Dev - The Anatomy of A Communal Carnage

Ashutosh_Gandhi #93,

``You non-gujaratis find that modi has done lot of wrong while many of us
gujaratis who are livin in gujarat find that modi is trying to do lot of good
for the state. He is doing his best he can.``

Of course he`s doing his best, and I am sure that Muslim Gujaratis will
substantiate this claim.

Oh well, I guess wannabe-Nazis are enititled to have their fan club as well.

#95 by dost-mittar on July 30, 2004 4:57am PT
It will be wonderful that the government does not waste money on subsidizing Haj nor Mansarovar Yatra. Government does not support Madrasas nor hindu temples. Government treats catholic schools and hindu schools equally. No special privileges for catholic schools.
No special treatment to a person of particular religion be it either Hindu, Muslim or Catholic.
Government does not favour teachers of Urdu Language over other languages. No reservation in schools or offices because a person belong to a particular caste/religion. Affirmative action is limited and not given out to score brownie points in election.
But todays so called secular people e.g. commies are against broadcasting serials depicating Hindu religion while they have no problem with AIR broadcasting christian prayers in north east india.
The best will be no holidays for religious ocassion. No more holiday on Bakri-ID or Diwali or Christmas or Guru nanak jayanti or Mahavir jayanti.
It will be great to have a truly secular government in India. But until then people should be shown the bigotry of the psuedo secular parties like CPI, Congress, etc.

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from today`s times of india:
``Cops had no plan to combat riots

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 2004 10:16:34 PM ]

AHMEDABAD: Additional DGP MK Tandon, who held the key post of joint commissioner of Ahmedabad city during the post-Godhra riots, told the Nanavati-Shah Commission on Wednesday that the police did not do the ground-work to handle the riots despite having indications of ``possible repercussions`` after the Godhra carnage.


Tandon`s deposition before the Commission comes as the biggest expose of the police role during the riots as he was in charge of the sector that saw nearly 126 people being killed in the infamous Naroda-Patia and Gulbarg Society massacres on February 28, 2002.

Exposing the casual attitude of the police and the lack of communication within the hierarchy, Tandon said, ``There was no high-level meeting with the commissioner of police to plan the course of action for the anticipated communal violence on February 28, 2002``. Tandon failed to explain why, when the police found the situation ``unprecedented``, there were no deliberations.

He could not explain either why more Muslims were killed in police firing when the mobs were largely comprised of Hindus or why there were no investigations into the `private firings` which claimed more Muslim lives.

In his three-hour cross-examination by Jan Sangharsh Manch lawyer Mukul Sinha, Tandon fumbled several times.

At one point, he pleaded that ``the honourable Commission visit the Gulbarg Society site`` in an effort to understand his position. About the massacres happening after the imposition of curfew, he said, ``curfew was no magic word``.

He claimed to have spent more time in Dariapur, which saw only minor clashes, while massacres were taking place at Naroda and Meghaninagar, but could not explain why. This was even after he heard the ACP over the wireless asking for more reinforcements for Gulbarg Society, while enroute to Dariarpur on February 28 morning.

Tandon claimed he got to know about the Naroda-Patia massacre only around 9.30 pm and about Gulbarg only at 2 pm on February 28, when he was told that ex-MP Ehsaan Jafri had to be evacuated, but reached the sites when everything was over.

Apart from issuing instructions to his juniors about what action to take, neither he nor the then commissioner of police PC Pande were at Naroda-Patia or at Gulbarg when the massacres happened, he said. Asked to elaborate on the information about ``repercussions``, Tandon said, ``We had information that the remaining kar sevaks returning to Ahmedabad could be attacked.``

Tandon admitted when he visited Naroda-Patia late that evening, he saw bodies burning in a chawl. Ditto for Gulbarg Society where he reached only at 4 pm when Jafri and the others had been killed. Tandon denied having met anyone at Gulbarg when he first passed by around 10.35 am. He termed both massacres as ``retaliations ``

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Ashutosh:
``The perception of hard core secularist is the one who enjoys bash hindus and patronize muslims, christians and sins of commies. Thus, not being a true secular.``

... ``hardcore`` means complete separation of religion and state. That means no bhoomi-poojan or ganesh-poojas at state functions; it also means no separate civil laws for hindus, muslims, parsees and christians.

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#77 by rsridhar on July 27, 2004 8:13pm PT
You are perhaps not aware that Gujarat was a kind of ``Hindutva lab`` for BJP. Students and the middle class were being indoctrinated towards this end for the past several years.

If you could show me any proof that anyone in BJP/VHP/RSS mentioned that Gujarat is a Hindutva lab than I might find your accusation credible. I googled for +BJP+Hindutva+Laboratory . I cannot find a single article saying who in BJP/VHP/RSS coined or mentioned Hindutva lab in gujarat. All I can find is accusation from psuedo secular, commies and muslims that gujarat is being used as a laboratory. I highly doubt that you have even travelled to gujarat. You just feel that ``Students and Middle class`` are being indoctrinated. You should know that in godhra riots even the Hindu tribals were accused to killing.

You non-gujaratis find that modi has done lot of wrong while many of us gujaratis who are livin in gujarat find that modi is trying to do lot of good for the state. He is doing his best he can. While godhra was an aberrration where innocent people both Hindus and Muslims were killed but I highly doubt that he is personnaly responsible for the deaths. I havent found any evidence indicating otherwise. I have seen the police have been slow to react when lot of peole had been calling for help.

The people accusing BJP/VHP/RSS could not provide any links or proof. You accuse that army deployment was delayed but most of the army was at the Ind/Pak border. You accuse that rioters have list of muslim owned properties but government does not keep any such kind of list. you accuse that gujarat is hindutva lab but I see only psuedo-secular, commies and muslims stating that. You accuse that the police were told not to intervene but both hindus and muslims were killed by police, 18000 hindus and 4000 muslims were arrested, while 100,000 muslims were made refugees so were 40,000 hindus.

What you have done so far is accused and nothing more. HRW article was listed as a proof and it accused BJP that riots were preplanned even before godhra while killing of hindus in godhra was not pre-planned. Its all accusation without any names except that of Modi and that too without proof. Muslims are usually called ``Mian Bhai`` i.e. Muslim brother by gujarati.

Imam of Jamma masjid declared a fatwa that all muslims should vote for congress in the state election while VHP retaliated with asking hindus to vote for BJP.

#87 by FarzanaVersey on July 29, 2004 1:46am PT
The perception of hard core secularist is the one who enjoys bash hindus and patronize muslims, christians and sins of commies. Thus, not being a true secular.

#86 by rsridhar on July 28, 2004 9:45pm PT
Can you tell what do you understand by Hindutva?

sridhar

I simply wanted to give access to an article that appeared in rediff. It seeks to defend modi and takes the argument in another direction, i.e. to blame muslims for the riots, not only the Gujrat riots but other ones as well.

I was wondering if the statistics quoted is true. Is the number of persons killed and the number of people in camps right?

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#87 by FarzanaVersey

[Does this not convey that it is Dev`s religious identity onstead of true ethics that prompt him to be what he is?]

And just what is wrong with Dev being a Gita-quoting Hindu whose religious identity prompts him to be what he is? Does religion not teach us to be fair and dutiful? What is wrong if a man looks to religious scriptures for guidance in everyday life which includes doing his duty honestly?

[During the Bombay riots, there was one such upright police officer, Sanjay Pandey...he did not quote from anywhere, but was trying to do what was just and fair. He was transferred.
This is the reality.]

What are you trying to convey? And how is it relevant to this context?

Dear Farzana:
I was trying to say the same thing. No, there`s nothing wrong with being a hardcore secularist, it is just that there is no hardcore secularist in this film. I cannot say that the film was disappointing, it has the Nihalani stamp all over it. Even the absence of hardcore secularist is not far from the reality of contemporary India; the Ashis Nandi -or should I say Gandhian?- view of secularism seems to be more popular.

Dear dost-mittarji:

I have not seen `Dev`, my earlier enthusiasm has been doused by the various critiques. Govind Nihalani has several commendable works to his credit. This does not seem like one of them.

From your review, I found some parts (highlighted) of this statement rather disturbing: ``of a tolerant Hindu police officer, Dev Pratap Singh (Amitabh Bachan), the protagonist, who believes in upholding the secular constitution in letter and spirit. I have deliberately categorized this as a tolerant Hindu view because Dev is not a hardcore secularist but a Geeta quoting Hindu who believes that it is his dharma to uphold the constitution to which he swore in his police academy``

I do not know whether this is your opinion, and I have not been around to read the other interacts, but what is wrong with being a hardcore secularist? What has the Indian Constitution got to do with the Gita? Does this not convey that it is Dev`s religious identity onstead of true ethics that prompt him to be what he is? In that case, how do we get rid of the stranglehold of fanaticism anywhere?

During the Bombay riots, there was one such upright police officer, Sanjay Pandey...he did not quote from anywhere, but was trying to do what was just and fair. He was transferred.
This is the reality.

Regards,
Farzana