Result of conspiracies of a different kind!
If I can be late in posting my write ups, I can be early too. This one comes earlier then the scheduled date. Well moving towards the end of Conspiracies of a Different Kind I would like to put this question forward "Ever wondered why is there a divide between Hindus and Muslims?" Is it for money, power, property, business and other list of stuff? I don’t even see an identity crisis too. Well everybody has their own individual domain. There is no such particular reason that I could possibly think of why are there clashes between both the religions. I guess this leads back to the year 1947. Before that particular year both of them were fighting for one cause “Freedom”. Someone thought it isn’t good for few of them that both are together. Something happened and they started fighting amongst each other (I guess I do not need to mention history in so much detail when it is so evident). Can one ever imagine that something that happened around 60 years back has separated these communities to a level where one could not bring together? They live with each other today, do business with each other but somewhere (minus a few exceptional cases) there is this thin line which always provokes doubt. Every few years this divide is broadened by many incidents like Godhra, Ayodhya, so on and so forth. Not because it is happening naturally but it is intentionally to remind people that they are not supposed to live in harmony, to remind them of that thin line. Those carrying out such activities get answers by bomb blasts (According to so called people who take responsibility of them. But then again we all know that terrorism is something that is in itself a different case altogether & terrorists as mentioned in my first blog play with God’s name. But then again that’s what other extremists too are doing). They do it because they have to (may be its their bread and butter), but we who live in peace in harmony get carried away and start doubting our fellow citizens. If someone would want to know how let me explain by a story.
Recently a friend of mine was in a dilemma of whether to give a job to Muslim boy from Jaipur where before a few months it was rocked by bomb blasts. Doubting why this guy from Jaipur has come to Gujarat? Well let’s call this guy “Human”. Human is a driver cum mechanic. He was removed from his earlier job in Jaipur immediately after the blasts. He couldn’t get a job anywhere. So since Gujarat is lucrative enough he came to Gujarat in search of a job. But to his hard luck there were bomb blasts in Gujarat too and he remained jobless. Since he had no job no money he had to stay with a maulvi (priest) in a mosque. My friend when approached by Human didn’t know what to do. According to him he was ok with giving him a driver’s job since he was in need but if something happens then? Wouldn’t the police harass him? And many other similar questions. Finally after a lot of internal deliberations, Human was kept on the job. Second situation - Human is in search of a place to stay because he doesn’t like to stay in a mosque with a maulvi. So my friend approached few known muslims and guess what they had to tell him. They told “Aapko Gujarat se koi nahi mila. Aapne ye Jaipur wale ko naukari pe rakha? (Didnt you find anybody from Gujarat that you had to keep this guy from Jaipur on job?) We would not be keeping somebody from outside as tenants specially a Muslim person, what if something happens tomorrow we would be unnecessarily harassed by the police.” So while I am writing this, Human still does not have a place to stay and is staying in a mosque.
What is happening here is that the Muslims who live in poverty are further pushed down by such events. One internal riots where either they or their belongings are burnt and they are left with nothing and second the bomb blasts which hits human psychology so much that nobody offers them work. In both cases the common innocent Muslim (I would say human first) is worst hit. Those perpetuators both the rioters and terrorists do not think about this. Even Muslims are not trusting Muslims. Those who live earning daily wages are the worst hit, since people stop offering them labour. How are they supposed to survive, along with their family? While I am writing this, I just spoke to my mother who told me about yet another blast in Delhi and the attacks on Christians by the same extremist groups (“ch..ch..ch Mervyn only God knows when this people are going to stop. What enjoyment would they be getting in blasting and burning people alive” words of my mother). These attacks on Christians are based on false issue of religious conversions. I don’t understand who gives one right to kill, burn and rape. Most of the people instead of looking at a person as human being have started to look at his/her religion.
Coming back to the point, the divide between both these religions through such gory incidents keeps increasing. Such incidents destroy a person’s existence both internal and external. Instead of an effort to bridge the divide there is a constant effort in deeds and words to gain maximum momentum of one majority and pushing down the minority and vice-versa, thus widening the divide. On top of it when people go in search of justice in front of such commissions what they get in return is only salt on their wounds. Wouldn’t lack of justice create another set of anger of those who have seen their families burnt alive, sisters paraded nude and raped, poor old disabled man harassed without reason? But then it is on the people who have power to decide whether to fuel such fire or help in subsiding it. But then it could be a conspiracy of a different kind in which one is meant to divide.
While I come to the end of Conspiracies of a different kind, I am firm that I will make my own efforts to look at a person as a human first and not his religion. We are all humans and have different circumstances (along with religion) but that does not mean that since a person is from a particular religion he could be a possible suspect. We those who are reading this are fortunate ones. I have friends who have been misguided by such thoughts and I constantly make an effort to make them realise the ‘being of human’. If those who are educated shall be consumed by such hatred propagated by fanatic mind, then I fear to imagine where it will all lead. I believe we the fortunate kinds would make efforts to bridge the gap and not give rise to such conspiracies of a different kind.
I would appreciate your views and comments on the series - conspiracies of a different kind! Please vote below and leave your comments too! Thank you and keep visiting!
Short Stories!
I have been late in posting this second piece of the thread. There has been immense work pressure and paucity of time. There have been good conversations that I have had over the first piece and assumptions about these stories. Well I would rather say that these stories are something that each of us at some point or the other would have thought of and discussed. I am trying to bring it together and put it in one set so that a relation could be established. I have not detailed it out nor given any conclusions. Conclusions are for the readers to bring out as per their views. I am presenting here with some stories which are based on thought processes that have taken place with friends and colleagues of how conspiracies of a different kind are given a good ground.
Please try and individualise these stories. What is more important than reading these stories is to have a realisation and understanding of different situations.
Story no.1
A young chap poor –no job, not enough money to feed a family of five but wants to set himself free of poverty and hunger and has a lot of aspirations. One fine day, this chap has visitors offering him big sum of money or higher to commit a crime. This chap does it although knowing the consequences since he thinks it would atleast help his family set out of poverty.
Now the question arises is whether he would do it out of religious commitments or poverty? But things are given a different turn. Religions are brought into picture and other political motives are given leverage, I believe it happens in most cases of riots. I guess the need of those in extreme poverty is manipulated for the benefit of vested interests of few. And conspiracies of different kinds are effectively implemented. Just a thought process!
Story no.2
A person is taken into custody as suspect for some carnage. His son, 16 years of age works as a mechanic in a small time garage. Has hardly any money to feed his family. Suspected person runs his small entrepreneurial venture of selling incense sticks (agarbattis). His son has to spend huge amount of money to bail his father out. Where would he find such money and even if he does how would he repay with the kind of job. The suspect has no feet and sells incense sticks on wheel chair. How would it affect the human psyche of the family more importantly the growing son? Things such as these have also happened.
“Practically all the accused in anti-minority bloodbath till date have been released on bail. In contrast, all accused in Godhra accident case including a blind man, an old man and those having congenital diseases have been jailed for the last six years.” - Mr. R. B. Sreekumar, former State Intelligence Chief
Story no.3
A person is trapped into a building with his family. Rioters hit the building pull the family out kill the parents, parade his sister nude and then rape her not one not two but around 10 times in front of all other rioters and then burn her alive.
Now another person comes to meet this guy and knowing his tale, reminds him his agony taunting him for not taking revenge. Tells him I’ll offer you money to kill those people who did this and vent out your revenge? Do you think that this guy would do it? This guy who has seen his innocent happy family killed and sister raped again and again in front of the whole mob. I guess he would. For him it wouldn’t matter who the rioters were whether one religion or the other what would matter is his own family. I believe he would even be ready enough to harm the near and dear ones of those people. I would say more than it being a religious affair its more to deal with human psyche. In cases such as this certain extremists who would want to take advantage of the situation would instigate the feelings of those affected and satisfy their motives. That is how may be internal terrorism is being bred. This could also be a conspiracy of a different kind.
If I can put it in the words of Mr. Sreekumar “Internationaly, militant groups that have enough resourses and committed loyalists, will present such instances of subversions of criminal justice system by the state government and harassement and persecution of minority to bolster their case and get more support. As a practicing Hindu I am scared of the repercussions of this kind of discrimination in delivery of justice. Who will be responsible for creating a new breed of terrorists in the long run with such action?”
Somebody killed in some part of the world and one kills someone innocent in another part of the world is not fair. I believe when Godhra Carnage happened and what followed was something similar. Somebody might have killed someone in Godhra and one starts rioting to kill others in the whole state without any reason isn’t justified. And then we have investigative reports such as this would only show that it’s a mockery of the whole system making it a conspiracy in itself.
These stories presented above though conceptualised are not plain stories, this is what we as a nation are going through. Somewhere somebody is taking advantage of the situation. What we are fighting here is not terrorism, but situations. How then do we change situations is a bigger question with many possibilities and dimensions. A transperant judicial system is the need of the hour so that people’s faith in it is reinstated. Poverty is a big terror for India and I guess with poverty and aspirations together what we need to imbibe is achievement of aspirations through basic moral values and that can only come through positive education and environment. While working in the area of behaviour change I have realised that the person is always victimised but what plays a major role for the actions of a person is its upbringing, behaviour and most important of all the environment. What needs to be changed here is the environment and only a change in mindset can bring about this positive change.
The last and the third part is already scheduled and will be up on October 12, 2008. I would appreciate your views and comments.
Let’s see some incidents:
February 27, 2002, a fight occurred on the railway platform in Godhra, a moving train was halted and the coach (S6) in which the karsevaks were travelling was burnt down. What happened at that time was gory and it is necessary that the guilty is/are punished. Such actions are not acceptable and proper justice is required for those affected. It could be a conspiracy. But what followed was even much worse and could have been easily stopped. It couldn’t have been initiated at all about hurting the feelings and such other provocative speeches which inculcates feelings of hatred within people. But then again as the title goes it could have been “conspiracy of a different kind.”
A little bit of my analysis regarding the train burning and other incidents that followed:
Usually when fights occur with shopkeepers it ends with the issue being the centre of focus not religion. Many of us at one point or other would have been involved in a fight with a shopkeeper I guess and you would have experienced it yourself. But here it went forward, religion was brought in focus. Also that the train was halted in between and it is unbelieving that a moving train also stopped to some stone pelting. Usually trains don’t stop when they notice something like a riot is going to happen or some stone pelting, it moves faster instead of stopping. Only one coach was targeted and only one coach caught fire. The train stopped only for the time the coach caught fire and then leaving the coach behind, it moved ahead. All this sounds quite unusual to me, first the train stopping when it had already gained momentum (Did somebody pull the chain from inside?) and only one coach on fire. Well let’s say a conspiracy, but conspiracy by whom? Is it by some people with vested interest or by people of a particular religion? Just a thought process looking at a conspiracy of a different kind.
Immediately after the Godhra Carnage i.e. February 27, 2002 ‘Gujarat Bandh’ was announced by certain extremist organisations. Next day when these same extremist groups started the riots (according to media reports) and it hit the cities across Gujarat, every Muslim household, shop, restaurant, etc. was under fire. Where I stay in Ahmedabad, is the western region, I have never witnessed riots in this region. This was my first time. Every Muslim owned/partnered shop was burnt down. Western region is usually calm as it is cosmopolitan or should I say Hindu dominated. I have stayed here for years and never knew which shop belonged to a Muslim, a Hindu, a Parsi, a Jain, a Sikh or whatever religion. For that matter even the neighbourhood shop owners didn’t know whether these shops belonged to Muslims as they were rented by Hindus. One could either think of it as only a sheer co-incidence or meticulous planning! How would one get data of whole Ahmedabad city or Gujarat within a night’s time of what shop, household or other property belonged to a Muslim. But it could be a conspiracy of a different kind that has gone unnoticed!
While I wonder as to where within just a matter of 12 hours (of night) one could gather such weapons for mass destruction and a workforce that spreads across Gujarat and carries out work of destruction and devastation with such effectiveness? Not understanding that they have not only harmed its people but also Gujarat’s dignity, integrity, unity, love within each-other and harmony. These incidents as per the report are not linked. Ok! Say I buy what the report says, then let’s see this: While this happened it was seen as a repercussion to what happened in Godhra and not much could be done; as the anger of the majority was being released and needed to be satisfied. For long the majority has suffered (Suffered with what was never specified). This incident (of Godhra) was made a USP for electoral speeches during December 2002. If it was a conspiracy and an event of shame why make it a USP? Do we make bomb blasts or rapes or thefts as USPs of electoral speeches? But maybe this would be a conspiracy of a different kind and hence it was taken into references for speeches.
As per media reports a number of affidavits and witnesses were brought to bring things to conclusion. As per Mr. R. B. Sreekumar, State Intelligence Chief (2002), he himself has submitted statements which are enough to bring the guilty of post Godhra riots to justice. If we read it in his words regarding the report “The Nanavati Commission report is highly motivated and politically influenced. The report is incomplete as it is in parts. It is a smokescreen, convenient enough for wriggling out of difficult situation. The report is premature, incomplete and discriminatory as it is presented in a compartmentalised form. There was no evidence to support the version that Godhra was a conspiracy and I had refused to do so. I was cajoled, persuaded and threatened with dire consequences if I don’t follow the lines. Mr. Sreekumar also said that “Practically all the accused in anti-minority bloodbath till date have been released on bail. In contrast, all accused in Godhra accident case including a blind man, an old man and those having congenital diseases have been jailed for the last six years.” (Excerpt taken from media reports) But I guess that wouldn’t be enough since it might be a conspiracy of a different kind. Well to my understanding I would say the report isn’t justified. But that again is my viewpoint.
My viewpoints are completely based on different media reports and incidents witnessed by me. Whatever written here are my views and thought processes regarding certain incidents that took place and regarding what the report has brought out. Conspiracies of a different kind (CODK) have three parts; the next two parts of this story would be posted one by one within a span of two-three days. Part two are a bunch of stories conceptualised to have an understanding of different situations and human psyche that can possibly give rise to CODK and part three will look into what different kinds of results could arise due to such CODK. I hope that you will be here again to read them and share my views and also give your opinions.
