Shabnam Hashmi: 'The mood in Gujarat is that of a yearning for change'

Tehelka, 10 December 2007

Shabnam Hashmi, activist and founder, ANHAD (Act Now for Harmony and Democracy), now based in Gujarat and campaigning to heal the communal divide, answers TEHELKA's queries by email

ANIL VARGHESE

What is the mood in Gujarat a few days before the elections especially in the relief camps?

The mood is that of a yearning for change. People in the relief camps want to see an end to the BJP rule but they do not have a decent alternative in the other parties contesting the elections. These parties have done little for their cause.

What do you find most disturbing about the current situation in Gujarat? What do you have to say about Modi's rhetoric before the elections? ‘ He got what he deserved’ on Sohrabuddin and ‘ send Afzal to Gujarat, we will have him hanged.’

During my campaigns over the last few months, I have witnessed a gradual but a steady change. The collusion of the police force with the Sangh Parivar and their violation of democratic principles have to be the most disturbing aspects of Gujarat today. We expect things to get worse as we get closer to the elections. It appears that Modi was a little overconfident about the support from his vote base. He was heavily banking on the myth of a ‘vibrant’ Gujarat. Finding few takers for the myth, he has been forced to revert to his communalist agenda and the Hindutva rhetoric.

Modi has been projected as a star even in the English media. An interview with him in an English weekly recently did not read different from an interview with Amitabh Bachchan. Is this a reflection or a distortion of the realities in the state?

The national media has bought into the false claims of Modi about Gujarat being one of the most developed. On the contrary, the reality is very different. Modi has become adept at distorting figures. Modi owes it to the national media for his support base outside of Gujarat. The same people who covered 2002 carnage are now looking the other way as activists, like myself, struggle to make ourselves heard while refuting the claims of the Gujarat and Modi. As members from the minority communities were falling prey to the false charges of the Government, the media seemed uninterested. The national media follows the pack without questioning.

When Modi, during his election campaigns, welcomed Taslima Nasreen to the state, your criticism about him went beyond the victims of the 2002 riots. You pointed out how the women in Gujarat in general are in a bad shape. Can you elaborate?

When hate is sown in any society, it slowly spreads to every section of the society and the women are usually at the receiving end. The crimes against women have been on the rise in Gujarat. These include domestic violence, abductions of women and rapes. A woman had to walk the streets of Rajkot naked in desperation as the police refused to register a case of domestic violence against her husband and in-laws. The men who were trained and encouraged to gang-rape Muslim women and brutally kill them are still very much around in the society. They also happen to be husbands, fathers and brothers. The hatred has now found expression in their own homes against their own women.

Do the blurred distinctions between the government’s and the Sangh’s activities (evident in the government’s attempt to proselytise tribals in Dangs brought to light by a citizen’s inquiry you were part of) continue?

Yes, very much. This, especially, involves the police. There are exceptions. You do meet officers in the administration who are disgusted with the government. But it is important to remember that even the people who are not with Modi continue to harbour hatred towards the minority community.

What about the deaths of farmers during the last four years reported by your organization ANHAD? Close to 500 suicides and over 6000 ‘accidental’ deaths.

It was Bharat Jhala, an activist who filed two different RTIs demanding information on this. Bharat was working amongst the farmers. In reply to a question in the Assembly the Gujarat government gave a figure of 148 deaths. He knew this could not be true. The government then responding to the RTI reported 589 suicides. The number is much bigger. A large number of the 6000 'accidental deaths' of farmers are also suicides. Debt and abject poverty have been the reasons for the suicides.

What are the women’s attitudes to Hindutva, Modi and the events of 2002 in particular? How is it different from that of the men, especially in the context that Modi’s brand of Hindutva has been perceived as restoring the ‘masculinity’ of the Gujarati Hindus?

It is a well-known fact that the Sangh Parivar has been running a laboratory in Gujarat during the last two decades perfecting ways of spreading hatred and lies. A whole generation has grown up on lies and has been fed with a wrong sense of history. The whole process has been allowed to work its way through the society and has met with little resistance politically. There are many civil society groups and individuals who have constantly resisted this ideology, Hiren Gandhi, Indubhai Jani, Ghanshyam Shah, Vidyut Joshi and Professor Iftikhar Ahmad, just to name a few.

My experience in Gujarat has been very different from the rest of the country. No where else have I witnessed closing of minds as I have here. And among people who have a particular Hindutva mindset, it hardly matters whether you are a man or a woman. Both men and women have the same attitude. You will find all these women speaking the language of ‘mardangi’ and justifying the riots as an attempt of their men to teach ‘those muslims’ a lesson. A number of the educated middle class women too share this mentality. A majority of the ordinary women are not, rather, cannot afford to be of this mindset. Recently we rescued a 13-year old girl trafficked from West Bengal. She stayed with a middle class family, a husband, wife and two small children. They had two rooms in their house. The family slept in one room while in the other room the customers raped the little girl. I have been to this house. Both the rooms had pictures of Sai Baba and the family prayed twice a day. This is how sickening the society gets.

What has been the response to the recent TEHELKA investigations into the 2002 carnage in the communities ANHAD works with?

The immediate reaction from all around was that it was either BJP or Congress sponsored. I had major fights and debates even within my secular network about the Tehelka expose. This is how I see it. Tehelka expose played three major roles.
1. The open hobnobbing of the Congress with the BJP dissidents received a jolt. Though 8 of them are now standing in the elections for the Congress, they had to be more cautious about making deals with the ‘hard core’ lot.
2. The ordinary Gujarati got an opportunity to hear the truth of the 2002 carnage straight from the horse’s mouth It took about a week for the news to sink in. I believe this will have a major impact on the women. The women who are now facing more domestic violence than ever before have been made even more aware of the issues surrounding the violence by the atrocities admitted to by the men.
3. The expose urged the Congress on from being defensive to confronting the government on the issues of the 2002 carnage and its communalist agenda. This marked a major shift in the Congress campaign.