Book Review / The Hindu
28 November 2006
SOCIETAL FAULT LINES
by V. R. Lakshminarayanan
Communal Violence -- A Sociological Study of Gujarat: V. Kannupillai; Shipra Publications, 115-A, Vikas Marg, Shakarpur, Delhi-110092.
Rs. 495.
Kannupillai's sociological study of communal violence in Gujarat is a valuable document that merits serious attention. Communal conflicts militate against constitutional injunctions to promote harmony and a spirit of common brotherhood and for that reason alone this work is essential reading. The downside is that this book reads like a classroom essay, pedagogic and full of percentages and cluttered with statistics, when it should have throbbed with life.
This is not a comprehensive work. No doubt much pains have been taken in collecting the details about what happened in Gujarat in the last 20 years, though Godhra is a shocking omission. In putting the issue of Hindu-Muslim relations in perspective, the author has rightly and repeatedly focussed the lens on political exploitation of what are purely religious differences among communities, mostly tolerant of each other in daily life. The old conventional riots are now a thing of the past. Surprisingly, the Partition riots did to some extent exile these exhibitions of barbaric tribalism except for an occasional festival flare-up during Moharram or Ganesa Chathurthi. The Babri Masjid dispute and consequent violence is an aberration and it is illustrative of political exploitation.
Adventurism
A society exploited by political adventurers will have to pay a price. When both sides are militant, and backed by religious fundamentalism, encounters are bound to arise and carnage a sure consequence. It has happened the world over and is happening here.
One does not know why the author restricted himself to Gujarat for his study. Gujarat has its peculiar problems because of its proximity to a hostile neighbour interested in stirring up troubles. And Gujarat is no mirror of India. So too Jammu & Kashmir!
As we run through these pages, some of Pillai's wise observations merit serious attention. Police apathy, lack of intelligence resources, halting follow-up action form the bane of our law and order machinery. It is unfair to fault the police alone. They are not "Masters of their fate or captains of their soul." In most cases, "Pensive policemen, painful vigils keep, sleepless themselves, to let the community sleep in peace." That such instances are becoming rare is too grave to be ignored.
The issues
There are certain other issues which should have been highlighted in this study. One hundred per cent education, a constitutional mandate is talked about but ignored in practice. In a secular state, illiterate young men unemployed and unemployable pose a grave threat to internal peace and when faced with the alumni of `Madrassas', adherents of Al-Qaeda, Talibans and jihadis, and hordes of Bajrang Dal and men of their ilk, conflagrations of seismic dimension follow. Somehow, the author's eyes do not fall on these aspects. The problems shattering and splintering the nation stretching from Swaminarayan Temple and Srinagar to the streets of Coimbatore and the railway stations of Mumbai have to be met with firmly and but not as a pure law and order issue.
India will have to inaugurate its own new philosophy hinted long ago by Swami Vivekananda. Vivekananda said India has Hindu spiritualism and the strength of the Islamic body. Unfortunately, Kannupillai has dismissed Vivekananda with less than a line. But that does not matter. Educated Indian youth will rise to the occasion and carry on its shoulders a brave new Bharath where cricket can be played as a gentleman's game and Imran Khan's captaincy will be lauded, Tendulkar's century will be celebrated, we rub our eyes at Abdul Qadir's magical wiles. People will have no patience for riots or to run amuck. All these need political statesmanship.
The Supreme Court has recently shown the green light on the unread National Police Commission Report lying in the Home Ministry, a few more pages added by retired Attorney Generals, former Supreme Court Judges and ancient bureaucrats. The secret of maintaining security is a vibrant police force accountable to the law and not manipulated by politicians. That is also the observation of Kannupillai on which the apex court has delivered its verdict. The only question is, when will the politicians get off the back of police. Do we have to shed more blood?