[nukkad] Gujarat

["Mahesh chandra gupta" <>]

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Bhavin Bhatt was kind to send me IG Patel's views about Gujarat. 
Patel lives in Baroda. He was Director, LSE and Governor, RBI. 
Bhavin wrote he was not sending to the list because it is long. 
Nice of him. But, when a person with Patel's credentials speaks, 
he deserves to be listened. I am taking the liberty to send the 
views to the list.

MC Gupta
=========================================================

I G Patel, former governor of the Reserve Bank of India and former 
director
of the London School of Economics

[He  lives in Baroda. He spoke to Sheela Bhatt. ]


This is absolutely not Gujarat's culture. Whatever has happened in 
Gujarat
is a perversion of whatever we have taken pride in so far. I am 
77. I was
raised in a different world. My mother's best friend was Bhuri 
Masi. She was
a Muslim. Both shared their common, ordinary concerns. Bhuri Masi 
used to
get goat milk to our home. She took me to see the taziya three, 
four times.
She would even request my mother to keep a fast for her child! 
Behind our
house we had some spare rooms. We had given one of the rooms to a 
Muslim
family. They cooked non-vegetarian food. But that was okay. What 
is wrong
about it?

E To Kevo Gujarati
Je hoi keval Gujarati?
(What kind of a Gujarati is he who is merely a Gujarati?)

These lines were written by a great Gujarati poet, Umashankar 
Joshi.

In the 1950s, when I went to America I was at a loss. I missed my 
language.
I wrote to a friend to send me some Gujarati reading material. He 
sent me a
Diwali issue of some magazine. I don't recall the writer's name, 
but the
article dealt with the idea of Gujarati identity (Gujarati ni 
asmita). The
writer said a Gujarati has that quality which helps him realise a 
dream,
which others think are impossible. He went on to give four 
examples:
Dadabhai Navroji was the first to dream of Hind Swaraj.
Jamshetji Nusserwanji Tata dreamt that India could become an 
industrial
power.

Gandhiji dreamt we could achieve independence through 
non-violence.
Mohammed Ali Jinnah dreamt he could create Pakistan.
You may not agree with Jinnah, but you can't deny that he achieved 
something
that seemed impossible to others. It is important to note that in 
this list
two are Parsis, one Muslim and one a Gujarati Hindu. That was 
Gujarat! And
that was how it got identified 50 years ago.

What has happened is not just a communal riot. Make no mistake, it 
is not
ordinary. It is unpardonable. I condemn what happened in Godhra. 
It was
horrible. But what happened after Godhra was not just a reaction. 
The riots
were converted into opposition of Muslims. The hatred was 
delivered by the
Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and young leaders of the BJP.
These were planned riots. I saw it in Baroda, but it was more so 
in
Ahmedabad. Of a cluster of 25 shops one shop was identified as 
belonging to
a Muslim. Hindu girls married to Muslims were targeted. These 
riots were led
by thugs, who were given money and alcohol, and it went on with 
the
government's connivance. One has to fight this attitude of running 
down a
whole community. When people kill others in this manner, how is it 
different
 from fascism?

I believe the VHP gets its money power from abroad. People who 
have gone
abroad feel guilty. They have made money, but they miss their 
native place.
They feel they have not done enough for their country. Abroad, 
this class
has fallen prey to VHP propaganda. I have seen in London, Canada, 
and
America that the VHP has more influence than it does in India. 
NRIs give
money to the VHP with both hands. I earnestly request NRIs not to 
donate
money to spread hatred in India, neither to the VHP nor to 
Islamic
fundamentalists.

Feel for your country. This country needs your donations. But give 
it to set
up an industry or colleges. Don't give it to people who propagate 
hatred.
I fail to read the minds behind violence. The way women were 
ill-treated and
abused is difficult to understand. Maybe it was a reaction to 
Godhra;
perhaps they thought that if they burnt our women and children, 
let us burn
their children and women.

The second could be that we Indians have a historical streak of 
violence.
The rioters didn't just attack; their suppressed feelings came out 
too. I
also think the BJP's propaganda has taken hold of Gujarat. The NRI 
sense of
guilt and their money has added to it. Rich Gujaratis wanted to 
help a
religious Hindu party. They could see around 100 Muslim countries 
united and
that we are the only Hindu country. People who are uprooted wanted 
to see a
united India.

Another reason for the current situation is that there are too 
many sins of
the Congress. The Congress experimented with KHAM
(Kshatriya-Harijan-Adivasi-Muslim) in Gujarat. Vast numbers of 
Gujaratis
like Baniyas and Patels felt left out. They saw no chance to move 
ahead. The
Congress philosophy of KHAM divided Gujarat and took Patels and 
Baniyas to
the other extreme. They went to the Bharatiya Janata Party and 
accepted its
political line.

The Congress pampered and appeased Muslims no end. The BJP took a 
stand
against Muslims to sell their party. From Shah Bano to the 
shilanyas, there
are many sins of the Congress. And the BJP took advantage of them. 
As a
result, Gujarat is divided today.

Today the Muslims are hit. Tomorrow Jains and Christians may be 
targeted.
The VHP might allege that rich Jains are the Jews of India! They 
may ask the
Jains to call themselves Jain Hindus because they are converts. 
Today Jains
are a major support to the VHP. Next we will be attacked by those 
who are
trying to protect our asmita. This is sinister. It will bring down 
the
country. I am sure that in Gujarat too, the reaction to this 
violence will
come.

To call Chief Minister Narendra Modi Chhote Sardar is an insult to 
that
great man [Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel]. The Sardar was misunderstood 
by the
Leftists and others, but he was truly a great man.

As a Gujarati I am ashamed and feel humiliated. When I think of 
the riots I
keep saying that my countrymen can't do this, my people can't do 
it. I hope
slowly we realise that we did wrong. When I visited relief camps, 
I found
people like you and me. Ordinary, decent people. They are just 
like us. I
feel a majority of Hindus and Muslims are decent people. We are 
not like
this. There are plenty of people who talk sense in Gujarat.

What worries me is another matter. Due to globalisation or 
whatever reason
there are people who are well-settled and have become very 
materialistic.
They did not maintain decency even when they went to loot stores 
in their
cars. They value only one thing -- money. What is lower than that? 
The
materialism of our people is more worrying than communalism.




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