The Hindu : NHRC indictment shocks Gujarat

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 03, 2002

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National

NHRC indictment shocks Gujarat

By Manas Dasgupta

GANDHINAGAR APRIL 2. The indictment of the Gujarat Government by the National Human Rights Commission for its alleged failure to curb the post-Godhra violence has shocked the State Government.

``It is not the time for allegations and counter-allegations, the first priority should be to restore peace and confidence among the people. Introspection can be carried out later,'' a senior bureaucrat said.

The official denied that there was any "instruction'' from the Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, or any other political boss restraining the administration from acting tough against hooligans. The indictment of the entire administration as "wilful submission'' to the hooligans was "unwarranted.''

The NHRC's suggestion that the CBI investigate incidents like the burning alive of people in Meghaninagar and Naroda-Patia — both in Ahmedabad city — and Sardarpura in Mehsana district, also reflects its concern over "saffronisation" of the administration under the BJP dispensation.

The process began immediately after the BJP came to power — for the first time on its own — in 1995 and Keshubhai Patel became the Chief Minister. Mr. Patel disbanded most of the advisory committees in the districts and talukas, as well as the State-owned Boards and Corporations and packed the bodies with people from the Sangh Parivar.

The efforts, however, received a setback due to Shankarsinh Waghela's rebellion against the State leadership. Suresh Mehta, a moderate, emerged as the compromise candidate between the warring Patel and Waghela factions to become the Chief Minister. He stalled the saffronisation process but could not stop it completely because he could not displease Mr. Patel who evoked tremendous public sympathy.

The process was reversed when Mr. Waghela replaced Mr. Mehta a year later with outside support from the Congress. His Rashtriya Janata Party cadres and the Congress supporters returned to the State-owned Boards and Corporations and the reorganised committees.

Mr. Patel's return to power after the 1998 elections saw the renewal of the saffronisation process in full swing. Importance was given to the cadres from the Sangh Parivar to dominate the numerous advisory committees at the district and taluka levels, including the Police Advisory Committee, the Social Justice Committee and others wielding enormous powers in the appointment and transfer of Government officials.

The recruitment of teachers at the village level, launched by the Waghela administration, was used by the Patel Government to "infiltrate" the villages. Most of the 20,000 "vidya sahayaks'' recruited to man the schools in the villages were picked from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad was encouraged to open schools in remote villages. The syllabus in the schools was often subtly changed to suit the saffron ideology.

The Government's efforts to "colour" its employees, however, suffered a setback when it was forced to withdraw — following countrywide indignation and protests by the Congress in Parliament — its notification of January, 2000, allowing the Government employees to attend RSS ``sakhas.'' But in the two months the notification was in force, at least 5,000 employees were said to have attended the RSS camp in Ahmedabad.

As a retired bureaucrat who worked in the Patel administration pointed out, it is difficult to assess how many Government employees still keep in contact with the RSS to please their political bosses. It may not be a coincidence that barring one person, no District Collector or development officers come from the minority community. And among senior police officers, those belonging to the minority community have been mostly sidelined.

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