Friday, October 29, 2010

The Journey Begins

CHAPTER 1
It was a cool morning by Gujarat standards when I landed in
Ahmedabad on my second assignment in the state. The date was December 13, 2002. I
had fled the state three years back because of personal as well as professional reasons thinking that I would never ever return. But three years down the line so much had
happened that
it was not possible to deny an opportunity of coming back merely for
professional reasons.
The place had shot into limelight after the Kutch earthquake in
2001. This
was succeeded by one of the worst communal riots in Indian history
in the
succeeding year. Lots has been reported on the Godhra incident and
the post
Godhra violence that I need not go into the gory details again but
references to the events will keep on occurring as we proceed
further.
The only reason that I agreed for a second stint in the state was
that
whatever was happening was bound to have a very important place in
the
political and legal history of this country. I want to point out
that this
assumption of mine has proved to be true. All I wanted to understand
was the
how and why of the madness prevailing here. Simply saying that the
killings
or violence have stopped does not amount to prevalence of normalcy.
I just
wanted to observe the chaos all around and this exercise has proved
to be
very educating and amusing at times.
And the learning began on the day I landed. Not knowing the
Ahmedabad
airport norms I walked out only to be caught by a waiting
auto-rickshaw
driver who wanted to know my destination. I was to go to a room
arranged by
a friend on the western tip of the city and the driver looked
satisfied at
the prospect of fleecing me of atleast Rs 50.
Anyhow the journey and the lessons began. It turned out that the
auto driver
was a Hindu living in the walled city. My obvious topic of
discussion was
the riots and the just held elections whose results were to be
announced the
next days. He was more than willing to talk about the Muslim bashing
that
had taken place and took the route that passed through the eastern
banks of
the Sabarmati, pointing and recalling where killings had taken
place. I
could recall the names that I had read over the last several months.
The
stunners were to come one by one.
I asked,'' Why do you think all this happened?''
His reply was,'' It was bound to happen as the previous Congress
regimes had
appeased the Muslims to the extent of ignoring all their criminal
acts and
it was because of the Sangh Parivar organisations that the Hindus
had been
able to move with their heads high in heterogeneous localities for
the first
time.''
My next question was,'' Who will win the elections?''
The reply was, ''The BJP because it has helped us get even with
Muslims and
it has rescued us from their threats.''
The fellow had nothing to say when I asked him,'' Till date how many
Muslims
have threatened you or your family on personal grounds just because
you are
a Hindu ?''