If the eyes are on elections, who is bothered if a few more innocents get killed or their belongings looted in the communal riots that have begun spreading like forest-fire almost immediately after the dawn of the election year in UP. Ironically, two political parties perceived to be poles apart, at least ideologically, that is the SP and the BJP, are set to gain if the communal violence happens and spreads to other parts of the UP.
Large scale desertions had happened in the past both from BJP and SP, more so in the case of later due to it being in power for the last three and a half years. The shift was naturally towards Congress and BSP. With these riots, a great number of voters on periphery are sure to return to the folds of either the BJP or the SP. This is the vote politics of a pseudo-democracy like that of UP. You may call it the riot politics as well!
Mayawati is not far off the mark when she alleges that Samajwadi Party and BJP leaders had planned communal violence in Gorakhpur and neighbouring districts to serve their vested political interests.
“Both SP and BJP have lost the confidence of people and their base is shrinking fast. To regain the lost ground both the parties are indulging in the politics of communal violence”, she said. Cautioning the Muslims, she said they should understand the designs of both parties.
More communal violence would take place in the state in the coming days, she claimed and added that she had submitted memorandum to the Governor and the UPA government seeking dismissal of the State government and imposition of President’s rule, but in vain.
“Law and order is deteriorating in the State and jungle raj is prevailing. If people want that their sisters and daughters to remain safe and Muslims want to take revenge for Kareli madarsa and Ranipur rape case, they must vote Samajwadi Party out of power,” she said adding that it were the Samajwadi party leaders who were involved in Kareli madarsa (Allahabad) and Ranipur village (Jaunpur) rape case.
Evidently, Mayawati too is playing her cards, so as to reap the maximum out of the riots. So is the BJP. And who are the victims? Hutments of members of a particular community were set on fire in Behrampur in the wee hours recently. Shops belonging to members of a particular community too were torched. Miscreants tried to brun alive a member of a particular community when he was returning home after offering evening prayers in Singhadia locality, under Khorabar police station. Arsonists set ablaze a passenger train, attempted to burn Godan Express and torched vehicles. Another train was set ablaze at Tulsipur in Balrampur district on the metre guage section between Gorakhpur and Gonda. Two compartments of a train at Salempur railway station in Deoria district were also burnt. Buses too were burnt. Some activists of Hindu Yuva Vahini set on fire a government bus and held its driver and conductor hostage in Gurma village under Madhuban police station. All this seems to be offshoot of a well-planned strategy. After all, elections have dangerously close. And arrest of local BJP MP Yogi Adityanath is only an excuse.
Large scale desertions had happened in the past both from BJP and SP, more so in the case of later due to it being in power for the last three and a half years. The shift was naturally towards Congress and BSP. With these riots, a great number of voters on periphery are sure to return to the folds of either the BJP or the SP. This is the vote politics of a pseudo-democracy like that of UP. You may call it the riot politics as well!
Mayawati is not far off the mark when she alleges that Samajwadi Party and BJP leaders had planned communal violence in Gorakhpur and neighbouring districts to serve their vested political interests.
“Both SP and BJP have lost the confidence of people and their base is shrinking fast. To regain the lost ground both the parties are indulging in the politics of communal violence”, she said. Cautioning the Muslims, she said they should understand the designs of both parties.
More communal violence would take place in the state in the coming days, she claimed and added that she had submitted memorandum to the Governor and the UPA government seeking dismissal of the State government and imposition of President’s rule, but in vain.
“Law and order is deteriorating in the State and jungle raj is prevailing. If people want that their sisters and daughters to remain safe and Muslims want to take revenge for Kareli madarsa and Ranipur rape case, they must vote Samajwadi Party out of power,” she said adding that it were the Samajwadi party leaders who were involved in Kareli madarsa (Allahabad) and Ranipur village (Jaunpur) rape case.
Evidently, Mayawati too is playing her cards, so as to reap the maximum out of the riots. So is the BJP. And who are the victims? Hutments of members of a particular community were set on fire in Behrampur in the wee hours recently. Shops belonging to members of a particular community too were torched. Miscreants tried to brun alive a member of a particular community when he was returning home after offering evening prayers in Singhadia locality, under Khorabar police station. Arsonists set ablaze a passenger train, attempted to burn Godan Express and torched vehicles. Another train was set ablaze at Tulsipur in Balrampur district on the metre guage section between Gorakhpur and Gonda. Two compartments of a train at Salempur railway station in Deoria district were also burnt. Buses too were burnt. Some activists of Hindu Yuva Vahini set on fire a government bus and held its driver and conductor hostage in Gurma village under Madhuban police station. All this seems to be offshoot of a well-planned strategy. After all, elections have dangerously close. And arrest of local BJP MP Yogi Adityanath is only an excuse.
Communal violence not a new phenomenon
Communal violence is not a new phenomenon in India. Prior to Independence they occurred because the rulers of the time benefited because of the Hindu-Muslim divide. Hence such divisionary tactics were framed and the riots fanned; most common example being the incidents of Meerut and Lucknow that resulted in the First War of Independence, 1857. Thereafter, riots continued to erupt, be it in Calcutta or be it in Punjab.
Post Independence, riots seem to have become a weapon in the armoury of political parties. Riots after demolition of Babri Masjid and not just the demolition catapulted BJP to power. The same happened in Gujarat where Narendra Modi had almost lost the election due to internal fights and anti-incumbency factors. The same is the case now as the BJP needs issues or passions to help it in the elections and if the political pundits predicted riots in UP much before, this was because they knew of the politics that politicians play.
One thing that is noteworthy in the present riots in UP is the inevitable presence of RSS or its sister organizations wherever the riots occur. At places it is in the form of Hindu Yuva Vahini, at other places in the form of Bajrang Dal or simply RSS workers. Even Yogi Adityanath and his supporters are known RSS sympathizers.
Political will needed to curb communal violence
Year 2007 has just begun and so has begun cases of communal violence in India. One precious life was lost and three others were injured in police firing to quell communal violence in Bangalore that flared up in eastern parts of the city during a RSS-sponsored procession as part of ‘Viraat Hindu Mahotsav’ recently. Several others were injured in the rioting that followed. A few days earlier, 50 persons were injured and several houses attacked after a protest against the execution of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussain turned violent. And now the entire Eastern UP is reeling under communal tension, owing to arrest of BJP MP Yogi Adityanath.
Communal violence is not a new phenomenon in India, fuelled as it is by the fundamentalist forces on both sides.
Communal violence in India has reached unprecedented levels in the 1990s. Where conflicts were once localized, they now occur on a national scale. At the level of rhetoric, the government claims to be committed to secularism and nondiscrimination. However, the government shows a conspicuous tendency to ignore the scale of violence and human suffering during communal violence. Laxity in enforcing the law and the failure to punish those involved sends the wrong signals to both law-breakers and law enforcers across the country.
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