The Hindu : `Time for NDA allies to act'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 12, 2002

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National

`Time for NDA allies to act'

K.G. Kannabiran, national president of the People's Union for Civil Liberties, has written an open letter to the BJP's coalition partners on Gujarat: It says:

The events in Gujarat are not just a crisis for that State alone. Everyday several lives are lost, almost always from the minority community. Everyday more people are injured and more families flee into the hellholes that we euphemistically call `relief camps'. Everyday there is more grief, more suffering and more hatred in Gandhi's State.

What we are witnessing in Gujarat is not an aberration, an isolated incident, or any kind of `spontaneous reaction.' Rather, it is the calculated slaughter of thousands of people and constitutional, democratic and human norms. In sum, the demolition of everything moral or legal about our country.

At a time when the country should be blanketed in grief, when communities should be joining hands to heal one another, we see nothing except continued political support for the violence. The Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, remains in his seat. As a Government, the Gujarat administration has lost all moral authority to rule.

Given that all this is occurring, one question comes to the fore: what are you doing? You are the BJP's alliance partners in Government. As partners, you were elected on the basis of the avowedly secular national agenda for governance and given a mandate under the Constitution. Both are being ripped to shreds in the flames of Gujarat.

As you yourselves have pointed out, the BJP has made it clear that it will not be bound by the niceties of alliance manifestoes. And yet, apart from harsh rhetoric and internal meetings, you have essentially done nothing. When the Government tried to rewrite history textbooks, you maintained a studied silence. When POTA was put before the House, you promptly voted for the Bill, even though it is a far greater threat to democracy than its intended targets. Now, some of you make commendable and frank statements about the need for a firm response. But you have never once backed them with a public threat of action.

The longer this chicanery continues, the more you betray the constituencies who elected you, the Constitution you swore allegiance to, and the nation you are meant to serve. At the very least, as a very small first step, you must stand firm on the demand that Mr. Modi's Government be dismissed. Yes, Narendra Modi is only the public face of a society and State machinery that have been corroded by bigotry. But it is precisely for that reason that action must be taken against him. In a situation where responsibility for crime is widespread, accountability has to begin with those who claim to be leaders. If Mr.Modi is permitted to go scot-free, this will set the trend for every other person involved in the carnage to flee justice. It is clear that removing Mr. Modi may not halt the decay of Indian democracy, but keeping him might well make it irreversible.

Today our nation stands at a crossroads. On the one side is the pathway to a theocratic and genocidal regime . On the other, is the avenue towards a peaceful, just and democratic India. In the long term, pushing India the right way has been and remains the responsibility of every Indian.

But in the short term, no one — not the Sangh Parivar goons, not the Opposition, not even our hapless Prime Minister — has more power than you do. The Parivar has shown enough times that it is incapable of handling determined opposition, and the BJP is at the nadir of its popularity. Your alliance is faced with a choice. You can say that enough is enough, that you will tolerate no further efforts to undermine India, and that you will walk out if the Constitution is subverted any further. Or, you can follow the BJP's `moderates' and try to become another Macbeth, endlessly washing your hands off the matter.

We appeal to you as leaders and as human beings to take the former course. Thousands of people have paid with their lives for the politics of communal hate. Democratic India is in a critical condition. There is no time for hesitation now.

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