Opinion - Letters to the Editor

A new low

Sir, — Kuldip Nayyar is justified in saying that the violence in Gujarat was pre-planned (April 16). The NHRC interim report indicates that the attackers had precise lists of Muslim targets, which they hit with clinical precision, their teams communicating with each other through mobile phones. The broader political context also justifies Mr. Nayyar's conclusions.

When communal carnage engulfed Gujarat in the first week of March, there were unmistakeable signs of careful planning. A systematic process of communalisation of the administrative machinery that had begun long before came in handy for the attackers. The `pracharak' Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, justified the attacks with his reaction theory. The Army did not get timely support from the civil administration. Police personnel who had performed their duty were transferred. A sentiment of aggressive Hindutva swept through the State. The cynical calculation of the Chief Minister was that this would override the strong anti-incumbency factor in his State. By the time of the Goa conclave and the advice to Mr. Modi for early elections, it was clear that the hardliners had turned the tide in favour of aggressive Hindutva. The violence was designed to reap electoral benefits for the BJP and for Mr. Modi in particular.

Disquieting questions are now surfacing over Godhra itself. The NHRC, in its interim report, not only pointed to intelligence failure in anticipating the incident, but also the extremely tardy progress of the actual investigation being conducted by an SDPO of the Western Railway. When the Defence Minister, George Fernandes, suggested an ISI hand, the Minister of State for External Affairs, Omar Abdullah, contradicted it. The Chief Minister called it a terrorist attack, but thereafter decided not to pursue cases against those arrested under POTA. A new low in communal politics.

R. Rajesh,
New Delhi

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