मूल्यांकन – Modinama -1 by Madhu Kishwar

This  dubious role of the Congress Party –at total variance with the  ideological grounding of the grand old Party crafted by Mahatma  Gandhi—played an important role in marginalizing the Congress in large  parts of India. Knowledgeable Gujaratis told me that even in 2002  Congressmen avidly joined Sangh Parivar mobsters in carrying out  communal killings, arson and loot. One also knew from earlier reports  and later heard through informal networks that there was a lot of  retaliatory violence by the Muslims which led to thousands of Hindus  also suffering substantial losses and ending up in refugee camps.

Therefore,  when BJP in general and Modi in particular, began to be singled out for  attacks and demonised as no other politician before or after in known  history, one felt an instinctive uneasiness about Hate and Oust Modi  campaign. This uneasiness grew as it became obvious over the years that  most of the NGOs, activists, journalists, academics involved in Modi’s  demonisation enjoyed active patronage of the Congress Party and some  even got huge financial support for carrying out a sustained campaign  against Modi.

Even during the  anti-Sikh massacre of 1984 in North India the slogan of those of  us who worked with victims and documented the unprecedented massacre  was– “Punish the Guilty”– though the complicity of the then Prime  Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Home Minister Narasimha Rao, Lt Governor of Delhi P.G Gavai was brazen. But neither the PM nor the Home Minister or the  Lt Governor were personally demonised.But in the case of Gujarat riots of 2002 the entire discourse came to centre around just one man!

In a recent interview with me, film script writer Salim Khan made an interesting comment: “Does anyone remember who the chief minister of Maharashtra was during Mumbai riots which were no less deadly than the  Gujarat riots of 2002? Does anyone recall the name of the chief minister of UP during Malliana and Meerut riots or Bihar CM when the Bhagalpur  or Jamshedpur riots under Congress regimes took place? Do we hear the  names of earlier chief ministers of Gujarat under whose charge hundreds  of riots took place in post-Independence India? Some of these riots were far more deadly than the 2002 outburst.  The state used to explode into violence every second month? Does anyone remember who was in-charge of  Delhi’s security when the 1984 massacre of Sikhs took place in the  capital of India How come Narendra Modi has been singled out as Devil Incarnate as if he personally carried out all the killings during the riots of 2002?”

Why just distant riots, does anyone remember the fate of hundreds of thousands of Bodos and Muslims who  were uprooted from their villages in July 2012 because their homes were torched and destroyed? As of 8 August  2012, over 400,000 people had taken shelter in 270 relief camps, after  being displaced from almost 400 villages.The Assam chief minister delayed deployment of the Army by 4 days even though large number of  Army units are stationed right there Assam.  Thousands are still living  under sub human conditions in refugee camps. Why are those riots already forgotten?

 

I also found it puzzling that  almost all of those who have led the Hate Modi campaign are neither  Muslim nor residents of Gujarat. Three of the most prominent figures of  anti Modi Brigade from within Gujarat are not Muslims. Whenever a  Gujarati Muslim has tried to speak in a different voice, he has been  attacked viciously and made to pay such a heavy price that people just  shut up in terror. The highly respected and eminent Muslim scholar,  Maulana Vastanvi was forced to resign as Vice Chancellor of Deobandh  simply because he said Gujarati Muslims had benefited from the inclusive development policies of Modi’s government. Shahid Siddiqui, the editor  of Urdu daily, Nai Duniya was attacked and abused endlessly for  simply doing an interview with Modi in which Modi defends himself  against various charges leveled against his government. Siddiqui fell in line within no time and began singing anti Modi songs on TV.

 

The political discourse in India is so vitiated by Modi phobia that even if you express happiness at the  quality of roads in rural Gujarat or 24×7 power supply in the villages  and towns of Gujarat, you are branded a “supporter of fascism.” It is  politically fashionable to defend Kashmiri secessionists, press for  peaceful engagement with the Pakistani establishment which sends terror  brigades to India and project murderous Maoists as saviours of the poor. But to say a word in appreciation of governance reforms in Gujarat is  to commit political hara-kiri—you are forever tainted and tarred with  the colours of fascism.

This intellectual terror created by the anti Modi Brigade pushed me to find out for myself why this  obsessive anxiety about Modi? Why do “secularists” not want to be  reminded that Gujarat has been riot free since 2002? Why don’t they want to document what made Gujarat—a state that witnessed hundreds of riots  post-Independence leading to deep mutual estrangement between Hindus and Muslims—experience its first riot free decade after Independence under  Modi’s rule? What do Gujarat Muslims have to say about it? Why they are  not allowed to speak for themselves?

 

My study of Gujarat will also cover an analysis of Modi’s Development Model which would include studying  the nature of governance reforms, including police reforms since they  are supposed to be intrinsic to his economic development model.

 

Modi claims his Gujarat development model is “Inclusive” while his critics reject it as “pro-corporate and  anti- poor”, “pro-elite and anti farmer” as well as “majoritarian and  anti minorities”, I will be looking closely at how the hitherto excluded or marginalized populations – small farmers, tribals, Dalits, Muslims,  Christians – view it.  Has it facilitated inclusion and upward mobility  for them or are they being further marginalized? The accounts I share in the following pages provide very small glimpses of this.  I intend to  study them in depth.

 

I began my Gujarat journey by  talking to a section of Gujarati Muslims and visiting their homes and  neighbourhoods. This is a modest beginning in sharing what I learnt from my first visit to Gujarat and studying the court cases against  Modi.  What I have unravelled thus far is just the tip of the iceberg. I plan multiple visits to Gujarat in the coming months to study all this  in depth.

 

I start with an account of 2002  riots because the stigma of those days has stuck to Modi like a leech  casting a dark shadow over all else he does. It is based on interviews with key people whose experiences and statements deserve to be taken seriously. I am well aware this will upset many of  those who have convinced themselves or have been persuaded by others  they trust that Modi is the Devil Incarnate. However, my appeal to those well-meaning people who have caught the anti Modi virus because it is  in the air is simply this: I am sharing with you factual accounts by  people who are widely respected in Gujarat. They are providing concrete  evidence of why they find the demonization of Modi unacceptable.