Flare-up in Gujarat again

GUJARAT SEEMS TO be lurching towards another round of anti- Christian violence once again. And there is, indeed, an actual indication of a method in the madness. The various Sangh Parivar outfits in recent times have been clearly linked to violent attacks against the members of the Christian community and their places of worship (more particularly in those parts of the State with a predominantly tribal population) in Gujarat. The timing of the attacks - a couple of weeks before Christmas - and the methods adopted - to vandalise places of worship and thus strike terror among the tribals - are similar to that witnessed in the State in 1998. There has been no let-up in this campaign since then. It also emerges that the civil administration and the police in these places have remained mute witness to the violent acts and have even been siding with the perpetrators of such violence on some occasions. Take for instance the incidents involving Bishop Ezra Sargunam, who also happens to be the Chairman of the Tamil Nadu State Minorities Commission, in Chhindia village in South Gujarat; he suffered injury on his person when he decided to protest (in a peaceful manner) against the desecration of a place of worship in the village. And it has been reported that the police stood silently, watching the developments.

The cause for concern in all these is that such violence involving religious denominations is becoming a way of life in parts of Gujarat ever since the first such incidents were witnessed in the Dangs district and in Ahmedabad in December 1998. This, however, is not the only side to the developments. A cause for a lot more worry is the attitude of the Government in the State; and particularly the abrasive remarks and the utterances by the State Home Minister, Mr. Haren Pandya. Mr. Pandya has hardly made any attempts to conceal his aggressive espousal of the Hindutva campaign. The effect of this on the attitude of the civil administration each time the storm troopers of the Sangh Parivar vandalise a church or terrorise the tribals with a view to getting them back to the Hindu fold is not far to seek. There is no way that Mr. Pandya or his colleagues can thrust their private majoritarian agendas on the citizens of Gujarat especially when they are vested with the responsibilities of running the affairs of the State. As members of the Government, Mr. Pandya and his other colleagues cannot escape their responsibility to ensure to every citizen the freedom to profess, practice and propagate any religion he or she chooses.

In the same context, Gujarat is not the only State where the members belonging to the religious minorities are targeted for attacks. There is indeed a connection with the ascension to power of the BJP-led NDA at the Centre in March 1998. And fears expressed by a cross-section of the democratic forces of such violence increasing in the context of the Prime Minister, Mr. A. B. Vajpayee's utterances during the past week are not just visceral. After all, Mr. Vajpayee's call for a national debate on conversions at a time when most parts of the Dangs district in Gujarat were the scene of anti-Christian violence orchestrated by bodies that sprang up by the day (and all of them owing allegiance to the VHP and other such outfits of the Sangh Parivar) did embolden those very forces. And it is in this context that one finds it necessary to remind all those in power, both at the Centre and in the various States, of their duty to ensure that the rights guaranteed by the Constitution are not trampled upon by a set of storm troopers engaged in an incendiary campaign conjuring up vicious stereotypes and imaginary wrongs. In this sense, the Union Government cannot abdicate its Constitutional responsibility to ensure that the rule of law prevails in Gujarat.

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