Mr. Narendra Modi in his article ‘United we stand’ (The Times of India, September 12) claims that socio-economic condition of Muslims in Gujarat is better than their counterparts in other states. To substantiate this theory he quotes Justice Sachar Committee report rather than Gujarat government’s data to see if Muslims in the state have prospered in the ‘Vibrant Gujarat’. Notwithstanding that most of Sachar data is from 2001 and earlier, before Mr. Narendra Modi took office as the Chief Minister.
Even with Sachar data, Gujarat ranking among states is far from being impressive. Except for contraceptive prevalence rate, Gujarat is not number one or even from among top three in any of the socio-economic indicators for Muslims. In the indicators like gender ratio, literacy level, mean year of schooling, school enrolment, employment ratio, poverty ratio, NMDFC beneficiaries, etc. the state of Muslims is below par or at best at par, not better. Within the state, the condition of Muslims comparing to rest of the population is too bad.
Keeping an eye on PM’s seat, Mr. Modi is trying to come out of the stigma of 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom. The scale of the killings, rapes, physical loss and property destruction was so huge, in terms of time and geographical spread that this could never have occurred without the collusion of the Government machinery, over which Mr. Modi presides with an iron grip. The only panacea for Mr. Modi is to introspect and express remorse for the same. Let Him give a free hand to the judiciary and the investigating agencies instead of pressurising or sacking them, one by one.
M Naushad Ansari
Bangalore, Karnataka