|
Mr. Narendra Modi, for whom some
countries are warming up to relate to him in Europe and in the
East; the latest report from US must be very disheartening.
Despite a strong lobby for pressurizing to grant him Visa, the
United States Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF),
has called on the Obama administration to maintain a visa ban on
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for his role in the pogrom of
2002 that claimed over 2,000 lives and displaced over 150,000
people, many of whom are still in makeshift houses.
The commission chairwoman Katrina Lantos Swett, of the US
commission for international religious freedom (USCIRF) said that
"There is significant evidence linking him (Modi, added) to the
violence and the terrible events that took place in Gujarat and
for this reason, a visa would not be appropriate," In recent times
Modi seems to be the only person so disgraced by the Human rights
watch body. John Kerry, the present Secretary of the state of
United States, had similar position about Modi, when he was the
senator. He had written to the State department to the effect that
Visa should be denied to Modi on the grounds of his possible role
in 2002 anti Muslim pogrom. The US Intentional Religious Freedom
Act of 1998 (IRFA) bars entry of aliens ‘responsible for directly
carried out, particularly severe violations of religious freedom’.
The US panel points out that there is a significant evidence
linking Modi to the carnage. It is on this ground that Modi is on
the Visa ban list from 2005 of US, and the recent efforts of pro-Modi
lobbyists is not cutting any ice, in the face of the evidence
against Modi. The report also takes cognizance of Muslim
community’s suspicion that Maya Kodnani, who has been jailed, is a
‘fall guy’ for Modi, a ‘sacrificial lamb’ so to say. The
Commission has also put India in tier two, as for as religious
freedom is concerned. It also points out that the bringing in of
‘Freedom of religion’ bills in different states of India has
increased the intimidation and atrocities against religious
minorities in India. This trend of bringing in such bills is more
in BJP ruled states, while few other states have fallen into this
unconstitutional trap.
In India last three decades in particular have seen the rise of
sectarian tendencies and intimidation of religious minorities.
Sikhs in 1984 (Delhi), Christians in Dangs, Kandhamal and in
various scattered acts of violence in Adivasi areas in particular,
and Muslims in an ongoing manner in Meerath, Malyana, Bhagalpur,
Mumbai, Gujarat, various places in UP etc. The intimidation is
being orchestrated at social level as well. One example of this is
the religious congregations like Shabri Kumbh, the ones’ held in
Dangs and many other places, through which Hindus particularly the
Adivasis are frightened. The sectarian violence against Muslims is
leading to a situation where the whole community is being
relegated to the status of second class citizenship. Various
states have brought in ‘Freedom of Religion Bill” which in an
Orwellian manner prevents the free choice of religions by the
people, a right granted by the Indian Constitution. These laws
cannot stand the test of the values of Indian Constitution. But
they give a big handle to the communal forces in collusion with
the section of communalized state apparatus to intimidate the
hapless religious minorities. The underlying reason of these
tactics is to polarize the communities along religious lines, to
prepare the ground for the ascendance of Religious nationalism,
the communal fascism.
The acts of violence against the minorities are changing their
pattern. On one hand instead of big massive violence, a scattered
sustained violence is being organized in different parts of the
country. The target is the non BJP ruled states like UP and
Maharashtra in particular. In these states in particular local
city based communal violence is taking place and communalizing the
society. This trend will inherently strengthen the diehard
communal party, which is the electoral wing of the agenda of
religious nationalism. While Modi has been too clever and has
changed the paradigm of his speeches from the communal one’s to
the one’s revolving around the development, which as such should
rather be termed as ‘pseudo development’. Modi he has already
consolidated his communal-social base, so now to win the electoral
battle he has to lure other layers of Hindus and communities, so
the total projection around development. Somehow, though law has
not fully caught up with him, the blood on his hands is refusing
to get washed off despite his shrewd attempts in that direction.
The US commission report gives the hope at deeper ethical and
moral grounds. Our laws and legal mechanisms are such that the
guilty of communal violence are getting away while the innocent
are getting killed during the communal carnages. The demand for a
law which can punish the guilty for their acts of omission and
commission during the violence is very much overdue. One hopes
that we don’t have to depend on International agencies to nab
guilty of those people who let it happen under their nose, either
in a proactive way or by looking the other way around.
The test of democracy lies in assessing as to how secure the
minorities are, what the level of their dignity is. On that scale
India is gradually sliding down, it’s a blemish on our democratic
norms. It’s time that irrespective of our religion, caste and
creed we come forward to press for protection of innocents, and
for this the we must come forward with suitable legislation so
that those in authority cannot get away after presiding over such
inhuman acts and couch them in deceptive statements to escape the
noose.
The supplementary observation is about the rising trend of
restriction of religious freedoms in South Asia as a whole. In
recent times we have painfully seen the persecution of Christians
and Hindus in Pakistan, of Buddhists and Hindus in Bangle Desh, of
Muslims in Burma and Srilanka. The health of democracy in South
Asia is a worrying matter. We know that regions grow together.
India has been a strong pillar of democracy while other South
Asian countries are in a different stage of evolution towards
democracy. Somewhere military Generals are hovering over the
elected leaders; at other the fundamentalist outfits are having a
lion’s share in shaping the course of the events of the country.
Tragically India is witnessing the downward slope on the scale of
democratic ethos. Need for us to revisit the values of Freedom
movement and the norms of Indian Constitution.
|
Comments
|
Quick links