Fight The Fire
(Editorial, The Times of India, 27 Aug 2008)
Orissa is on fire. Mobs allegedly comprising activists of VHP, Bajrang Dal and RSS, have killed at least five people and attacked scores of churches across the state since Monday. The violence was triggered by the murder of a senior VHP leader on Sunday. Swami Laxmananand Saraswati and four of his disciples were shot dead by unidentified men on Saturday. The swami was the face of the sangh parivar's tribal conversion programme. The sangh parivar alleges that Christian groups are behind the killings while the state government suspects the Maoists.
It is too early to say who killed the swami. The police have to first investigate the case and arrest the killers. The immediate task before the government is to ensure that mischief-makers don't take the law into their hands. Orissa has been a site of communal violence that started with the murder of Graham Staines, a Christian missionary, and his two children in 1999. The state saw large-scale violence during the last Christmas season and it was not one-sided. Hindu and Christian groups were at each others' throats. The battle in Orissa is mainly for the souls of the state's 22 per cent tribal population. It seems Hindu and Christian missionaries and Maoists are competing to win them to their folds. The government can't be a mute spectator when this intense competition disrupts normal life. Mainstream political parties also should not indulge forces that have scant respect for the freedoms of belief and expression guaranteed by the Indian Constitution.
The BJP is part of the Naveen Patnaik government in Orissa. Should a party in the government support a call for a bandh? Bandhs are clearly illegal. The party may disassociate with the violence, but it surely can't deny its close relations with sangh parivar outfits. As the country's largest opposition party, the BJP would do well to act with maturity in the larger interests of the nation.
The BJP must not allow the extremists on its fringe to set the agenda ahead of elections in Orissa, as it has in Jammu and Kashmir. The likes of RSS and VHP have a political agenda that often runs against the spirit of the Indian Constitution. Such outfits may stoke communal passions and divide the society, as they have done in Jammu and Kashmir and in Orissa. That is not necessarily in the BJP's long-term interests. It may take a while to douse the fires they have lit. The BJP as a responsible political party must join the firefighters and not encourage the rogue elements claiming to belong to its larger family.
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