It is an area of deep concern that brutality of communal riots and the terrror and trauma left behind in their AFTERMATH are measured by the cognoscenti by statistics - number of dead and injured!
All that the stats show conclusively, if ever proof was required, is the sordid side of our republic. Minorities - Sikhs, Muslims, Christians and the disenfranchised - dalits and tribals are at the receiving end of conflagarations. Perpetrators of violence and agent provocateurs, are protected by the establishment and hardly (if ever) brought to book! Some even go on to make it big in politics!
Kanchan Gupta's column is distressing. She is judge and jury on the cause of the Sabarmati express fire. Even as the Godhra enquiry and the Banerjee commission continue investigations! So much for justice and fairness as she accuses all and sundry (other than BJP) of lack of fairplay!
There is no concern that victims of communal violence have not got justice! All that matters to her , it appears, is that victims of communal violence did not get justice with the Congress so why hold the BJP responsible when they fool around with the system of justice? And KG is an honourable journo!
RE:Communal riots and political football.
by Subhadeep on Jun 05, 2005 11:53 PM Permalink
Gauzbig,
You seem to be very 'concerned' that the author talks about riots using statistics of dead and injured. But in the very next sentence you fall back upon those very same statistics ("All that the stats show conclusively") to establish how 'minorities' in our country are "at the receiving end of conflagarations".
You say that the author is "judge and jury" on the Sabarmati Express fire, but aren't you the "judge and jury" on the same case, but of course, coming to the opposite conclusion? In your cynical post you have conveniently ignored the relief measures provided by the government to ALL victims of the violence, as also the fact that the extent of violence was grossly exaggerated by those that found it politically convenient to do so.
And please don't fall back upon the joke of a report which says that somehow hundreds of train passengers on a hot summer's day suddenly developed suicidal tendencies and set fire to their own compartment. (contd...)
RE:Communal riots and political football.
by Subhadeep on Jun 05, 2005 11:54 PM Permalink
Gauzbig, (contd.)
You say that there is no concern that victims of communal violence have not got justice. I completely agree with you there...the anti-Sikh pogrom, the Godhra carnage, the carnage at Marad in Kerela, all come to mind.
You also seem to express surprise that "KG is an honourable journo". Well certainly there is more honour in lifting the viel of hypocrisy surrounding "secularism" and "minority" issues in India than in selective indignation and pseudo-intellectualism.
I have come across your comments in other articles on Rediff, and my sincere advice to you is to judge a point on its merits. Don't spew venom against an author just because his or her views don't match yours.
