Grounded in Gujarat

It must be stated in the most unambiguous terms that the 1984 anti-Sikh riots were a terrible blot on our democracy, and deeply regretted by every right thinking Indian.

Equally, those guilty of instigating the violence in 1984 should be awarded the most stringent and exemplary punishment.

Indeed, the NDA government has been in power for the past few years, and it would be illuminating for the citizens of India to know what steps exactly have been taken by it, or Jaitly8217;s Samata Party in particular, to speed up the proceedings of the Nanavati Commission, or to bring to book the guilty.

A statement of the action taken by the NDA government in this regard would have been far more convincing than the synthetic outrage now sought to be displayed over what happened in 1984.

Particularly galling for the victims of the 1984 riots would have been the writer8217;s unfortunate clubbing of the Nanavati Commission with the Venkataswami Commission enquiring into the Tehelka scandal.

It is but natural that Jaitly8217;s every waking thought should be about the Tehelka expose, since the entire nation witnessed in glorious technicolour how 8220;money for the party8221; is given and received 8212; and we await with breathless interest the outcome of complicated forensic experiments that will prove wrong the evidence of our own eyes.

Nevertheless, Jaitly could have displayed a little more sensitivity before juxtaposing the terrible suffering of the riot victims of 1984 with the sordid incidents exposed by Tehelka.

In any event, howsoever loud Jaitly8217;s protestations of 8220;tape fixing8221;, the BJP for one appears to have no doubts about the authenticity of the tapes. If not, why should they have removed their own party president, Bangaru Laxman, from his post, denied him a Rajya Sabha seat, and even failed to invite him to their national executive meet?

Meanwhile, the relentless downward spiral into barbaric victimisation of helpless civilians in Gujarat, and the shameful strutting around of Hindutva8217;s new, and self-anointed, cowboy Narendra Modi continue side by side, as the BJP attempts to brazen out state sponsored genocide by trying to project it as resurgent Hindutva, and parlaying corpses for electoral gain.

The prime minister flew to Gujarat to further humiliate the people by keeping the very perpetrator of all the violence next to him, as he worried about 8220;what face he would show abroad8221; after the Gujarat incidents.

As well he might, for though it took him 37 days to visit Gujarat for a few hours, he quickly found whatever face he could, and took it with him to appear in holiday attire in the botanical gardens at Singapore and Cambodia.

Nobody appears to know or care anymore what the stand of the Samata Party is.

Quite simply, it is difficult to keep track of a party that has as many opinions as members. Jaitly8217;s party first demanded Modi8217;s resignation, and thereafter for all too obvious reasons retracted the demand.

Her own spokesperson, Shambu Srivatsava, resigned from the party in the process. He probably failed to appreciate the relative merits of George Fernandes continuing as defence minister, versus the Samata Party taking a stand on principle.

The BJP has outdone itself in Goa. If the prime minister8217;s distasteful attack on Islam left us speechless, the resolution of the BJP National Executive directing Modi to dissolve the assembly and call elections can be characterised as nothing less than deliberately instigating, and thereafter wading through a bloodbath for narrow electoral gain.

There are still decent people left in this country, and their blood froze at the stark TV images of the top leadership of the BJP, including the so called young and moderate ones, grinning and joking with Modi, as if carnage was not still continuing in Gujarat.

There appeared to be not a shred of seriousness or remorse at the worst bloodshed this country has witnessed in recent memory, and the most significant outcome of the ruling party8217;s conclave was the decision to hold elections over the dead bodies of those who have died in the communal strife.

Even the governor of Gujarat, Sundar Singh Bhandari, who is as hardcore an RSS man as you can hope to find, is unhappy with the chief minister8217;s lack of interest in relief and rehabilitation.

But the allies of the BJP remain unmoved. They have taken expediency to new depths. Today, the BJP stands exposed in its true colours, as propagator of a false, unnatural and exploitative brand of what it calls Hindutva.

The virulence of this propaganda of hate is matched only by their determination to cling to power, no matter what the cost, be it supporting the BSP in Uttar Pradesh or anything in the world that will save their government.

The NDA allies, however, do not even have the basic integrity to withdraw support in the wake of the BJP8217;s obduracy in retaining Modi.

And while other allies like the TDP are at least wringing their hands and making politically correct but ineffective noises, the Samata Party cannot agree even within itself on what stand to take.

Thus, while one section gave Modi a clean chit, the Samata Party spokesperson resigned over this very issue.

In these circumstances, it ill behoves Jaitly to make value judgements about the Congress Party. Jaitly8217;s observation that 8220;the greatest beneficiary of all this was Sonia Gandhi8217;s late husband whose party won more than 400 seats in the ensuing elections8221;, while speaking about the aftermath of the 1984 riots, is highly insensitive.

It would be easy to answer her in like vein by pointing out that in Punjab, and in the very same Delhi that she writes about, the Congress swept to power in the recent elections; but the compulsions of political sensitivity dictate restraint.

Jaya Jaitly has publicly called upon the BJP not to 8220;succumb to the temptation to benefit electorally out of violence and mayhem8221;. Sadly for her, the BJP8217;s National Council and Prime Minister Vajpayee disagreed with her and decided to do just the opposite.

It will be interesting to see how the Samata Party wriggles out of this one.

The writer is a leader of the Tamil Maanila Congress and a former Union minister