The Union Ministry of Home Affairs’
(MHA) Annual Report 2012-13 is out. According to it, there were 668
communal incidents in the country during 2012. A total of 94 lives were
lost and 3,117 people were injured. During 2011, there were 580 communal
incidents reported in which 91 people died and 1,899 people were
injured. The communal violence in Kokrajhar, Chirang and Dhubri
districts in Assam in July-August 2012 had led to 99 killings and
displacement of 4.85 lakh persons to relief camps. In November, the
violence recrudesced in Kokrajhar leading to death of 10 persons.
Under a professedly ‘secular’ UPA Government, the incidents of communal violence remain quite high.
Communal incidents during UPA rule
Sr. No. | Year | Number of communal incidents | Number of deaths | Number of injured persons |
1 | 2012 | 668 | 94 | 3317 |
2 | 2011 | 580 | 91 | 1899 |
3 | 2010 | 701 | 116 | 2138 |
4 | 2009 | 791 | 119 | 2342 |
5 | 2008 | 943 | 167 | 2354 |
6 | 2007 | 761 | 99 | 2227 |
7 | 2006 | 698 | 133 | 2170 |
8 | 2005 | 779 | 124 | 2066 |
(Source: Annual Reports, Ministry of Home Affairs)
The communal situation of India is
prickly and likely to worsen with sharpening imbalances in religious
demography. The UPA, which consistently blames the previous NDA rule as
communal, is now countenancing the reality. Assam, Maharashta,
Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh – Congress-ruled States have witnessed a lot
of communal violence in recent years.
The only thing the UPA Government is
hiding is the devil in the details. Until recently, the MHA annual
reports used to have two additional columns – ‘Hindu-Muslim communal
situation’ and ‘Hindu-Christian communal situation’. The Hindu-Muslim
scenario generally engaged greater attention. The column used to
identify the States where the most number of Hindu-Muslim communal
incidents took place during that year. It also used to identify the
major issues of communal riots. The major issues mentioned used to be —
carrying and slaughtering of cattle, routing religious processions
through mixed localities, construction of religious structures on
disputed lands, playing provocative CDs/cassettes, dispute over
land/property, eve-teasing and personal enmity.
The identity of the offender becomes
evident in the first factor — carrying and slaughtering of cattle — if
not in some of the others as well. This militates against the devious
paradigm of National Advisory Council’s (NAC) ‘Prevention of Communal
and Targetted Violence Bill, 2011’ that presumes only the majority
community can be offender and minority the victim. Thus Hindus can be
declared offenders even if they were trying to save a cow (cow
protection is directive of state policy in the Constitution of India).
In the last two MHA annual reports,
these two columns of Hindu-Muslim and Hindu-Christian incidents have
been omitted. This seems to have been done to help the NAC. Admitting
cow-trafficking/slaughter as one of the major reasons of riots would
have exposed the NAC’s position. NAC wanted us to believe that minority
cannot instigate communal trouble. There were rumours that the NAC’s
controversial Communal Violence Bill might be introduced during the
latter half of the Budget Session.
A long-term study of communal violence
in independent India would show they became a permanent phenomenon after
the 1960s. The graph remained high since the Jubbulpur Riots, 1961. In
1964, there were 1,070 incidents — in 1960 there were only 26. What it
actually shows was that the Muslims, aided by ‘secularist’ friends,
emerging out the post-partition stupor. During the 1950s, the Muslims
generally lay low due to their guilt of having created Pakistan. Their
numbers had depleted and their elite and middle class had migrated to
Pakistan. During the 1960s and 1970s, this Muslim middle class was
slowly being reconstituted. There was a popular belief that education
would make Muslims progressive and content. The results, however, have
shown the opposite.
In those days, there was a spirit of
reprisal amongst Hindus. The Hindu identity had not been shattered by
the rise of casteist politics co-opting Muslims. On May 21, 1970, NN
Jha, India’s representative at the United Nations, had stated that
communal riots in India were very often reactions of that type in
Pakistan. Atrocities on residual Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh have
resurged during the current decade. But the Hindus of India are no
longer actuated by them, nor are present day diplomats courageous enough
to make such statements in the UNO. In the meanwhile, Muslims have
reorganised themselves in India far more powerfully. No wonder one of
their leaders threatened that India could be overrun by Muslims if
police were removed for a mere 15 minutes. The MHA is concealing this
communal reality.
Source : Niti Central
Comments
Post a Comment
Please leave a comment, as it helps us to improve our articles...!