The gathering storm

The Vasundhara Raje government in Rajasthan has just lifted the ban on the distribution, acquisition and carrying of trishuls imposed by the...

The Vasundhara Raje government in Rajasthan has just lifted the ban on the distribution, acquisition and carrying of trishuls imposed by the erstwhile Congress Government in April last year. The fact that the ban was lifted on August 16, which is two days after the VHP announced the resumption of the 8216;trishul diksha8217; programme, speaks volumes on the government8217;s support to the VHP.

On August 15, a day before the ban was lifted and the day the chief minister promised the people of Rajasthan that she would make the government 8220;transparent, accountable and responsive8221;, activists of the VHP distributed as many as 359 trishuls in various parts of the state with no police action ordered against them by the government. According to media reports, BJP MLAs and local leaders also participated in some of these programmes.

Can the BJP government deny that the revoking of the ban on trishuls will result in an increase in the incidence of communal violence in the state? Remember Gujarat? The regions where trishuls were distributed in large numbers saw the worst incidents of killing. This is because 8216;trishul diksha8217; programmes are usually accompanied by strident anti-minority speeches, which naturally encourages the recipients of trishuls to make use of the weapon to 8220;defend8221; their religion. Often, the trishuls themselves are used as weapons of attack. In the anti-Christian violence in Dangs district in Gujarat in 8217;98-8217;99, the mobs had attacked Christians with precisely such weapons.

Besides the lifting the ban on trishuls, the Rajasthan government gave orders to withdraw 122 cases related to communal clashes last month. According to a media report, the Rajasthan government on July 9 withdrew five cases registered against 100 Sangh activists for damaging 49 houses belonging to Muslims in Kalinjara in Banswara district on September 9, 2002. Whereas, the one case that was against seven Muslims in the same incident has not been withdrawn. To top it all, the trials had already been held in the cases withdrawn by the government.

All this has contributed to the communal situation in the state deteriorating considerably. It has lent a sectarian edge to even the most pedestrian disagreements. In Sarada town in Udaipur district, for instance, a quarrel between two shopkeepers belonging to two different communities quickly turned into a clash between tribals and Muslims on July 28.

This is a extremely disturbing trend. We have already gone through the experience of Gujarat. We cannot afford to have such violence revisit us again. Rajasthan must not become another Gujarat.