People's Democracy

PUCL REPORT

VHP Distributing Arms In Rajasthan

Immediate Need To Ban The VHP Dagger Alias Trishul 

AFTER the victory of VHP-brand Hindutva in Gujarat, their next target is Rajasthan. Facts related to trishul (tridents) distribution show that more than 6,000 trishuls were distributed in Rajasthan after the 2002 carnage in Gujarat, and the pace of arming people has increased after the BJP victory in Gujarat. In Rajasthan, more than 2,600 people were armed with trishuls in less than 35 days in 2003. In the next 20 days, 9 ceremonies have been planned. These are to arm about 5,000 people --- more than 1,000 in Dausa district alone.

These facts have come to light through a survey conducted all over Rajasthan by the People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL).

Earlier, the VHP strategy was to arm people in areas like Ajmer where the Hindus, Muslims and Christians all have a strong presence and have been competing with each other for more than 75 years. The VHP also selected areas where the RSS or Banvasi Kalyan Parishad have a base for many years, like in the districts of southern Rajasthan or Kota and Baran districts in East Rajasthan. The VHP distributed trishuls and armed a group of Hindus wherever a riot took place. But now it seems bent on distributing trishuls in the entire state. This year, it is moving westwards, to areas like Sikar, Nagaur and Bikaner where the Hindutva forces are weak. To date trishul distribution has taken place in 13 districts of the state. Very soon they will have moved to 4 new districts and subsequently to the rest of the state.

While the VHP states that more than 70,000 trishuls have been distributed in the last 5 years, according to government sources the distribution since 1998 till February 2003 totals to about 10,000. During a distribution ceremony in Sikar district in the first week of February, the VHP announced that it would arm 3 lakh people in the state, including a lakh in Alwar and the Meo belt. Though the VHP is known for its exaggerated statements, the threat cannot be ignored any more, as 2003 is the election year in the state and the Ayodhya movement is simmering again in the country. There is little or no opposition by Congress cadres at the grassroots; the NGOs have not woken up with any strategy to counter the VHP threat; and the government is not taking any legal action against the move. Hence, in an act of desperation, the VHP is likely to try repeating Gujarat in Rajasthan. 

The immediate need is to bring the trishul under the Arms Act in Rajasthan and prevent any further distribution of this arm in the state.

SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF TRISHUL PROGRAMME

Facts from the last 5 years show that the VHP launched its programme of trishul distribution in 1998, targeting the districts of Rajsamand, Kishangarh and Ajmer, where 304 trishuls were distributed. In 1999, only Tonk district was the target and here 27 trishuls were distributed. In 2000, there was no trishul distribution. In 2001, about 1,126 trishuls were distributed in 5 districts --- Ajmer, Bhilwara, Udaipur, Chittorgarh and Banswara, with more than 800 trishuls distributed only in Ajmer and 195 in Bhilwara.

But the year 2002 set the alarm bells ringing throughout the state; more than 2,000 trishuls were distributed in Jhalarapatan in Jhalawar in only one day in October. In December, when all eyes were glued to Gujarat, Togadia and other senior VHP leaders distributed 2,580 trishuls in Rajasthan. The break-up was as follows: 300 in Chittor (December 7), 1,100 in Sawai Madhopur (December 14), 580 in Jaipur (December 15) and 600 in Bharatpur (December 16).

These developments in Rajasthan are particularly alarming in view of the Gujarat experience. One will recall that the regions in Gujarat where trishuls were distributed in large numbers saw the worst killings. The year 2002 saw 21 incidents of communal violence and riots in Rajasthan as compared to 5 in the year before. The VHP’s selection of time and place for trishul distribution in 2001 and 2002 has a relationship with communal violence or tensions in the area.

For instance, three persons were killed in police firing in Gangapur city in Sawai Madhopur where, in March 2002 in the wake of Godhra, a big crowd of people prevented the tazia processions during Muharram from being taken out. Both the BJP and VHP have periodically been holding programmes to spread hate. On December 14, 1,100 trishuls were distributed here. Togadia himself came to distribute these trishuls and, in his hate speech, declared that, now that the Hindus had been armed, the Muslims could be taught a lesson.

In September 2001, Togadia undertook a journey to Asind in Bhilwara to distribute trishuls and honour the youth who had broken the Kalindri Masjid in the Sawai Bhoj premises. About 150 trishuls were distributed to young villagers from nearby areas. Following the US attack on Afghanistan, in a public meeting at Asind, Sadhvi Ritambhara called the poor Mulsims of the area Laden supporters. Towards December-end, Daulatgarh, a village in the vicinity of Asind, had its first communal tension when fingers were pointed at Muslims that they were associated with Bin Laden. According to the villagers, it was the young men returning from the trishul ceremony who spread hate against the Muslims in the village.

On April 5, 2001, during Muharram, a big trishul distribution ceremony took place on the outskirts of Beawar. In less than a week, an altercation took place between villagers and the administration over the construction of a Masjid a few km outside Beawar. Capitalising on this incident, on April 16, serious communal violence took place when a VHP rally, making hate speeches right at the entrance of a Muslim locality, was attacked, resulting in loot and arson and injuring several people.

That the VHP has set eyes on Dalits is clear from the trishul distribution event in Phagi, Jaipur district, on January 5, 2002. It was organised to crush the emergence of Dalit identity in the area. After the Chakwara incident in which Dalits were prevented from bathing in the village pond, they are demanding rights to equal citizenship. The banners hung all over the pandaal said, “All Hindus are one.” The VHP tried killing two birds with one stone. It not only made the "untouchables" feel important that day; the Manuwadi Hindu big brothers also armed them --- a right traditionally denied to them. One will recall that Dalits formed a large chunk of the VHP army in Gujarat.

PROSCRIBE THE TRISHUL

To prevent Gujarat from being repeated in Rajasthan, one of the immediate tasks is to prevent such arming of people. There is an urgent need to ban trishul distribution in the state. The Madhya Pradesh government has already proscribed the trishuls under the Arms Act. The Rajasthan government just needs to issue a notification including trishuls in the list of weapons under the relevant provision of the act.

At present, the VHP trishuls defy the Arms Act on just a technical count. The Arms Act, as in force, proscribes a weapon with a sharp blade of 10.5 cm length. Though the VHP trishul has a blade length of 13.5 cm, the sharpened part has been deliberately kept slightly shorter --- of 8 cm only. But this is just eyewash, as the neighbourhood blacksmith can sharpen the remainder any time at the behest of the person holding the trishul. Hence the need of a fresh notification to bring these trishuls under the ambit of the Arms Act. The sooner this is done, the better.

The VHP trishuls are different from the traditional trishul found in a temple. Two of the latter’s arms are blunt and turned sideways; the middle arm is pointed but not sharp.

The Rajasthan chief minister has already urged the prime minister to restrain the VHP from distributing trishuls as the resultant panic among Muslims would polarise the communal situation in the state. Also, communal violence will merely push the Muslims towards the fundamentalists. Hence an urgent action needs to be taken in this regard. However, to date, not much seems to have been done by the prime minister in this regard.

The PUCL report also carries some tables to substantiate the point. According to one of the tables, the state of Rajasthan witnessed a total of 32 incidents of communal riots or violence and 188 incidents of communal tension in the period 1999 to 2002. During 1995-98, when the BJP ruled the state, the respective numbers were 4 and 133.

Another table gives details of the trishul distribution ceremonies held in various districts of the state from October 7, 2001 to February 2, 2003, along with the number of trishuls distributed during each such ceremony. It shows that, in these one and a half years, near about 8,000 trishuls were distributed in 19 ceremonies held in 10 districts.

Yet another table tells about the number of ceremonies (9) the VHP had planned to hold from February 12 to March 2 this year. Quoting the VHP office in state capital Jaipur as its source, the table shows the VHP plan was to distribute as many as 7,000 trishuls in a short span of 19 days only.

The PUCL team was unable to get information as to where these trishuls are being manufactured. Officials in Rajasthan told the team that these are not manufactured in the state but come from outside. Finding the location of such factories is important in the long run.

The PUCL has appealed to all groups and citizens to bring pressure on the government to get the trishuls proscribed under the Arms Act through a fresh notification.