August 17, 1998
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Danse
Macabre Don't let Srikrishna become another Jain. Else Mumbai will never be at peace with itself
Actually, the fault doesn't lie with the Sena alone. The original sin is the politicisation of all commissions of inquiry. If the Sena is guilty of fanning chauvinism today, the United Front was similarly to blame when it called the Jain report "anti-Tamil". Justice M.C. Jain's passing acquaintance with the English language became the excuse for diverting attention from the substance of his work, fanciful as it may have been. Now the entire charade is set to be repeated with Justice Srikrishna. Rather than discuss the lessons of the crazed winter of 1992-93, the Sena and its rivals are exchanging invectives over one individual. The issue is not Thackeray; the issue is dispensing punishment where it is due and enhancing civic security in India's richest metropolis. The Mumbai riots were not just another law and order problem. They were a national shame. As such, it would be in order for the Union Home Ministry to call for the report and supervise any follow-up action itself. Year That Was
Despite the usual fumbling, the inaugural had been propitious. After that it was all downhill. The passion, the energies and the sheer patriotism of the people of India were waiting to be harnessed after that magical August night a year ago. If the government failed to do so, it has only itself to blame. India will remember -- or prefer to forget -- its golden year as one in which legislators broke all vows of decorous behaviour, elections were viciously violent, economic indices sought new depths and Justice M.C. Jain did to judicial investigations what Jack the Ripper did to after-dinner strolls. True, there was the brilliance of Sachin Tendulkar, the scientific success of Pokhran. Yet, all of this may have occurred in any ordinary year. India will leave no distinctive stamp on this special one. Anyhow, tomorrow is another day; there's still 2047 to look forward to. |
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Less than a year after the Jain Commission's first
report became a political football, a similar fate threatens the Srikrishna Commission's
findings. Justice B.N. Srikrishna's inquiry into the post-Babri Masjid violence in Mumbai
-- two bouts of religious bloodletting culminating in the bomb blasts of March 1993 -- has
broadly identified what it considers the culpable factors. It has pointed fingers at,
among others, Bal Thackeray and an allegedly prejudiced city police. It is nobody's case
that the report must please all people. However, what can be expected is a measured
response, especially from the Maharashtra Government. Instead, the Shiv Sena-led regime's
reaction has been little short of hysterical -- and illogical. It has been most selective
in its acceptance of the report. When Srikrishna blames the "effete" Congress
government of the day, the Sena gleefully concurs. When Srikrishna trains his guns on
Thackeray, he becomes "anti-Maharashtra ... and anti-Hindu". 
To recall Jawaharlal Nehru's immortal imagery, in
1947, as the world slept, India awoke to "life and freedom". Over the past 12
months, as the world celebrated the golden jubilee of the epochal event, India slept.
Truly, India has marked the 50th birthday of its independence with an extraordinary
blandness. The rest of the world usually begins such festivities on the 49th anniversary
and takes them to a climax on the 50th. India -- civilisation's eternal contrarion --
decided to be different and commenced the celebrations on the 50th birthday. Initially, it
was sought to be justified in terms of ancient Hindu concepts of chronology. In reality,
the bureaucrats had simply forgotten to plan. This nonchalance has been evident every
single day since August 15, 1997. On that day itself, there was a spontaneity to the
Indians' expression of pride in his or her nation. It was best manifested by A.R. Rahman's
evocative rendering of Ma tujhe salaam, watched and heard by thousands in Delhi and tens
of thousands on television. 
