Rewind to Feb 27, 2002, when the news had just started to filter in about 2 compartments of the Sabarmati express (ironically still the lone wolf amongst the east-north trains to chug along as poorly as possible) catching fire, with passengers trapped inside. In a few hours, tempers flared when the media hinted at a conspiracy behind the attacks, and it came to a boil when the preliminary verdict was out- Somebody had set 2 train compartments, carrying kar sevaks returning from Ayodhya, on fire, dousing it with kerosene and letting children and women among others burn to a painful and slow death.
This blot on our history and its aftermath is what has come to be known as 'Godhra riots'. Recall that this was pretty much an isolated incident which came out of the blue. The last major riots happened 9 years pre-Godhra, when an insidious crowd gathered at Ayodhya had brought the Babri Masjid crashing to the ground. Godhra was adorned with one travesty after the other and one human right violation decked upon another. Hindus and Muslims went berserk, with rape, arson and murders leaving hundreds dead and a state scarred forever.
While the then PM, Atal Behari Vajpayee, acknowledged the malfunctioning of the state machinery during the incident and the opposition cried hoarse at the alleged support to communal violence, the government did what it does best, set up an inquiry commission. So while the Nanavati commission set up by the Gujarat government concluded that the fire that started it all was a result of a pre-planned conspiracy by anti-social elements, the Banerjee committee which completed its inquiry in the UPA-I period claimed the fire to be accidental.
Cut to 2011, and the trial court in Sabarmati jail has acknowledged that it was indeed a pre-planned conspiracy with the malicious intent of flaring up communal violence, and indicted 31 to be accomplice in the abhorrent acts. The big question remains: Who has been vindicated by this entire episode? The common man in Gujarat, who while enjoying the spoils of rapid economic growth still harbors the memories of what transpired 9 years ago? The families of the victims, both Hindus and Muslims, who will remain in misery no matter what judgement is pronounced? The country as a whole, which has a terrible record of communal violence and religious intolerance in 64 years post-independence?
This question is not about the political parties or commissions, nor is it about the quantum of sentence the judiciary would deem suitable for these inhuman acts. It is about the nature of our country as a whole, which needs to become stronger than ever under the fabric of social and religious harmony. We already have enough troubles at our hands, in the form of treacherous neighbors and foreign and in-bred terrorism. Religion is practised best in peace, not in violence. The respect towards each other's religion is what brought the Indian freedom movement to fruition 64 years ago. The best we, the future of India, can do is to trust each other's instincts and practice tolerance. The youth is already moving forward in that direction, and it can be hoped that the change would be irreversible. At the same time, the polity needs to stop planting seeds of identity politics in our masses. Controversial statements and one-sided development schemes do not benefit anybody in the long term. Parties can lose elections based on religious politics, as evidenced by NDA's shocking loss in 2004, as well as supersede the past as evidenced in both Gujarat and Bihar state assembly polls.
To quote Tagore, bigotry tries to keep truth safe in its hand with a grip that kills it.
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