What
About Bombay 1992?
By Aijaz Zaka Syed
12 August, 2007
Countercurrents.org
Like
most people in the Indian subcontinent, I grew up on a heavy dose of
Bollywood. Sanjay Dutt never left a mark on an impressionable mind though.
For the people of my generation, born and brought up in the age of Amitabh
Bachchan, no other star appeared bright enough to bedazzle us.
Nevertheless, the spectacle
of a distraught Sanjay Dutt desperately clinging on to his sisters and
waving nervously at the throng of fans and onlookers was curiously moving;
decidedly more touching than the emotional scenes from some of his movies.
No one ever accused Sanjay
Dutt of being an exceptionally gifted actor even though he carries a
formidable legacy on his shoulders as the son of two celebrated Bollywood
legends.
But is he an equally bad
human being? It was rather disconcerting to see the actor, one of the
highest paid stars of the world's biggest film industry, being paraded
like a common thug.
This is not to argue that
Dutt deserves a special treatment because of his celebrity status. A
crime is a crime, no matter who has committed it, right? And if the
actor has indeed committed the crime he has been accused of, he has
to pay for it. Simple as that.
In fact, all those responsible
for the 1993 Bombay blasts that killed more than 200 innocent people
deserve the punishment, if they indeed had a role to play in the attacks.
The Indian government and
the state government of Maharashtra deserve kudos for going after those
who targeted Bombay and all that it represented as the financial and
cultural capital of the country.
We are indebted to the state
and the judiciary, especially, Justice P D Kode for "bringing the
terrorists to justice," as president Bush would have it. It only
goes to show how efficient India's law enforcement agencies are. The
proverbial long arm of the law eventually catches up with the criminals
no matter how long it takes.
The conviction of a hundred
people including Dutt after 15 long years proves justice is eventually
done in the world's biggest democracy. Wheels of justice may take their
time to move but they do move.
And since the perpetrators
of the March 1993 attacks have been brought to justice, one assumes
that those responsible for similar carnage at a much larger scale only
a couple of months earlier –- in December 1992 to be precise –-
have been brought to justice too.
In case we have all forgotten,
the month-and-half long pogrom following the demolition of Babri Masjid
on December 6, 1992 killed more than 2000 Muslims in Bombay alone, in
addition to destroying the homes, businesses and economic infrastructure
of the minority community.
The marauding mobs led by
Shiv Sena thugs unleashed a reign of terror on the city that is rightly
celebrated as the microcosm of India.
Muslims, grieving over the
destruction of the mosque that had come to symbolise their very future
in the country, were butchered like animals for more than a month by
the Shiv Sena gangs and their other saffron cousins. And Prime Minister
Narasimha Rao, India's answer to Nero, who had presided over the destruction
of the mosque at Ayodhya, continued to fiddle with the characteristic
diligence.
The federal government never
stirred out of its reverie to pull up the state government of Sudhakar
Rao Naik who was busy settling old scores with his rival Sharad Pawar.
And Pawar, the minister of
defence and a contender for the top job in the land, with his eye on
both Delhi and Bombay, played his own games.
Meanwhile Bombay continued
to burn –- with its utterly helpless and defenceless Muslims.
And the Nero in Delhi continued to fiddle. The dance of death raged
on for weeks leaving permanent scars on Bombay and its once fabled cosmopolitan
people. So it's just as well that Shiv Sena chief Thackeray decided
to change the city's name to Mumbai. After all, he played a critical
role in turning Bombay into Mumbai.
So today as India's law enforcement
agencies are patting themselves for finally bringing the perpetrators
of Bombay 1993 to justice, it is only fair to ask where are those who
planned the Bombay of 1992? Have the killers who raped and mutilated
the Bombay of 1992 been made to pay for their crimes?
The question is relevant
because what took place in Bombay in January 1993 is inextricably linked
to what happened in Bombay in December 1992. It is hardly a secret now
that the seeds of 1993 attacks –- despicable and totally indefensible
as they had been –- were sowed in 1992. It's the same hoary principle
of 'cause and effect' that is at work in the whole universe had been
at work here as well.
In fact, Sanjay Dutt's implication
in the 1993 blasts case is seen as a retribution for the courageous
role his father Sunil Dutt played in helping Muslim victims during the
1992 riots. Sunil Dutt, may God bless his soul, a Congress MP and truly
liberal face of India, risked his own life to protect the besieged minority
community.
As the Justice Sri Krishna
Commission, headed by a conscientious judge, concluded, there was a
direct link between the 'minority response' and 'majority terrorism'.
It was the terrorism of the Hindutva brigade and the Indian state's
failure to stop it that led to the terror attacks for which Justice
Kode has just punished nearly hundred people.
Interestingly, the Sri Krishna
Commission was mandated to examine both the anti-Muslim pogrom of December
1992 and terror strikes of 1993. Justice Sri Krishna –- may his
tribe grow –- presented his findings to the state government two
years ago despite the obstacles that were put in his way and the harassment
he suffered at the hands of the Shiv Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra.
While the political establishment
has acted resolutely in meting out justice to those responsible for
the outrage of January 1993, it has been enigmatically silent on the
original sin of December 1992? So where is the Sri Krishna Commission's
report? Whatever happened to its recommendations? Why aren't they implemented?
And why are the governments of Maharashtra and India — both headed
by the Congress party — silent on this?
I have always been proud
of my identity as an Indian, just as I take pride in my Muslim profile.
I take pride in the fact that Muslims during their thousand year-long
association with India have toiled and shed their blood with their Hindu
brethren to make this land a great country to live in. The Muslims have
as much at stake in India as everyone else. Regardless of what Hindutva
zealots have to say, we love this country as much as we love our faith.
And we would like to believe
that this great land, fabled for its traditions of tolerance and justice,
wouldn't tolerate two standards for justice — one for the majority
and one for the minority.
There can't be two criteria
of justice. While Dutt has been jailed for six years for merely keeping
a gun at his home to protect himself, those responsible for the killing
of two thousand helpless people continue to roam free.
Next door, in Gandhiji's
Gujarat, Narendra Modi remains in power despite being condemned by the
world community as the architect of another anti-Muslim pogrom. Modi
continues to ridicule India's traditions of non-violence, peaceful co-existence
and respect for all faiths.
Getting back to Bombay, action
against those responsible for the 1993 outrage is welcome, even if it's
done under a draconian law like Tada under which you are guilty until
proven innocent; and even if questions have been raised about the justness
of the system under which they have been prosecuted.
But bring those responsible
for the shame of 1992 to account too. You do not have to look far to
find them. They are right there in Bombay (I can never bring myself
to call it Mumbai!) and everyone, including the powers that be, knows
them. For justice, as Eleanor Roosevelt argued, cannot be for one side
but must be for both.
And if you fail to administer
justice, you create new opportunities for injustice. For injustice is
always followed by greater injustice. Like night follows the day.
Aijaz Zaka Syed
writes a weekly column on the Middle East and Muslim world affairs.
He can be reached at [email protected]
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