How deep is the Bajrang Dal’s inexplicable hatred for Christians tells a 360-word story in The Times of India (Oct. 5), captioned “Hindu Orphan Raped, Murdered in Orissa”. The gist of the story, done by Correspondent Sandeep Mishra is: Rajani Manjhi, sheltered by the Christians, was first gangraped and then burnt alive by the Hindu fanatics, who thought she was a Christian. A student of Padampur Women’s College, she worked at the orphanage in which she lived to pay for her tuition.
How deep – again inexplicable – is the Saffron hatred against Muslims has been told by a 480-word story in the Indian Express (Oct. 13). The reportage by Sreenivas Jangala says: Police are investigating the role of a TRS rebel MLA form Adilabad district and members of the Hindu Vahini in the communal violence at Bhainsa where six members of a family were burnt alive. Three bodies were charred beyond recognition. The victims have been identified as Mohammad Khan, Noman, Arsalan, Toba Falak, Rizwana and Sofia Begum. In the village lived only two Muslim families.
MUSLIM, NOTHING ELSE
Another 600-word story in the Indian Express (Oct. 16) tells all about the ordeal of a BSF Muslim soldier, who had returned to his home in Dhule to celebrate Eid. “I begged, told them I’m a soldier… I was told I’m Muslim, Nothing Else”. Under this 8-column caption, Correspondents Muzamil Jameel and Sukanya Shetty did a 600-word story. To quote them: “Three days after Eid, on October 5, Hindu-Muslim riots broke out in Dhule, and the soldier who puts his life at risk everyday in Bandipora, guarding the country’s borders. They burnt his uniform, his identity card, even his gallantry certificates, besides ransacking his house.” Says the Constable , posted with the BSF’s 51st battalion, “I saw my house being set on fire by our own neighbours. They were in thousands. Then they tried to throw my brother Sikandar into the fire. My wife fainted. I pleaded with them. I told them I am a soldier. I told them I am fighting for the country at the border. They didn’t listen. For the first time in my life, I felt alone. I was told I am Muslim and nothing else…”
Two Muslim police derivers, who were to be part of Mr. L.K. Advani’s convoy to Kozhikhod district were withdrawn from duty minutes before his arrival at Thiruvananthapuram on October 14. It was reported by the entire national press. The Muslim driver was asked to leave about 10 minutes before the landing. This was, according to TOI correspondent Ananthakrishnan done at the advice of the SPG guarding the Saffron leader.
Abut a couple of months ago, when Ms Shabana Azmi reiterated her complaint on a TV channel that she could not find living space in Mumbai as she was a Muslim, several angry reactions were heard, loud and clear.
NO HOUSE FOR MUSLIMS
Now there are several Shabana Azmis here in the National capital of India, Delhi and elsewhere, where Muslims face difficulties in having a house on rent, particularly in non-Muslim areas. This paranoid policy, which is the result of the RSS-BJP long range plan, is adding to the already existing Muslim ghettos. “It’s a segregated society these days with Muslims getting isolated and being confined to particular areas,” said Prof. Hameeda Ahmed, former Dean of Arts Department at the Aligarh Muslim University. “Many members of my family can’t get houses because they are Muslim,” she added while speaking at Sir Syed’s 191st anniversary.
This mindset was not built in a day. Enormous labour has been put in the hate-endeavour. The Saffron has shed perspiration in a sustained manner in widening the gulf between the Hindu brethren and the principal minority of the country. And the so-called secular Congress has, through silence, helped in transforming the said gulf into a hiatus. Mr. P.V. Narasimha Rao was not the only RSS activist in the Congress ranks. The Saffron, in a planned manner, entrenched itself in bureaucracy, police, paramilitary forces, intelligence apparatus and other key sectors of the government. All through, the Congress dispensation turned a Nelsonian eye towards this obnoxious plantation.
SELECTIVE ARRESTS AND KILLING
Otherwise how would you explain the Saffron-inspired and the Congress-overlooked selective targeting of the educated, highly-qualified Muslim youth throughout Bharat?
The Muslim leadership and the Muslim press have regularly been pointing finger towards the anti-Muslim activities of various outfits of the Saffron, particularly the Bajrang Dal, the VHP and Shiv Sena. The activists of these Saffron outfits have been reportedly killed while making bombs in their houses. They have been caught in Kanpur not long ago. Does the Central government not know what the entire country knows? Then why they are not proceeded against? Muslims want a specific answer to the question.
The frustrated among Muslims are inclined to feel that the BJP and the Congress are two sides of the same coin. There is no difference between the two. Sometimes, the Congress appears to be playing the role of a protector of the Saffron. See what Prof. Harbans Mukhia says (Times of India, Oct. 10): … the Sangh Parivar, working through its myriad branches, has learnt its lesson well from the Nazi experiment: gradually, spread communalism in society’s nooks and corners, come to power in the states, and, under the government’s protection go all out to wreak on the social fabric, an unambiguous, aggressive communal divide. Using their various organisations like the RSS and the Bajrang Dal, they unleash vicious and often wild propaganda against the minorities and organise riots, kill people and demolish properties. The perpetrators move with the confidence that when the state acts, it will be on their behalf.
CONGRESS PAST AND PRESENT
In the past, the Congress used to have the necessary moral courage to admit its faults. Now it stands on the thoroughfare in its birthday suit. Take the case of police-firing at Batla House near Jamia Millia Islamia, in which two innocent Muslims were liquidated without any rhyme or reason. Nobody is prepared to buy official story that the victims were terrorists. Ostensibly this farce was enacted to rehabilitate the Union Home Minister as an efficient and strengthen the official case against the SIMI in the eye of judiciary. Now the Minority Cell of the Congress itself wants a probe into the indefensible firing. In addition to it, Mr. Lalu Prasad, Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan, Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mr. Amar Singh, Ms Mamta Banerji, Ms Arundhati Roy, Mr. Digvijay Singh and Swami Agnivesh as well as National Human Rights Commission, National Commission for Minorities, and the entire Muslim community want a thorough probe.
The Muslim demand is for a Judicial Inquiry by a sitting Supreme Court Judge.
Ms Banerji has gone to the extent of saying: The Batla House encounter “was a fake encounter. And if I am proved wrong, I will stop practising politics. I demand a judicial inquiry.”
CONGRESS SHEET-ANCHOR
The bedrock of the Congress policy vis-à-vis Muslims is sheer opportunism. No consideration is shown to the age-old values and principles. Expediencies are its sheet anchor, which guide its policies. Electoral considerations are given precedence over the demands of fair play, justice and even-handedness.
If felt hurt by this harsh language, would the party mind telling 200 million Muslims why, during the last 10 years, the Srikrishna Commission verdict has not been implemented? And what has happened to the Sachar Committee Report?