“Sir, aap pichhe kyun beth rahein
hein… Aaage baithiye… accha lagega (Sir, why are you sitting in the rear seat…
sit in front… you will enjoy the ride…) said a very warm and friendly voice… I turned
around to find Zakir bhai’s friendly face beaming at me with the rising sun… Zakir
Bhai is one of the many drivers in our hospital and has especially grown fond
of me during our brief conversation when he dropped me at the railway station
during my last visit to our Anand hospital…
I was supposed to go to Ahmedabad
today for a meeting with a NGO on some official work and needed to start early
from the hospital to be able to make it in time…
We took the National Expressway 1
and were soon zooming and zipping past to what seems to be a flurry of trees
and passing vehicles… we remarked on how cold it has gotten this time of the
year and were comparing temperature from my last visit in Jan, 2013. Soon discussion
veered towards the poster boy of Gujarat and soon to become the “power to be”
in the world’s largest democracy.
Zakir Bhai talked with a glazed
look staring blankly ahead reminiscing of the fateful day in 2002 which changed
the entire socio-politico religious dynamics of the state. The state led massacre of thousands of innocent
people and the brazenness with which it was done has left most of the people
from the given community shattered and has broken their collective self-esteem
and a belief in themselves to prosper in “vibrant Gujarat”.
Zakir Bhai recounted, with a sense
of helplessness, on how jobs have dried up for the Muslim youth and how the
secret unwritten code for recruitment especially in the public services realm has been to not recruit Muslims. Unemployed youth,
in an ever materially prospering state which does not hesitate to boast of its
material gains, gradually become frustrated and disillusioned with a system
which for them is no longer “ours” but has become “theirs”.
Post riots were a difficult time
especially for Muslims who were a minority in many villages and hamlets of
Gujarat. Large settlements and ghettos of Muslim have been seen to be predominantly
untouched in times of communal tension and unrest. This has, sadly, served as a
really negative example for many a Muslim household to follow suit and thus universalise
the mentality of “ghettoization” following the state sponsored fear psychosis.
After the aftermath of the riot,
many a Muslim organisation came to Gujarat to provide relief, support and
succour to the wounded body, mind and confidences of the community at large. One
such organisation from Delhi, he recounts, while working with the riot victims,
came to shockingly know the fact that at some places the community does not
actually want to be re-settled back in the villages as they fear that they will
ultimately be consumed by the fire of hatred that has been ignited in the minds
of the majority community after Godhra. Following such revelation, the organisation
proceeded to purchase plots of land at the outskirt of the city and constructed
house, ensured all civic amenities was provide for and in the process actually created a ghetto for their brethren!
The fault line and deep chasm
seen in Gujarat is irreparable and one is but shaken at the audacity with which
the state carries itself both overtly and covertly. The poster boy of BJP in
Gujarat, recounted Zakir Bhai, while addressing a rally in a “Hindu”
stronghold, unaware of Muslim audience (or was it intentional!) said that the
Hindus need to ensure that Muslims are kept “under their shoes” and never be
allowed to raise their head again. As his voice boomed at the rally and as the
news of the vitriolic message traveled to many villages and hamlets nearby,
the Muslim community panicked and quite a few of them fled to migrate to
ghettos for the safety of themselves and their family.
As I sat, listening to Zakir Bhai
and his tells of misery, of how Muslim women are treated in times of riot and
how the community is ridiculed during their festivities, i clearly saw an organised
effort to systematically decimate a community – not physically but
psychologically and mentally with clinical precision; I shuddered with horror
of what will happen to the nation when such divisive forces are at the helm of affair
of this country and take over the reins of governance of world’s largest
democracy.
For a moment I just closed my
eyes shutting out the voice of Zakir Bhai thinking of yelling at him to stop
the narration… I imagined the impression of my beloved country with its ideal
of encouraging pluralism, secularism and tolerance, where each Indian by nature
is warm, friendly and tolerant of each other’s failings, idiosyncrasies and
hypocrisy, of how we are this big melting pot of all culture and civilisation
which has assimilated all foreign culture (coming either through invasion or
through travellers, traders etc) in to the main stream culture and helped them
assume an identity which added more vibrancy to our overall Indianness… and
each time India has emerged as a strong nation.
I also imagined of how as a child
in my school I would stand shoulder to shoulder proudly with other children (of Hindus, Muslims and Christians…
did it matter!) to sing the national anthem with goose bumps all over me, how
at that moment I stood tall proud to be an Indian… then and every time.. of how
I would attend the various pujas and visit pandals during festivals getting blessed
and in turn inviting friends at home to celebrate Eid and Bakrid, how as a
teenager all of us visited the Jagannath temple with my friends disguising me
with a Hindu name and what fun we had!
Are all this ideal going to be
defeated because of the rise of intolerance and vested political interest vying
for votes which will give them power to rule… has the NAMO effect become so powerful
that one day it is going to eliminate the one big thing that all of us take
pride in – being a part of the world’s largest secular, democratic country with
so much differences that the even the English were confident that the concept
of India as a nation is so ludicrous that it will crumble to dust once they left the shore
of the country post-independence?
Suddenly I was brought to my present
state to what Zakir Bhai was telling me…
“Lekin sir, hamara gaon ke log aise nahin hein… Hum 30-40 Muslim family
hein aur baaki sab (400 families) Hindu hein.. Lkein hamare andar Bhaichaara abhi
bhi hey… Hamare doston, jin logon ke sath hum bade huein, woh humein apna bhai
maante hein.. hum unke mata pita ko apne Abu are Ami ka darza dete hein… Hum
sablok milke saare tyohar manatein hein aur yeh humein kabhibhi pata nahin
chalta ke bahaar Gujarat ke doosre
jgahon mein Muslim aur Hindu ke bich mein itna jhamela hey (But Sir, it is not
the same sitiation back at my village… we are 30-40 Muslim family in a village
of around 400 Hindu families. But we
have preserved the atmosphere of brotherhood amongst us. Our friends with whom
we have grown up consider ourselves as their own brother and we also consider
their parents as our Abu and Ami. All of us get together to celebrate each other’s
festival and have lot of fun together… while in our village, we never get a
sense of how difficult life is in other places of Gujarat for Muslims due to the
tension between the two communities).
As a smile returned on the tense
face of Zakir Bhai narrating tale s of love and togtherness in time of strife, I suddenly felt my doubts and tension dissipating… in Zakir
Bhai’s concluding tale I found the flicker of hope that has kept this proud
nation going even after bearing ravages and scars of history.
And what does this flicker of
hope tells us during this uncertain time when the 2nd largest community
in the country is in a state of fear and apprehension of what will happen in
2014 when India elects its future leadership. Would the divisive, intolerant and
communal forces take up the reins of power? Would the hopes and aspiration of
the minority in this country find an outlet for expression? Or would it be a repeat
of 1947 when many fled / were made to flee their homeland to contribute to the
concept of “nation as a ghetto”?
The flicker of hope tells us that
we the people would prevail, that we would stand strong against this divisive
force which comes from within us and not outside, that we would win the war
with love and tolerance as our forefathers have done and more importantly show
these forces their place in the history where they ultimately belong.
