On Communal Carnage in Gujarat

The 17th Congress of the CPI(M) expresses its deep concern at the continuing violence against the Muslim community in Gujarat, violence that exposes the self-serving claims of the Central and State Governments that the situation is "under control". The 17th Congress of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the communal attack on February 27th on the karsevaks traveling back from Ayodhya. The cruel burning of the railway carriage of the Sabarmati Express in Godhra in which 58 passengers including women and children were burnt to death shocked and angered the entire nation. It is absolutely essential that the criminals behind this dastardly act be swiftly identified, arrested and punished. The 17th Congress of the CPI(M) states that the violence in Gujarat is State-sponsored communal carnage that targets the Muslim community as part of the fascistic project of the establishment of Hindu rashtra. Under the directions of Chief Minister Narendra Mody there was a deliberate delay in deployment of the army to control the situation, the olice remained silent spectators or direct participants in the communal attacks. It rejects the cynical justification of the Central and State Government that the events after February 27th were a "reaction" to the Godhra atrocity. It was the VHP that organized and led mobs that butchered innocent people, including women and children. It was these mobs that burnt, looted and plundered properties owned by Muslims, that destroyed places of worship in a bid to destroy all visual symbols of Muslim religious identity. The terror is designed to subordinate the community, and the loot and arson to break its economic spine -- the savage message is that an entire community can henceforth live only as second-class citizens. Gujarat is a State where Muslims constitute an important component of the trading, commercial and hotel and restaurant sectors. The VHP, representing the interests of rival Hindu businesses, began a communal campaign conducted through provocative leaflets, posters and published lists of Muslim-owned properties calling for an economic boycott of the Muslim community, well before the Godhra incident. It is no coincidence at all that more than 700 hotels and restaurants, all owned by Muslims, were destroyed by rampaging mobs after Godhra. Land owned by Muslims in rural Gujarat is in danger of being taken over by propertied Hindus. Tragically, sections of the adivasi community, themselves victims of upper-caste Hindu discrimination and oppression, who have been fed continuously on an RSS-VHP diet of hatred against minority communities, both Christian and Muslim, are being used in the current phase of violence as a spearhead of attacks on Muslims in villages. There is a complete subversion of the rule of law. Far from arresting criminals, the Police do not even register complaints that name ruling-party and VHP leaders. Victims have little hope of compensation as there is a deliberate move by the Government to understate the number of those killed as well as the extent of property damaged. The 17th Congress of the CPI(M) protests against the callous disregard by the Government of the more than 100,000 people who are in relief camps today. They live in trauma and grief, in unsanitary conditions, and dependent mainly on relief from people of good will. The 17th Congress of the CPI(M) commends the selfless work of numerous community groups, voluntary organizations and the Citizens Initiative in the relief camps. There are inspiring examples of courage, situations in which individuals have stood up to the rampaging mobs and saved their neighbours. There are disturbing reports that many such people are now being targeted by Hindutva forces. Gujarat today is in a state of constitutional breakdown. The Government has no right to continue in office. The 17th Congress of the CPI(M) demands that the Chief Minister be immediately be removed from office. It demands that the army be deployed in all sensitive areas. The 17th Congress of the CPI(M) calls upon the entire party to mount a powerful campaign all over the country to save Gujarat from the communal-fascist forces of the VHP and Sangh Parivar and in defence of the rights of minority communities that are guaranteed by the Constitution of India.