As the fascist Hindutva forces close their grip around the throat of the nation. It can be difficult to comprehend the path that we have taken to reach such dire circumstances. For many students like you and me – since we could understand politics – all we have ever really known is a Hindutva controlled state. This can lead to a sense of inevitability or invincibility to their rule that spirals into eventual doom and despair. Together we must overcome this hurdle and strive to understand the history and tactics of the fascists to be able to break their rule.
The 2002 Gujarat riots was where much of the foundation of the Hindutva state of the 21st century was laid. On a February morning at Godhra railway station in Gujarat, a train carrying Hindu pilgrims
from Ayodhya caught fire after an alleged altercation between passengers and vendors at the station. The fire led to the death of 59 people. The resulting investigations provided little insight into what had been the exact cause of the fire but this did not stop the fascists from seizing the opportunity to stoke communal hatred. The Vishva Hindu Parishad declared a statewide bandh. The Modi led state government did nothing to stop the VHP, but rather prominent BJP figures especially Modi spread misinformation and hate to egg on their goons. Rumours of the train burning being a Pakistani sabotage operation were spread. “action ka reaction” was the calling cry as VHP and BJP leaders engaged in hate speech against the state’s Muslim minority leading to the eruption of riots.
More than 2000 people were likely killed in the resultant ethnic cleansing. The majority from the Muslim minority. The state stood by and allowed much of the violence to happen. Women and children were targeted by rioters as victims of torture, rape and other unspeakable evils. In the end over the mountain of corpses the BJP government escaped punishment through exploiting the long drawn-out process of official inquiries. Most walked free, emboldening many to use similar tactics and rhetoric in the future.
In the aftermath Modi continued denying his complicity with the pogrom. Yet he never missed an opportunity to mock the victims of his hate. Saying of the muslim relief camps after the riots-“Hum paanch, humare pachees” (we five, our 25) referring to an imagined Muslim family consisting of one man, four wives and 25 children, and the associated myth of the rapidly expanding Muslim population. Even much later when asked if he regretted the violence in Gujarat 2002, he responded “even if a puppy comes under the wheel of your car, it is painful ”. The most obvious strategy that the fascists used in Gujarat is pushing people towards communal violence. This violence assures the subjugation (or elimination) of the oppressed to the fascist state. It enforces feudal ideas upon the oppressed. In the case of women the riots reduced them to symbols or carriers of social honour.
The riots also served a political goal for the BJP. 2002 was an assembly election year. An assembly election in which they rode the wave of communal hatred to gain victory. This has been a trend with Hindutva forces, whether it be in lawmaking or elections. They first stir up communal tensions, inaugurate a Mandir, propose outrageous legislation, anything to distract the people. They use this to blind the people from the real issues and prevent them from unifying against them while clandestinely pushing their own nefarious policies and agendas. Divide and rule, a strategy with a legacy going back to the colonial era.
In our present context, they hide the looting of our country’s resources by the state’s capitalist puppeteers and their international allies. The exploitation of the toiling masses, the suppression of people’s movements across the country, movements that resist the far-reaching tentacles of imperialism, Hasdeo, Kashmir and Manipur are forgotten amidst the celebration of the Mandir and the wave of fear and violence it brings. As we reflect on the lessons of the past, let us not despair at the similarities we see with the present, but use our knowledge to fight back and resist their attempts at dividing us.
Remember the blood spilled along Hindutva’s march to power and do not be fooled by the smoke and mirrors of their politics of hate.
