THE SOCIAL BLOG

Its soon going to be six years since the Gujarat carnage took place in our ‘Democracy’. The actions we have seen so far have not been surprising. The Chief Minister gets re-elected, none of the people who arranged the attack on the muslims have been prosecuted yet and off late, the Court yells at one person who has been instrumental in getting justice to the victims of the carnage.

Let me begin by re-counting some of the incidents to most of my readers. The Tehelka issue on the Gujarat riots have been quite helpful in helping most of us re-visit the events. For people like Babu Bajrangi, the magazine is his worst nightmare. Surely it should be so when he is caught in the sting operation which giving an account of the Naroda Patiya massacre.

“Kauser Bano, was nine months pregnant that day. Her belly was torn apart and her foetus wrenched out, held aloft on the tip of a sword, then dashed to the ground and flung into the fire. Bajrangi recounts how he ripped apart “ek who pregnant b******d sala”; how he showed the Muslims the meaning of wrath – ‘if you harm us, we can respond- we’re no khichadi kadhi lot”

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Then there’s also 22 year old Sufiya Bano who was raped and burnt in front of her father and when the father and three sons went to save her, the sons were killed and the father beard was cut off.

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Naroda is an open area with a large pit that is actually a cul de sac – a slope leads into it from one side but the other side is a sheer rise that cannot be scaled. Several muslims had sheltered there; the mob surrounded the pit, poured fuel into it and set it afire. Around 200 people have said to have died in it.

Without going further in recounting these horrid tales, it must be stated that the action taken against those who were involved(hindus) in these crimes is as good as nil. On the other hand, the Supreme Court has denied bail to each of the 84 accused (muslims) of the burning of the Sabarmati express and all of them have been in jail for the past six years.

This is the irony of the Indian governance system. We are told that we are a democracy where everyone’s rights would be protected and there shall be no arbitrariness involved but on the other hand, communalism has penetrated so deep within us, that it is evident in the everyday actions of our Government. Most of the muslims in Ahmedabad still live in ghettos with inadequate facilities of water and electricity while Modi and his compatriots manage to come to power on the pedestal of “Gujarat Shining”.

Now when most of these issues are highlighted by Teesta Setalvad in an article, she gets a highly critical reaction from the Court. Well the article highlighted the fact that the Supreme Court had not done enough to deliver justice to the victims of the Gujarat riots and in fact was delaying the hearing time and again and not giving it much importance. This in a country where the Court has held that “Justice delayed is at par with Justice denied”. She also raised the following questions;

• · Can no questions be asked about the systems in operation in the Supreme Court of India?
• · Which matters get automatic priority and which do not?
• · Which matters suffer because of the delays and interim orders of the Supreme Court?
• · Is there no prioritization of cases where issues of personal liberty, denial of basic fundamental rights, mass crimes and impunity to the rich and powerful is concerned?
  If we can ask no questions, we will receive no answers.
• · The time has come to question the basic accountability procedures of the highest court in the land.
  Has the Supreme Court of India lost its soul and is it turning a blind eye to cases related to fundamental rights violations?
• · If so, where then do we turn?

In reply, when the Court was to hear the case on the 16^th of this month, the Court was apparently fuming over the article and went to the extent of asking the lawyers whether they had any association with Teesta and if so, that they wouldn’t be hearing the petition. Well, quite juvenile I must say in a land where free speech is a highly cherished ideal.

So while the we enter the Sixth year since the riots took place, a lot of questions are raised about the efficiency of the administration in maintaining order and securing justice to the victims. In addition to this, it is disheartening to point out that even still we don’t have a law dealing with mass crimes in India and the Communal Violence Bill has not yet been passed. Like I said earlier, the irony of Indian democracy.

(See articles in the hyperlinks provided in the text)

Ambadas Haribhau Dharrao died yesterday. He died in no ordinary manner but as a victim of the hate crimes in the state of Maharashtra. For Raj Thackeray this was the result of him venting out his feelings against the North-Indians while for Ambadas’s family this meant the future denial of their only source of income and a loved one.

It is not amusing to hear and read the way death and hate is politicised in this Nation of ours. For those in the seats of power and what we call ‘rajnaitik shadyantra’ (playing political games), this is just another issue to rake up at a desired fora. A reason to be read in the paper, come in the eyes of the public and yes, get some votes. But the loss of lives doesn’t seem to bother those inciting the violence. When they are to be arrested, further violence by them mars the arrest. Not strange in the Country like India where even the law and order machinery is in political hands.

Raj Thackeray seems to place himself as a buffoon of sorts. What should have been done is that he should’ve been arrested the moment he made his speeches that incited violence.

I think this is the plight of the Indian Democratic system. The price we have to pay for being ruled by the people.

This photograph by Kevin Carter won the Pulitzer Prize in 1994 for feature photograph. The vulture seems to be waiting for the child to starve to death. Taken during the Sudan Famine, it is stated that Kevin could’nt take it anymore and committed suicide 3 months later.

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To the thousands of Palestinians who managed to escape Israeli tyranny by bombing the wall out and escaping to Egypt.

To the other hundred thousand who still have to face it.

I managed to get hold of some of these photographs..

My personal comment - they are very very powerful .

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1.Racism/Segregation in the United States (Douglas Martin, USA)

1957. The first day of Dorothy Counts at the Harry Harding High School in
the United States . Counts was one of the first black students admitted in
the school, and she was no longer able to stand the harassments after 4
days.

2.Assasination (Yasushi Nagao, Japan)

January 12, 1960. A second before the Japanese Socialist Party leader
Asanuma was murdered by an opponent student.

3.Protest (Malcolm W. Browne, USA)

1963. Thich Quang Duc, the Buddhist priest in Southern Vietnam , burns
himself to death protesting the government’s torture policy against priests.
Thich Quang Dug never made a sound or moved while he was burning.

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