Let Us Learn From The People Of France!
By S.R. Darapuri
21 January, 2015
Countercurrents.org
Two days ago, 16 million people in France staged a protest march against the genocide of Charlie Hebdo in an exemplary peaceful manner. During the protest march neither any Muslim mosque was smashed nor was any Muslim attacked. The people pledged to protect the freedom of expression and to join hands to fight against the religious right.
In contrast to this when we look at the reactions that took place on such occasions in India, our heads hang in shame before the whole world. On such occasions the response of our politicians was equally communal and embarrassing. In 1984, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her own Sikh security guards but the whole Sikh community was held guilty and more than 2,000 Sikhs were killed in Delhi alone. In this genocide the main role was played by the leaders and workers of the then ruling party i.e. Congress. Till date neither any Congress leader has been punished nor has Congress party expressed any regrets. Contrary to this, the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi justified the communal violence by saying, “when a big tree falls the earth shakes.” The Congress shamelessly displayed the body of Indira Gandhi for a week on television to gain public sympathy and won unprecedented majority in the election.
In the Godhra case, there was a similar inhuman response. More than two thousand innocent women, children and men were massacred in Gujrat. The person primarily responsible for it has neither been punished nor was he removed from his post of Chief Ministership of Gujrat. On the other hand he has become the Prime Minister of the country. To the massacre of Muslims in Gujarat, he had responded by saying, “it was a reaction to the action”. Sh. Atal Bihai Vajpayi, the then Prime Minister of India , who has been awarded Bharat Ratna recently simply washed off his hands by saying that Modi as Chief Minister had failed to perform his “Raj Dharma” i.e. his official duty to protect the innocents and control the riots. But he dare not remove him from the Chief Ministership of Gujrat.
Similarly, in 1992 in the name of Ram temple Babri Masjid at Ayodhya was demolished by Hindutva mobs in which many Bhartiy Janta Party and Vishav Hindu leaders played a very leading role. Till date none has been punished for it. In a way the demolition of Babri Masjid was the first biggest terrorist incident in the history of independent India and was the biggest slur on our country's secular image. In response to it many Hindu temples were demolished in Bangladesh and Pakistan. It was followed by communal violence throughout the country in which thousands of innocents were killed. Babri Masjid demolition was the beginning of so called terrorist incidents in our country. Thousands of innocents are languishing in jails who have been falsely implicated in so called terrorist cases. Here again communal bias has been displayed very openly by the political parties and the communal administration.
Every day Dalits, Christians and Muslims are massacred in our country which tarnishes our secular image in the eyes of the whole world. It is a matter of great concern and shame that our country's government does not act against the culprits according to law of the land but protects them in the name of caste and creed. Our bureaucracy including police and even the judiciary appear to suffer badly from the communal and caste bias.
We can learn from the example of France where the government and the public gives full protection to the large community of Muslims settled there. It is heartening to note that in the biggest demonstration in the history of France there was neither any violence against the Muslims nor any mosque was demolished. On the other hand there was overwhelming participation of the Muslims in the protest march. Let us wish that our politicians and religious leaders learn something from it. Of course we boast of teaching non-violence to whole of the world, but we perpetrate worst kind of violence and cruelty on our own countrymen. Hence it is an opportunity to learn from the response of the people of France and redeem our image of a secular country which has been badly damaged by our political leaders and the religious right who pose a very serious threat to our democracy and our secular fabric.
S.R.Darapuri I.P.S.(Retd)
www.dalitliberation.blogspot.com
www.dalitmukti.blogspot.com
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