I was just reading some news and came across a piece by Washington
Post on the prospects of Gujarat’s CM Narendra Modi becoming the next Prime
Minister of India. A lot of people around desire India to be at the helms of
Modi, given his excellent record in Gujarat. He has brought development and has
managed to reduce corruption as well. But there is an albatross which hangs
around his neck, which probably trumps his best achievements as well..
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| An Able Statesman, but one with an Albatross nevertheless |
In 2002, in the city of Godhra, around 60 people were burnt
to death, majority of them Hindu pilgrims. This in turn unleashed a communal
riot in which around 1000 people were killed, most of them being Muslims who
were targeted in the aftermath of the train burning. It’s been ten years since,
and yet Modi hasn’t been able to remove the burden of the albatross. In those
ten years many inquiries, many allegations and many court cases, have diluted
whether Modi was in fact personally responsible or not. Tehelka, a popular news
magazine, ran a major cover story which showed that the murderers were under
the aegis of Modi and other prominent Hindutva leaders. But again many
inquiries show that he wasn’t personally responsible for the riots.
I, however, have a different view of this altogether. I
don’t care whether Modi personally ordered the riots or no, I don’t give a damn
whether the rioters are still roaming around mostly scot free, because of Modi.
What I in fact care about is the fact that Modi is the Chief Minister now and
was when the riots happened.
When a company falters, or makes a product which kills
someone, despite the fact that the CEO and senior leadership had no role in
actual process of manufacturing, it is always the fault of the CEO. Even in
this case, even assuming that Modi had no role whatsoever, it his job, which
makes him personally responsible for the riots. He commands almost every
grassroots of the administration and yet he couldn’t do anything o stop the
riots? There are so many cases of police’s apathy over the victims’ pleas, why
couldn’t Modi being the CM of the state, pay some heed to this? Why couldn’t he
contain the riots? Ok, fine let’s say that he was indeed unable to do anything
to stop the riots, doesn’t the buck stop with him? He is the public appointed
Executive of the state. It’s his job to be responsible for anything bad that
occurs in his state. He exerts ultimate control over the state of Gujarat, and
yet he wasn’t able to stop the riots. At least the least he can do now is come
clean and say, yes I was responsible as the CM for the breakdown of law and
order.
Media and public apathy towards this is also in some way
mindboggling. There are scores of people who are demanding the resignation of
Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister for the numerous scams that have taken
place during his tenure as the PM. He wasn’t involved even in a single case
till now and yet people want him to go. But why such hypocrisy when it comes to
Modi? Why are we being so ignorant that he hasn’t gone through no punishments,
no repercussions as such.
Although there’s no doubt that India will surely benefit
economically if he’s the next PM, I still don’t want him around, for I am more
concerned about the fact that under him, people will start forcing me to do
things, which is my private matter and none of anybody’s business.
