People's Democracy

COMMUNAL VIOLENCE IN GUJARAT AND TERROR IN J&K

UPA Govt Must Rise To The Occasion

THE developments this week will surely test both the commitment and competence of the UPA government in dealing with the sudden burst of terrorist attacks in the country.  The massacre of 35 villagers in the Doda district of Jammu & Kashmir by militants has, once again, highlighted our vulnerability in the state of Jammu & Kashmir.  Clearly, these attacks were  timed to  precede the reported talks that, as we go to press, are going on between the prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh and the Hurriyat. Through these columns, we had all along been advocating that the menace of  militancy cannot be tackled only through a law and order approach but simultaneously the  political process should also be initiated. 

That these attacks have taken place when precisely such a process of dialogue was going on is clearly directed at sabotaging any such effort. While these attacks have been rightly condemned widely in the country, the state must pull up its socks in combating this menace. 

The murder of an Indian engineer in Afghanistan by the Taliban reconfirms the vulnerability of India that we spoke of above.  Reports suggest that the revival of the Taliban offensive may not directly be connected with the active assistance given to them by Pakistan.

While these are matters of gravest concern and must occupy the fullest attention of the central government, it also has to rise to the occasion in tackling the communal monster that has recently raised its head, once again, in Gujarat.  The communal clashes following the razing to the ground of a Sufi shrine in Vadodara is a dangerous development given the track record of the Narendra Modi government in the state.  The 2002 State-sponsored communal genocide has left behind a trail of death and mayhem unprecedented in independent India’s history.  The pattern and modus operandi of these latest incidents where the authorities refused to work out a compromise  formula and brazenly went about the demolition  is reminiscent  of the 2002 situation.  The communal forces had often termed this shrine as a “mini babri masjid” and were seeking its demolition all along.  Many see this development as the curtain raiser for the 2007 assembly elections in the state.  Emboldened by the earlier electoral victory which came on the heels of the worst communal holocaust, similar efforts are being made today to recreate communal polarisation and inhuman brutality at the expense of loss of innocent lives to reap political benefits.

This cannot be allowed.  The UPA government, having  come into existence in the first place  in response to the Indian people’s verdict against the communal forces must take all necessary steps to ensure that the situation in Gujarat is not allowed to degenerate into a repetition of  2002.  The Indian people expect this government  to uphold its commitment to secularism by taking firm measures. Likewise, the Indian people expect this UPA government to protect and strengthen the internal security of India from terrorist assaults. The UPA government must rise to the occasion.