the traces of the Shiv Sainiks' colossal misdeeds during the communal violence on the Muslim community was so great that all other considerations had to be thrown to the winds. Indeed the real face of the Shiv Sena in all its viciousness has been unmasked by this move.

 As has been brought out in bold relief by Y.H. Muchala representing the Lawyers' Legal Aid Committee before the Commission, the act was not only politically naive (as it revealed the guilt-conscience of the major partner of the ruling coalition) but also a transparent manifestation of moral cowardice.

 The basic fact is that the Srikrishna Commission, having collected evidence and other material running into 25,000 pages, would have prepared within six months a report that would have been one of the most convincing indictments of the Sena's anti-Muslim - and hence anti- national-proclivities. That the Sena was not in a position to withstand. Hence it "short-circuited" the only hope of justice nurtured by the riot victims. It is also striking that the Commission was wound up on January 23 whereas one of the star Sena performers - Madhukarrao Sarpotdar, an MLA and a detenu under the National Security Act - was to be put on the dock on January 25 when in the course of the cross examinations the Sena's real motives would have been stripped naked. That is precisely why Manohar Joshi resorted to all kinds of lame excuses to justify the move - false alibis that cannot stand close scrutiny.

 But the Sena cannot have its way with or without the complicity of its alliance partner, the BJP. There have been certain welcome developments following the Shiv Sena's decision.... First, in response to an application moved by a CPI member, the Bombay High Court has ruled that all the evidence gathered by the Commission should remain in the custody of the court. Secondly the National Human Rights Commission has lately decided to inquire into he 1992-93 Mumbai riots determined as it is to bring out the truth.

 In the wake of the Shiv Sena's depredations in Mumbai and the impunity with which the protagonists of majority communalism are attempting to subvert both secularism and democracy, as upheld by our Constitution, the President's message on the eve of the Republic Day for a public initiative against communalism assumes special significance.

 The struggle against communalism cannot thus be slackened under any circumstances and at any cost.