People's Democracy

THE reported arrest of a mahant of a temple in the outskirts of Ahmedabad for possessing nine country-made pistols has, once again, reconfirmed the role of saffron criminals in aiding, abetting and executing communal riots.

The mahant of the Saryudasji temple in Prem Darwaja locality, Shivdas Ramanandi, was arrested after police, on a tip-off, intercepted a car near the temple. The man at the wheel, who identified himself as the driver of the mahant was found carrying a pistol and when questioned stated that the pistol belonged to the temple.

The driver, Balkrishna Tripathi, confessed that eight more such pistols were hidden in a three-room "Gokuldham Gaushala" in Kunjad village under the Kanbha police station. Police recovered the weapons and put the mahant under arrest who owned the "gaushala".

From the moment the mahant was arrested, the saffron brigade got into action. Following a saffron demonstration, mostly VHP members, for the release of the mahant, the police was forced by the state home minister Gordhan Jhadafiya to allow the mahant to perform puja in the temple while still in police custody. It is learnt that when the mahant refused to return to the police custody from the temple after the puja, Jhadafiya requested him on phone to return in order to save public embarrassment.

The nexus between the arm-peddling mahants, the BJP political leadership of the state and the VHP is what gives rise to apprehensions of breach of peace on the day of the Jagannath "rath yatra" on July 12. Since the temple is on the route of this yatra has by now caused further apprehensions of triggering fresh communal conflagration. The police have said that these weapons were part of a consignment of some 200 such pistols, many of which were sold during the communal riots. The driver of the vehicle is believed to have told the police that these weapons were meant to be used during the "rath yatra".

If any further proof was necessary that the recent communal genocide in Gujarat was a result of meticulous planning and a premeditated exercise, this incident has confirmed so. After the public admonition by the National Human Rights Commission, the Gujarat government was forced to withhold Narendra Modi’s so-called "gaurav yatras".

The newly anointed BJP spokesman has said that these yatras would now be taken out at the "appropriate time". Meaning clearly that these yatras would be taken out closer to the elections in order to reap electoral benefits by whipping up communal passions, once again. This is the true face of the BJP. For its political and electoral benefits, it is prepared to perpetrate yet another bloody massacre of innocent human beings jeopardising the very unity and integrity of our country.

The developments of the last one week clearly show, once again, that the RSS/BJP have decided to revert to unabashed communal poisoning as the last resort to regain some of their rapidly eroding public support. It is, indeed, India’s tragedy that we have such elements at the helm that seek to destroy the very foundations of our secular democratic republic and in its place, erect a fascistic "Hindu Rashtra".

It is this design that can be and must be thwarted. The united resolve of all patriots is the only bulwark to rein in these fascistic hordes.