Shamsuddin Ahmed
If pre-election forecasts come true Narendra Modi of BJP will become the next Prime Minister of India raising concerns in neighbouring countries. Scant or no faith in secularism Modi at an election campaign meeting said: “people tell me that their woes lay in secularism.”
Construction of Ram Mandir at the site of Babri Mosque in Ayoddha is one of the priorities laid in his election manifesto. The Babri Mosque built in 12th century was demolished by the militants of RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal – all front bodies of Bharatiya Janata Party – led by BJP senior leaders including L K Advani more than a decade ago that had wounded the sentiment of the Muslims of India and across the world.
National unity at stake
Equally worried is ruling Congress Party chief Sonia Gandhi at the Modi’s election prospect. Expressing grave concern she said unity of India will be at perils under the leadership of Modi, a Hindu chauvinist. She recollected the 2002 Gujarat riot in which about 2000 people, mostly Muslims, were butchered. And also the latest Muzaffarnagar riot that left about 200 Muslims killed in August-September last year in Uttar Pradesh which was fanned up by Hindu militants.
Mausam Ali, a tweeter of Patna wrote: BJP, Rastriya Sevak Sangha (RSS), Vishaw Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal believe in divisive and fascist ideology. They are busy in creating hatred, propaganda against Muslims. They are the root cause of communal riots in India. They are creating riots and blame Muslims and others, and they have the art of blaming Muslim community as the original sinner.
As chief minister of Gujarat in 2002 Narendra Modi was in deep trouble. A train travelling through the state carrying several hundred Hindu pilgrimages was set on fire by a mob resulting in death of 89 people. Rumour spread that mob was comprised Muslims. That followed the riot when an estimated 2000 Muslims were slaughtered. Modi as Chief Minister was accused of orchestrating the riot. The Supreme Court held that Modi could be prosecuted for promoting Hindui-Muslim enmity. He resigned but in the election that followed he returned with a thumping majority on Hinduyata slogan.
The concern of people of Bangladesh may be genuine. The country is virtually surrounded by India with 4096 km porous border. Some of the BJP leaders still propagate ‘Akhand Bharat’ (undivided India) with Afghanistan as the border on west and Myanmar on the east, which means wiping out Bangladesh and Pakistan from the map. Although all the communities of Bangladesh live in peaceful harmony, Hindu bigots in India may be prompted by the Hinduvata leaders to cause communal unrest in a bid to fulfill the objective of undivided India.
Maoists’ anti-poll campaign
BJP has already been saying Bangladeshis in thousands have crossed the border into Assam and living there illegally. The party has been seeking to push them back to Bangladesh. But the fact remains that most of those Muslims had been living there since or before the partition of India.
Meanwhile, the Indian Maoists continued anti-election campaign across the red corridor that runs through the central India. At least two paramilitary troopers were killed and ten others were injured on April 7 in blasts of landmines planted by the Maoists at Aurangabad in Bihar State. Aurangabad goes to polls on April 10. Five of the injured were reportedly lying in critical condition. At least 15 troopers were killed in Maoist ambush in restive Bastar region of Chhattisgarh state last month. Security forces and political leaders are the Maoist targets. The rebels have urged the people to boycott the polls.
During the Chhattisgarh state assembly election campaign in May last year, and almost the entire state Congress leadership were killed in a major Maoist attack. It is believed that political leaders during the current election campaign are in the field by compromising with the local Maoist leaders.
Kejriwar slapped again
Indian election observers were stunned at the slapping of Arvind Kejriwal, former Chief Minister of Delhi and head of the Aam Admi Party (AAP) by a young man, identified as auto-rickshaw driver. TV footage on Tuesday showed Kejriwal in a truck at a road show during election campaign in Delhi. The attacker pretending to be AAP supporter approached Kejriwal with a garland to adorn but slapped him on the face instead.
This was the second time APP leader was slapped besides throwing rotten eggs at him. Such incidents of assault of political leaders are unusual in Indian electioneering.
AAP, a new political party was born with an anti-corruption crusade launched by Anna Hajaree in 2010. With mass support the party had won the Delhi assembly election last year and Kejriwal was the chief minister with support of the Congress. In less than two months Kejriwal had to resign as the Congress withdrew support, ostensibly under mounting pressure from corrupt business tycoons and mafia groups who control the Indian politics.
Observers say, obviously an ordinary auto-rickshaw driver cannot be political rival or enemy of Kejriwal. It is viewed that none but the same elements have hired goons to insult Kejriwal in an attempt to distract him from pursuing honest politics and the movement against corruption, ineffective government and political scandals that have rocked the country. But undaunted, Kejriwal continued his campaign to unmask political corruptions and scandals. How long he sustains the anti-corruption movement is a matter to be watched.
Source: Weekly Holiday
