The recent news of Jarnail Singh tossing his shoe at Mr P Chidambaram, has raked some horrible nightmares for many of us. It also reinforced my belief that some wounds must heal. And some crimes must be punished. And for this healing to take place, these crimes must first be acknowledged. Our politicians almost always fail to do that. Congress shocks with its indifference.
And still, I have always considered Congress the lesser evil.
Let me try to explain.
Evil because they failed to control the 1984 carnage. Lesser Evil because they did not say the victims deserved it. Lesser Evil because they did not try to pass off the burning and killing of citizens as an emotional reaction to the assassination of a political representative. Lesser Evil because no recent or past history was used to wedge permanent cracks in the society. Lesser Evil because they did not try to see the other side of a violent carnage.
Evil because 3000 (not sure) Sikhs were killed by mobs made up of hooligans mainly from neighboring slums and villages. Evil because when our neighbours heard some noises in their garden hedge, they ran to shoo away a stray animal and found a teenage boy hiding there. Evil because we heard of bodies rotting near…some public places. Evil because some rumors claimed (overnight) that Sikhs were basically ‘aggressive’. (I have heard the same description for ‘outsiders’ & Muslims.)
Lesser Evil because the neighbors’ heart had not been not filled with so much hate, that they refuse to take him inside – even though they were frightened of mob-fury. There were no hate speeches in those days. My sister in law was amongst many who hid their Sikh neighbours in their homes, risking frenzied mob fury.
We were in college then, some of our friends cut their hair to hide their religious identity. Men from many neighborhoods, Sikh and non-Sikh started neighbourhood watches.
There was indifference from those who should and could have acted swiftly... We did not know it then, but it could have been still worse. But no official or political voice attempted to justify or glorify the massacres. Not even indirectly.
It did not become, under any circumstances, okay to hate a whole community. So the trauma remains, the horror remains, memories will haunt forever, but fear gradually faded.
So I would say, the Congress is Manipulative? Maybe. Weak in controlling violence? Time and again, and sometimes without the excuse of offending any sentiments, like the senseless nightmare of 1984. Condemnable in indifference? Totally. They appease the minorities? Maybe. (but that’s no excuse to burn or rape some citizens of minority communities.) They are not really Secular? Perhaps… (again that’s not something we bring up to justify carnages.)
Then why call them the lesser evil? Because they do not preach and encourage violence and intolerance.
They do not say it’s okay to chop off hands and it’s bewkuf to turn the other cheek. They do not tell us that some amongst us are deserving of hate. They don’t make the evils of Hate, Violence and Intolerance an acceptable option.
Khushwant Singh wrote of a widow who had two sons. One learnt to rule, one learnt to fly. The one who learnt to rule tried to fly and he died. The one who could fly tried to rule, he died too. He also suggested (I think it was in his column called ‘With Malice towards one and all’) - an apology. And it stuck in my mind.
Apologies matter. So when Sheila Dixit seemed to regret on National Television a statement no responsible leader should make I forgave her fast. And when Rahul Gandhi expressed regret over the 1984 carnage – I saw hope.
WORDS are powerful. Words are Statements. Words are Promises. Words are Hate speeches.
Words are also Apologies. Apologies are hope, apologies are a new beginning.
But more than anything an apology says I do not defend my actions, I admit I was wrong.
To the bloodthirsty mobs, an apology like this says “I will no longer defend you if you tried something like this.”
Apologies also mean our representatives have not completely forgotten that they are not our rulers.
Words can be the difference between life and death, because words of our political leaders are also a message to our violent mobs. Words don’t change the way potential rioters think. Blood thirsty mobs are lead by people who are too smart to believe that murders can be right – but blood thirsty mobs are also smart enough to understand that if a political leader hates a community (even indirectly or subtly) the murders will be excused away as a reaction to hurt sentiments.
Why is it crucial that we do not ever say anything to condone violence? Because the murderers, the unemployed and the unwilling to work, the perverts, and anti social elements are waiting for us to do just that. You tell a thief he will not be punished, what will he do?
That is why Jagdish Tytler was tossed a shoe (via P Chidambaram). I don’t support the implicit violence in flinging a shoe – I would have preferred a Shoes Sending Campaign just like Pink Chaddi Campaign. But thankfully this is not required now. I read in today’s newspaper, that finally ‘The Congress on Thursday announced Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar, accused of involvement in the 1984 Sikh riots, are withdrawing from Lok Sabha elections in Delhi.’
This should have been done years ago. I wish this move had not been caused by a shoe. This might become an unhealthy precedence? Are we going to see shoes being aimed at Advani and Modi next? If that happens, will that result in some more killings, this time provoked by shoe throwing? (The idea of couriering shoes is a safer, nonviolent option)
If a political party is not finding newer victims to hate every election season, then even if it has taken 25 years to apologize and dump one of those allegedly involved in a nightmarish carnage, sad to say I am compelled to call it the Lesser Evil.
Aren’t you?
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IHM,
As you know I'm an atheist, and by that logic, I should've been a fan of INC, right? But I'm not. I don't consider it even the lesser evil. Which party was in rule for more than 50 years to make sure that the majority of Indians remain illiterate, and thus their vote bank remains intact? Which party made red-tapism an unchangeable rule? Which party's divided the country on communal lines by increasing caste-based reservation? Which party talks of equality of religions by giving audacious amount of Haj-subsidy to only practitioners of only one particular religion (if my memory doesn't fail me, even the SC has said that this is unconstitutional). Which party's overburdened the Indian infrastructure by not imposing a restriction on producing babies?
Have you noticed, how easily the caused in Malegaon-blasts have been caught and there's no sight of perpetrators of Godhra train-burning incident (in which more people had died)?
How do you expect such well-planned inaction to not fuel communal tension?
If occurrence of a violent riot is like malaria, plundering a nation for 50 years is like a cancer. Malaria can be cured and subsides in a few days. But cancer, more often than not kills and that too slowly, crippling the patient. Which is the lesser evil? If you want to talk of infrastructure--think which state is doing better than all others? Which is in the pink of health? Gujarat or some other?
Before Narendra Modi had taken over (when INC was in power), Gujarat was doing so badly that all the industries had shifted out of Ahmedabad. And at that point, Maharashtra was at number one position industrially when it was governed by BJP-Shiv Sena combine. Now that the ruling parties have been swapped, positions have also been exchanged. Coincidence? You're from Pune. You know the "load-shedding" situation in Maharashtra. Gujarat is an energy-surplus state. Coincidence?
Which party in spite of being in power for 50 years did not enforce uniform civil code to promote "religious liberty"? Decide what do you find more important?
So, choose VERY wisely. Which is the lesser evil--malaria or cancer? The party that purportedly (by media, of course) INSTIGATED a pogrom against one minority community (in Gujarat), or the one that CARRIED OUT one against another minority community (in 1984) and additionally plundered the nation, and deprived us of 'roti, kapda, makaan, bijli, sadak, paani, Shiksha and swaasthya' for half a century?
TC.
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