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An Open letter to Narendra Modi Shri Narendra Bhai

Jai Shree Krishna, Khemcho? Majaama!

Hope this finds you hale, hearty and in good spirits amidst all your multifarious socio-development activities and those issues of statecraft occupying the media space.

I am not sure if this is the first open letter that has come your way. Surely, it will not be the last, as in our Mera Bharath Mahaan nobody, I mean nobody, has been written about with such endearing verbose as well as hatred, like you have been. How much of these writings are right or wrong, is not very easy to conclude. Public opinion, like media hyperbole is never even-handed. They are mostly subjective since the vision is stymied by the prism with which we try to see things, and prism is never the same.

Most of India, outside Gujarat, did not know you or about you until you catapulted into the seat of Chief Minister of Gujarat. From then on, there was no choice for media viewers or readers of the print media, to know about you. You were there everywhere, sometime even forcefed.

Of course 2002 post Godhra carnage on 27th Feb. and the mayhem that followed, has perforce kept you at the top of the happening news, unfortunately, mostly for wrong reasons.

Now 2012 Feb 27, has come and gone. Ten years have passed since the torching of train at Godhra, where some 60 have perished, burnt alive, reduced to cinders. Stories that followed the torching suggested some mischief by some of the victims, like drinking tea from the tea stall on the Godhra platform, behaving badly and then not paying for it. If true, they were certainly in poor taste. But the reaction of the mob that set a whole compartment on fire, blocking all escape routes, was most barbaric, by any stretch of imagination. To think that all occupants of the bogie were burnt to death, as a price for some unpaid cups of tea, is a horrendous retribution beyond any human comprehension. Of course people died were Hindus coming from Ayodhya.

One unfortunate, misguided but heinous crime, led to much bigger reaction, equally unthinkable and barbaric, in its scale and vehemence. It was a reaction far in excess of the original action.

Yes, media didn’t have time to react on the first tragedy for its brutality and morbidity. Hence it remained to be understood in its fuller depth. Of course the reaction, the scale of its infliction, and the vividity of its cruelty has only confirmed the long held view, that the rational animal that supposedly man is, probably is the most irrationally beastly in his vindictiveness. Yes, what followed Godhra, and if what is available in the media is to be believed, it was, without doubt, equally most inhuman, as Godhra carnage was.

Looking back in perspective, after 10 years, the phrase ‘mighty trifles’ indeed continue to have its time tested relevance.

It was the assassination of the heir to the Harbsberg throne, Francis Ferdinand at Sarajevo in Bosnia, on 28th June 1914, that triggered the World War I, which lasted for almost 5 years. (1914-18) and involved 14 countries. Estimated combatant loss was close to over 8 million for all the 14 countries that took to war-rightly or wrongly. So, if one person’s killing, may be of some royal origin, could lead to 4 years 3 months’, war and cause the death of over 8 million people and leave double that figure injured, how could this be seen as rational?

Similarly, if the human pettiness, of misbehaving and non paying of few rupees as the cost of some cups of tea, could lead to the devastation of Godhra torching and then the Ahmedabad mayhem, that could cause the death of some 2000 people, isn’t this so terribly senseless! Yes, it does make one think, could there be reasons deeper than seen apparently?!

If Godhra was a prelude to the ugliest sectarian flare up – hardly provoked and barbaric, the reaction was equally barbaric and appeared to be a reflection of a deeper hatred. Karbela Swain, the 3-in-1 M.P (BJP. VHP & RSS) was on record having said “the recent violence in Gujarat was a necessary lesson to the minority community that Hindus, if slapped will retaliate”. Was he articulating a cornered psyche?!

Unfortunately, added to the existing communal divide was the official response to the bloodbath. Senior police officers, instead of giving instructions to police personnel to enforce law and order took the view that ‘lower cadre policemen too shared popular mob sentiment’ and allowed the mob a free hand. This situation is totally and completely inconceivable. Law abiding citizen was up against a wall.

Yes, Gujarat of post 27th Feb. 2002, for the most part, represented complete collapse of law and order, where Muslims of all hues were targeted by the rampaging crowd with the unstated but tacit backing of the state administration. Clearly you have exposed yourself Narendra Bhai, when you announced Rs: 1 lakh compensation per riot victim as compared to the Rs: 2 lakh compensation for the Godhra victim. It was a bias-hither to practiced by Arabs, against non-Arabs and non-Muslims, so also by whites against Non-whites and blacks. A practice clearly unknown in free India of 21st century. It was indeed a fall for India in the eyes of its own citizens.

On April 13, 1919 in the city of Amritsar’s Jalianwala Baug, over 10,000 men, women and children had gathered to listen to political speeches. To put down all kinds of nationalistic movements by Indians, Brig. Gen. Regineld Dyer, commander of the units in Amritsar had forbidden any public meetings and had announced that all mobs would be fired upon. That his men fired at point blank range, caused the death of unarmed 379 men, women and children besides over 1200 wounded, in just 10 minutes, was the lowest point in the British Rule of India. Of course, officially there were wide spread condemnation. Gen. Dyer was court martialled. He told the court of inquiry that “he wanted to create the maximum impact so that Indian would not dare repeat this law breaking”. Did this episode cross your mind, as you allegedly allowed the rampaging crowd to ‘vent out their anger’ as reportedly claimed by IPS Sanjiv Bhat.

Of course, the World War I has come and gone, so has World War II. The Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the culmination of global estrangement. But the world has moved on. The Americans, who bombarded Japan, became its biggest trading partner, friend and protector. Both have found new meaning to their co-operative co-existence.

Newer ways of socio-political life has emerged in the larger context of live and let live. Democratic way of life, based on adult franchise has come to stay for the larger good of the world at large. Yes, there are the regimes in the Middle East, China, Myanmar, Northern African countries, so also some of the eastern, central and western African nations, who live by coercion. In these countries, laws are meant to be enforced, not to be interpreted.

Everything is controlled under a central authority with no freedom or restricted freedom. The so-called civilized world, with its global bodies like United Nations Organisation, tries to give some meaning to the concept of co-operative living based on unfettered equal human rights to all, irrespective of colour, race, religion, or country, and do take up issues of Human Rights Violations all over the world. But, it is also well known that UNO does not have teeth, rather some of its more powerful members have blunted its teeth and therefore it cannot bite. These powerful members have their own agenda and hence at times made UNO meaningless. Among the members, who have caused problems to UNO are United States of America, Russia and China. All three hold veto powers. But the greatest culprit is the U.S.A. It has double standards most of the time, only to serve its own interest. And they are the biggest democracy in the world! Russia is still not as democratic as U.S and China is authoritarian. It is an oft repeated observation that “there is nothing as a permanent friend or a permanent enemy but only permanent interest”. Therefore all those who are powerful, they are only pursuing those agendas which helps them both politically and economically. In the bargain, it is the weak who pays and also suffers. Arm twisting is the done thing. All talk about fairness is for the gallery. But like it or not, life has to go on, whether for an individual or for a nation. Therefore self reliance, is the best solution, to be counted and respected, in the international fora. During its existence of 64 years-of post colonial era-India has proved, it is no push over. India always had its inherent strength of its people and its natural resources, but it was only post 1991 that its economic forces were unleashed. Suddenly India is a happening place and everybody is taking India seriously.

It is here that complete turnaround in American mentality-vis-à-vis-you Narendra Bhai, has to be seen.

For all 10 years, there have been revelations in the media about the Gujarat violence – post Godhra torching of train. It is true that what happened in Godhra is bad but what followed as a reaction in Ahmadabad was worst. It is allegedly compounded by official inaction, meaning, covert support by the state. There are whole lot of statements from different sources, general public, NGOs, media, politicians who accuse the state, of connivance in the Gujarat pogrom. Of course the state keeps denying these accusations. Truth probably is not what both sides say. Even the judicial intervention has not been very helpful in having a final word.

It is also true that 1984 Delhi riot is another blot on the image of India as a country of Mahatma Gandhi. Even here, somehow, things did not conclude to everybody’s satisfaction. 27 years have gone by. Justice has certainly eluded lot of people who have suffered. But the visible animosity is not there, except in some pockets. Life has gone on. Media somehow did not play it up excessively. Hence, time is slowly making its inroads into the human psyche. It is a positive development.

Similar thing will happen in Gujarat also, if it is not over-played by media and vested interest players. Of course ends of justice has to be met. But for heaven’s sake, we should not mortgage our to-days and to-morrows for the baggage of a distant past.

Yes, you do have a point. Despite the horrors, the government headed by you has been able to lay stress on development and there is a whole lot of approbation from all over, which includes a Modi portrait on the cover of TIME, the leading US weekly in English. For the record, for the alleged Human Rights Violations, Narendra Modi was not allowed entry into the U.S. by successive administrations. Under the circumstances, for the U.S weekly the TIME, to put you on cover is a complete turnaround. Of course Modi baiters in India were rather shocked at this development. But the dynamics of life has its own way of expressing itself. What happened in South Africa, after the release of Nelson Mandela and he was voted to power! He was a statesman enough to forget what his colonial masters have done to him and his people. Instead the constitution of Reconciliation Committee by Mandela was epochal in its intention and meaningfulness. That is the most positive aspect of a human being. He can forgive and probably even forget.

Narendra Bhai, there is no denying of the truth that a section of Gujarat’s citizens have greatly suffered. Whether it is, as alleged, due to the official action of allowing the lawlessness and mayhem to continue or whether there was enough that government has done to restore normalcy as claimed by you, the fact remains what they are. Therefore as head of the state you cannot run away from your responsibility. Yes, you have done well on the development front. Cutting across socio-political divide, it has been recognised that when it comes to development you are a ‘no-nonsense man’, besides being personally incorruptible without any hangers on. Your credentials as a visionary leader are impeccable. There should be no reason why you should not play a bigger role at national level.

However, it is well known, that you are not acceptable to a significant section of Indians, including a large section of people who have suffered in the 2002 violence. And of course, there is this ‘Secularists’ in media and civil society whose only agenda is to fix you. Court cases can go on. Those found guilty shall continue to be punished. But you as a leader can grow in public perception if you reach out where it is needed.

The recent SIT report which has exonerated you of any direct involvement is a development that can help things settle down, although there will be many who will not let that happen.

Way back in 2002 itself, when Shri Atal Behari Vajapayee was the Prime Minister and happened to have visited Gujarat-post Godhra/Ahmedabad mayhem. He had spoken about ‘Raj Dharma’. What it really means may not be very clear. But Raj Dharma or similar terms only means what we have already stated, that your concern, indeed very genuine at that, must necessarily cut across the myriad divide that India is so infamous for. That ‘every one, without any differences of any kind, should have the right of your attention’, should be the golden rule.

However, what is extremely important in this ethereal moment in the history of Gujarat is to remember those immortal words of Vajpayeejee in his poem “Kshamaa Yaachna”. Where he begs Mahatma’s forgiveness for being ‘guilty of breaking the oath, of defiling Rajghat’, and to JP beseeching that ‘please trust us, we shall reknit the broken dream from the amber of the pyre to light the very foundation of the darkness’.

Narendra Bahi, please trust me, should you go to the people of Gujarat, and ask for ‘Kshamaa Yaachana’ from all those who suffered by the action or the inaction of the state administration, rightly or wrongly, whether the state is directly responsible or not, that you as the head of the state take responsibility of their well being, so that Guajaraties of all hues, join in creating a state powerful enough to empower every single individual socially and economically, that there is no repetition of any public display of animosity among the multi ethnic society of Gujarat.

Believe me, if you do that, you will go down as the best that India can have in this contemporary troubled time. Think clearly, first as a human being, then as an Indian, you would have come to the bridge that would link India to its ultimate greatness among the comity of nations.

Yours ever Indian

Jayaram Shriyan