Hindustan times 28th February 2012
By Harish Mander
Despite what happened in Gujarat 10 years ago, India has rejected the politics of hate. People at every level in the state have fought injustice incessantly
Ten years have passed since a blistering storm of hate in Gujarat extinguished more than 2,000 lives, and destroyed countless more. It was a moment which altered the course of innumerable lives, including even my own.
I look back on those years with sorrow, with anger, but still also with hope. Ten years ago as a serving officer, I wrote of my anguish at the sheer cruelty of the slaughter in Gujarat, the complicity of my then colleagues in the civil and police administration in the massacre, the refusal of the state to even establish relief camps, and the blinding social and political climate of hate.
Today much of that grief persists, because of the many great failures of these 10 years after the massacre: the profound social failures of reconciliation and forgiveness; the legal failures of justice; and the political failures of democratic accountability. Those responsible for mass crimes and continuing persecution of minorities stand unpunished and defiant. I mourn also that leaders of industry, political parties, even social movements, celebrate the administration in Gujarat. They claim that the `bigger picture’ is of economic growth, administrative efficiency and alleged financial probity, rendering insignificant the `smaller picture’ of mere masthe `smaller picture’ of mere massacre and profiling.
I have not met a single survivor who has been able to regain the levels of living which they enjoyed before the carnage.
Memories of how life was before the storm haunt them each day; of all that they lost that can never be reclaimed. Around half the 200,000 people who fled murderous mobs and burning homes 10 years ago can never return to the lands of their birth. Entire villages have been `cleansed’ of their erstwhile Muslim residents.
Editors note: “So long as is possible, give relief to your heart, because the heart of a good Muslim is the palace of the manifestations of Allah.” Mujaddid Hazrat Nizamuddin(r.a.)
“Rabbe kullo shain khademoka Rabbi fa hafiznee wa nasurni wa rahamni”(Prayer of Masih Muad(a.s.) for protection from all harm)
may Allah(swt) make their lives easy for them, those who died, those who fight for justice, those who still live under threat and deprivation. Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Dalits. May all you have tranquility and peace. Aameen!
Categories: Asia, India, Interfaith tolerance, ISLAMOPHOBIA, Separation of Church and State