What Ails National Integration Council?
Ram Puniyani
The meeting of National Integration Council (NIC)
on 23rd September (2013) was a damp squib. Held in the aftermath of
Muzaffarnagar violence and in the times when the next Parliamentary elections
are on the horizon, one expected some concrete proposals and actions which
Government could have discussed and brought in as a voluntary code for all to
follow. The major point which was highlighted was the role of social media in
exaggerating the violence. The underlying cause of the role of media was not
much highlighted. Even before the social media, communal violence was getting
ignited by the word of mouth rumors or via the print media uncritically
carrying the rumors. Social media is a medium in the hands of those who use it.
It is not the actor. The actors are those who are adept to using this in a
negative way, like the BJP MLA who uploaded a provocative video clip with a
deliberate purpose in Muzaffarnagar to ignite the brute passions. The forces
letting it happen are those who called the Mahapanchyat on an issue which is a
law and order problem and should have been dealt with like that only. Those
bringing together armed participants in a panchayat are the real players. The
real players are those who despite knowing that the small incident may get
blown up do not take the action in proper time.
The tale of Muzaffarnagar tragedy could have been
a big lesson for to those attending the meeting, those committed to national
integration in the real sense. Surely many do not take NIC seriously. It became
clear as many a Chief Ministers did not participate in the meeting, only one CM
from BJP ruled state attended it. The Prime Ministerial aspirant, Modi, avoided
it. Many a speakers did hint at the role of BJP family in instigating the
violence, in a language which is subtle but clear. What could NIC have
resolved? Surely NIC as a body has to understand that the communal violence
flares up as the majority of society has biases against the minorities. We have
to know that administration and police machinery acts on biases and many a
political formations calculate the electoral benefits before acting one way or
the other. As such so far NIC has not been able to play the role which was
envisaged for it.
To begin with the NIC was formed in 1961, in the
aftermath of Jabalpur violence. Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime
Minister of the country was very shaken by the communal violence in Jabalpur
and decided to form this council to combat the evils of Communalism, casteism
and regionalism. It was meant to be a broad forum with representation from all
political parties, Chief Ministers, Central Cabinet ministers and
representatives from the civil society. It was not much in news most of the
times. Two major points one remembers regarding the council are, one when
Kalyan Singh the UP Chief Minister, then belonging to BJP, promised to the
Council that the Babri Masjid will be protected at all the cost. Same Kalyan
Singh later took pride in being part of the process of demolition of the
mosque.
Later, when BJP led NDA came to power and ruled
the country for six years the NIC was not constituted at all. The signal was
that the BJP does not care for national integration as it believes in the Hindu
Rashtra and not in secular democratic India. That apart even in the present
scheme of things NIC has a very limited advisory role to play. During the
previous UPA I regime, the NIC met only twice. During UPA II also NIC has met
only twice. All said and done it is a national forum which can give vent to the
voice of those who are victims of communalism in one form or the other and
deliberate on solutions to this problem dogging our nation.
By its very norm the council has to have all the
Chief ministers as the member of NIC. So naturally, Narendra Modi, the one who
presided over Gujarat carnage, is also the member of the same. One recalls that
during UPA I, in the first meeting of NIC, he was probably the only one who
managed to make his presence felt in the media, with his claim that minorities
are safe in Gujarat! This time he avoided attending it altogether.
In the present meeting the positive thing which
happened, but was not reported by the mainstream media, was the presentation of
civil society member John Dayal who called for the Communal and Targeted
violence bill to be introduced. In the last meeting when the bill was tabled in
the meeting there was furor and Government; sort of retreated. This time around
The Home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde stated that the government would soon
bring an anti-communal violence bill. One recalls that National Advisory
Council has submitted a draft of the bill. The focus of the bill is the
accountability of the political, administrative and police personnel. They
should be held accountable for the violence and action should be taken against
the erring office bearers and officials.
If this is carried through it will be a great
achievement on the part of the NIC. There are many steps which this Government
can initiate like using television for propagating the values of freedom
movement, the values of Indian Constitution and the ethos of harmony. The
diversity of Indian society and the pluralism of our Constitution need to be
brought to the people once again. How people of different religions
participated in India’s freedom movement, how people of different religions
contributed to Indian culture and how the people of different religions
followed Bhakti and Sufi saints needs to be highlighted through our media.
Unfortunately a big chunk of media is carrying historical serials which provoke
hatred rather than amity.
This Government can initiate the training of
police and bureaucrats in the values of India’s pluralism. To make NIC
meaningful it needs to come out from the slumber of inactivity and the mass
hysteria of communalism to lay the bridges between different religious
communities. NIC in the least can deliberate on the in-depth causes which
have led to the present sorry state of things, whereas the meetings of NIC have
become a mere formality. By and large it has yielded no result so far. Will the
Government take up the process of bringing in communal violence prevention bill
at least now, as soon as possible? This present sorry plight has to be overcome
and real national integration brought in.
