Stoking up hatred

At a rally in Shivajinagar Stadium, in Bangalore on January 19, organised by Jaffer Sharief's Peoples Front to protest against Saddam Hussein's execution. More than 10,000 people took part in it.-AIJAZ RAHI/AP

The recent incidents in Bangalore expose the hollowness of the Janata Dal government's claims of principled adherence to secularism.

THE communal riots that broke out in a few pockets of central Bangalore last fortnight have already been forgotten by all but those who were caught in the turmoil. For the riot victims recovering from their injuries in Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital in the city, however, the memories and injustice of it are all too sharp. Mostly from the minority Muslim community, many of them still have members of their families in jail, all have lost property and suffered business losses. As late as January 25, four days after the worst of the rioting, nearly 400 people - both Hindu and Muslim - were in jail, although only 110 had been produced before the courts.

The riots engulfed the Bharatinagar, Frazer Town and Shivajinagar police station limits of the city - areas where a large concentration of Muslims live and dominate commercial activities. The first round of clashes took place on January 19 during a day of protests called by former Congress leader Jaffer Sharief's newly formed Peoples Front against the execution of Saddam Hussein. As a phalanx of political leaders were addressing an evening rally in Shivajinagar Stadium, people taking part in processions turned unruly, destroying police vehicles, wrecking homes, setting fire to shops and beating up people.

Communal tensions were already scaling up in the city as for several weeks it had been festooned with provocative posters announcing the many Virat Hindu Samajotsava meetings to be held on January 21. Virtually no part of Bangalore was free of Samajotsava buntings, banners and flags. The Samajotsavas are part of the Sangh Parivar's celebrations of the birth centenary of Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) leader M.S. Golwalkar.

The clashes on January 19 were set off when Peoples Front supporters tore down Samajotsava banners and flags, thus provoking Sangh Parivar supporters. Seppings Road, Thambuchetty Road, Kamaraj Road, Thimmaiah Road and Narayan Chetty Street bore the brunt of the violence. Several police constables suffered injuries in the violence.

Stronger retaliatory violence came two days later from Sangh Parivar activists during the shobha yatras (processions) that were held in the five venues in the city where the Samajotsava meetings were to be held. Processions of youth carrying flags and shouting slogans went berserk as they passed through areas that had seen clashes the previous day. Attacks by militant Hindu youth were first reported from near Adarsha Theatre in Ulsoor and soon spread to Kamaraj Road and Thimmaiah Road. Houses, shops and showrooms were ransacked. Shops selling meat and chicken were gutted. Rioters armed with sticks and rods moved from lane to lane dodging the police.

Nearly 40 vehicles, including Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses, were torched. The police opened fire, killing an 11-year-old boy later identified as Faizal, an orphan child worker. More than 70 persons were injured.

The decision by the police to allow the Samajotsava organisers to take out processions in areas that had already seen communal violence was directly responsible for the second round of riots. The areas through which the shobha yatris moved are densely populated by-lanes in which homes and shops stand cheek by jowl. Effective policing, especially during riots, becomes near impossible, and rioters can easily gain the upper hand.

While all this was going on, the main conventions of the Samajotsava, attended in the thousands, were being held at Malleswaram, Ulsoor and Thyagarajanagar. Smaller conventions were held at several other venues. Organised mainly by the RSS, the meetings were addressed by RSS leaders and the heads of various Hindu religious entities such as the Ramakrishna, Kolada and Shivapuri Mutts. The speeches focussed on the need to unify Hindus. There were calls for laws against conversion, and some speakers also drew attention to the need to shun untouchability and casteism. The thread running through all the speeches, conveyed through scarcely veiled threats, was the perceived "threat" from minorities, particularly Muslims, and the alleged links of the Muslim community with terrorism.

The deterioration of the communal climate in Karnataka is due undoubtedly to the enabling atmosphere that a Bharatiya Janata Party government in power, even as a coalition partner, provides. The government dared not ban the Samajotsavas or even the shobha yatras despite the tinderbox-like situation that prevailed in the areas through which the procession routes were planned. The H.D. Kumaraswamy-led coalition government is approaching the completion of its first year in power and has the dubious distinction of having presided over two communal riots - the first in Mangalore district and the second in Bangalore. Mangalore and Udupi districts are Sangh Parivar strongholds, and the riots were fuelled by strong Hindutva support. In Bangalore, the riots would never have taken place had the government taken firm, if unpopular, steps to prevent potentially explosive processions and meetings from taking place. The rally organised by the Peoples Front was more a political show of strength by Jaffer Sharief than a genuine expression of anger against the execution of Saddam Hussein.

The Congress has used the Bangalore communal violence to attack the secular credentials of the coalition in power while absolving Sharief of playing a game of dangerous brinkmanship. The ruling coalition has mooted the idea of disallowing all processions - a move that could be used to stifle genuine democratic dissent.

A new feature of communal violence is its deliberate localisation in geographically small and contained areas where minority populations live. Rioting takes place even as it is business as usual for the rest of the city. This results in a curious isolation of violence, and of the victims of violence, whose voices are heard only for as long as the riot makes front-page news in the media.

The repeated claims made by the ruling Janata Dal (Secular) of its principled adherence to secularism are up against its practice. Not only was the government unable to prevent two major communal riots, but the impartiality of its police force is questionable. The recent decision by the government to go back on its order to provide eggs in the noon meal scheme for schoolchildren shows that it would rather appease the obscurantist demands of its ally than enhance the nutrition of poor children. This is seen as yet another example of the ruling party's concession to communal and religious pressure.