New Delhi, September 18: Minority leaders today branded Narendra Modi’s fast for harmony a “drama in desperation” and said the victims of the 2002 Gujarat violence wanted “justice”, not “apology”, from the chief minister.
“He is a murderer of so many innocent people in Gujarat. Muslims want justice and not an apology…. How can state-sponsored genocide be a mistake?” said a member of the country’s oldest Islamic seminary, Dar-ul Uloom Deoband.
The angry response came a day after an open letter from Modi referred to “genuine mistakes during the last 10 years” that some construed as the closest he had come to apologising for the 2002 pogrom that claimed over a thousand lives.
The seminary official said the institution would soon issue a statement to make “common Muslims aware about Modi’s sinister design. We can well imagine what he can do if he becomes Prime Minister.”
The seminary was in the news early this year after then VC Ghulam Mohammed Vastanvi’s alleged praise for Modi and advice to Muslims not to live in the past.
Vastanvi, who said Gujarat is developing, was not available for comment, but his son, Maulana Uwais Vastanvi, said: “My father… has nothing to do with Narendra Modi and his government. He does not want to talk to the media on the issue.”
Justice Rajinder Sachar, who headed a committee that was set up to look into socio-economic problems of minorities, said the riot had left a “scar and its permanent” mark. “What is this apology all about?”
The retired judge said the “sense of insecurity” was still there even nine years on. “Many people who were rendered homeless are still displaced now and have not returned to their villages. The government has not done anything on that front,” he told The Telegraph.
The Sachar panel had made several recommendations to the Gujarat government, including proper rehabilitation of riot victims and educational benefits through scholarships. “Till date, the Gujarat government has not started providing scholarship to Muslim students,” he said.
All India Muslim Personal Law Board member Kamal Farooqui said Modi was trying to polarise people.
“His Sadbhavna mission is a… calculated move towards an image makeover. The Supreme Court has not given a clean chit to him but he and the BJP hastened to announce victory. But later Modi realised that the court’s ruling was like temporary relief… and this is why he started this nautanki (drama) in desperation,” Farooqui said.
The matter, he added, was still in court. “Muslims want justice and punishment for the man who killed so many people.”
According to 2001 figures, Gujarat has 4.59 million Muslims, about 9.1 per cent of the state’s population of 50.67 million. Of the 37 MPs from Gujarat — 26 in the Lok Sabha and 11 in the Rajya Sabha — only one Muslim, Ahmed Patel, represents the state.
Zafarul Islam Khan, working president of the All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat, also slammed Modi’s fast as a “nautanki” and said he was trying to keep the Hindu-Muslim divide open in Gujarat. “He is a very ambitious man and dreaming high. Considering that the UPA government is in bad shape, he and the BJP are trying to rejuvenate their supporters through his nautanki.”
Farooqui said Modi and his supporters had forced some Muslims to “support” his fast to give the impression that the community was with him.
“They (these Muslims) have their business in Gujarat and succumbed to the pressure. He is a terror for Muslims and will always remain so.”
–Courtesy: The Telegraph