Inconvenient Truths: The reality of Muzaffarnagar is far away from the political battleground. Even today, several weeks after the riots, hundreds of families are living in wretched conditions in relief camps, too scared to return to their homes. Their plight, in a sense, is no different to any victim of communal violence: then whether you travel to the outskirts of Ahmedabad to Citizen Nagar to meet 2002 riot victims living next to a garbage dump, or to the overflowing drains of Tilak Vihar area of Tilak Nagar where the widows of 1984 live, or the makeshift homes for Kashmiri Pandit families in Jammu, the one common factor that binds these groups is the fact that their condition represents the utter failure of the Indian state to uphold the rule of law. This is not about being Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus: it is about a society that doesnt protect and provide justice to its own. Has Narendra Modi ever even visited Citizen Nagar, or does it simply fall off the map of Vibrant Gujarat? Has Rahul Gandhi fought for justice for the widows of Tilak Vihar? Will Omar Abdullah provide the healing touch to Kashmiri Pandits? And will Akhileshs government provide a sense of security to Muzaffarnagars homeless? Perhaps, these questions will never be raised because no political party can emerge with clean hands on the issue of rehabilitating victims of mass violence. Instead, we will engage in a zero sum high decibel game of 1984 versus 2002. So much easier than facing inconvenient truths.
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 11:16:42 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015