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Journalism of Courage
Sudhakar Naik or Sushil Kumar Shinde, Chhagan Bhujbal or Babanrao Pachpute, 1993 or 2003 8212; the only difference is in names and dates. Otherwise, it8217;s the same old Congress culture of 8216;8216;leave-things-alone-till-they-explode8217;8217;. The BJP has started a systematic programme of maha-aartis in Mumbai as per its announcement immediately after the August 25 bomb blasts. These public ceremonies are achieving their declared aims: Organising Hindus against the ruling Congress-NCP government and against 8216;8216;terrorism8217;8217; read 8216;8216;Muslims8217;8217;. Maha-aartis are laying the ground for violence.
So is the Maharashtra government doing anything to prevent this threat to law and order? Has it banned maha-aartis? Has the police arrested any of the organisers under Section 153 A promoting communal enmity? Mumbai8217;s citizens know only too well what maha-aartis are all about. Barely had their city emerged from six days of the worst communal violence it had ever seen, in the wake of the demolition of the Babri Masjid, that the RSS decided the situation was ripe to start its campaign of 8216;8216;maha-aartis8217;8217;. These were aartis performed on the road outside never inside temples, accompanied by anti-Muslim speeches. They were ostensibly meant to pressurise the then Congress government into stopping Friday afternoon namaaz on the roads which allegedly blocked traffic, and stopping the calling out of azaan on loudspeakers. The RSS roped in the Shiv Sena for the campaign.
Within eight days, violence again broke out in Mumbai, but the maha-aartis went on in full swing because the police classified them as 8216;8216;religious functions8217;8217;, exempt from ban orders. The Srikrishna Commission was told that by January 7 1993, a Confidential Source Report had alerted the police about the possibility of 8216;8216;Shiv Sainiks returning from maha-aartis attacking Muslim properties8217;8217;. As the commission found out, even Muslim lives were lost as a direct result of this campaign led by heavyweights Ram Naik, Manohar Joshi, Kirit Somaiya, Pramod Navalkar.
Today, as Somaiya with Gopinath Munde, Uddhav Thackeray and Narayan Rane leads a political campaign, the government cannot even hide behind the fig leaf of 8216;8216;religious function8217;8217; to explain its inactivity. The explanation is obvious. Can Shinde forget that the Shiv Sena chose not to oppose him in his crucial by-election to qualify as CM? Can Bhujbal forget his Sena roots?
