Bal Thackeray and Yakub Memon: Two Funerals and Partisan Outrages

My favorite writer has stirred the proverbial hornet's nest, yet again. Apparently he, along with many patriotic Hindus, was troubled by the fact that thousands of Muslims gathered for the funeral of Yakub Memon, convicted for the deadly Mubai blasts in which hundreds were killed and maimed. The diatribe by the writer laments, of course, with good benign intentions, how Muslims are being misled. The blog brought to my mind memories of how Bal Thackeray was laid to rest, replete with state honors, with even larger crowds bringing all of Mumbai to a stand still. And few other memories came to my mind.

My beloved writer, unknowingly echoing Bush, writes that the Mumbai blasts were a declaration of war against India and mourns the hundreds that were killed or maimed  in that attack. As one who lived through 9/11 and as one who steadfastly rejects resolutely the left wing nonsense of "America asked for it" I normally do not subscribe to the idea of excusing terrorism under any pretext or justification. However, it'd be a travesty of truth if one were to see the Mumbai blasts in isolation because they were not. The blasts were a reprisal, absolutely unjustified of course, for the scandalous manner with which the then governments refused to prosecute the perpetrators of the Mumbai riots that had happened, in turn, in the wake of the Babri Masjid demolition. And, Babri Masjid demolition did not happen in a vacuum either. The road to the destruction of Babri Masjid, in full glare of international media in broad daylight and under the very noses of police protection, starts from the blood soaked path of Advani's Rath Yatra. Of course, why bother with context and nuances when shrill jingoism would suffice.

Anyone who was an adult in the 1990s India would remember what a boiling cauldron the country was. Buffeted between economic and political uncertainties the country was like an ill equipped catamaran tossed about on the rough seas. On one side Advani was tearing apart the country with his quest to build a temple and on the other side V.P. Singh, trying to cling to power, was unleashing casteism in the pretext of social justice. Entire villages quaked with fear as Advani's chariot progressed inexorably. In the midst of all this the state run TV was helpfully beaming to every household a pathetically crafted series based on the Indian epics which served to further notch up the fever. Nehru's grandson brought a TV actor dressed up as Hindu god to canvas for votes in Allahabad, Nehru's hometown. To say that in such a climate Muslims felt besieged as a community would be a grotesque understatement.

Bal Thackeray Funeral -- Courtesy NDTV.com http://www.ndtv.com/photos/news/bal-thackeray-cremated-14198#photo-184596

While the world watched Advani and Vajpayee presided over the demolition of Babri Masjid. It was India's moment of shame. The country was plunged into a communal tension possibly not seen since the horrifying days of the Partition. Mumbai erupted into flames. There was Bal Thackeray, who, as Sri Krishna committee report would note later, orchestrating the riots like an army general. Now, Thackeray had shot to fame riding a wave of xenophobia, not against foreigners but fellow Indians from other states, especially Tamils. He had once, like the many other leaders of the Hindutva pantheon, expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler. No government dared touch him, because he was not a Muslim. The failure to prosecute Thackeray stoked the flames of resentment amongst the Muslim community and a terrorist like Dawood Ebrahim, aided by Pakistan's sinister ISI, capitalized the situation.

Interestingly the writer nonchalantly states that Indian judiciary is hampered by the fact that finding witnesses against terrorist acts, by Islamic terrorist outfits, is impossible and therefore many a terrorist goes scot free. Before we deconstruct that poisonous statement a nuance that's glided here is that terrorist organizations, especially Islamic ones, are proscribed by the government and there are very draconian laws against supporting or aiding such organizations. In terror attacks the individual foot soldiers are nobodies and the kingpins do not indulge in the acts directly and therefore finding witnesses against them is impossible. Also, terrorist attacks are not police cases to be prosecuted in a court of law. Ask the Jodhpur detainees.

While expressing umbrage at the fact that lack of witnesses aid the terrorists the writer completely forgets that no witness would dare to say in open court the role played by Thackeray during the riots. In fact so sanitized is Thackeray's record that to even label him with a harsher word than fundamentalist will invite charges of extremism against me.

Let's consider another infamous case. In the aftermath of the assassination of Indira Gandhi Hindu congressmen unleashed a genocide in Delhi against Sikhs and killed nearly 5000 sikhs over several days while Nehru's grandson nonchalantly informed the country that when a huge tree falls the earth is bound to shake. It took 20 years for the Nanavati commission to submit its 185 page report accusing H.K.L Bhagat, Jagadish Tytler, Sajjan Kumar and others of having taken part in the riots. Bhagat and Tytler held high positions in the Congress Government. The writer is indignant that in any other country Yakub Memon, a member of the underworld mafia, would not be tolerated and no state that's resolutely against the underworld would hesitate to just 'shoot him'. I'd love to know if he think Bhagat and Tytler too should've been shot. Oh, wait, they are not of the underworld and they are not Muslims so a protracted due process in a court of law is required. Incidentally, it rankles the writer that Hasina Parker, who allegedly ran the underworld on behalf of Dawood, died a natural death. H.K.L. Bhagat too died a natural death.

Thirty two years ago a massacre unfolded in Nellie, Assam. Indira Gandhi announced elections much against advice that it would inflame an already volcanic situation. Nearly 1800 Muslims were butchered from morning till evening on 18th February 1983. Rest of India heard about it only a few days later. The Tiwari Commission report, that investigated the massacre, was not even tabled. The peace accord signed with separatist organizations gave almost a complete amnesty to the perpetrators of the horrors. And here we are invited to be outraged that terrorist acts by Islamic outfits goes unpunished for lack of witnesses.

The case of Hashimpura massacre is even more shameful. On 22nd May 1987 42 Muslim youths were arrested by the police (Provincial Armed Constabulary), executed in cold blood and bodies dumped in a river. After 28 years a court acquitted all 16 accused for lack of evidence. Now, its easier to find a witness against Afzal Guru or Yakub Memon but absolutely impossible to find a witness against the PAC in such a case.

I share the writer's loathing for the sickening double standards of the Marxists. Marxists would froth at their mouth against US going to war against Iraq but would shut all their orifices about Soviet invasion of Afghanistan or the terror regime in Chechnya. Marxists had a field day after 9/11 lecturing US about how 9/11 was just retribution against US hegemony etc. But, the point at which I part company with the writer on his diatribe is when he obfuscates wider context of what went on with the Yakub Memon affair.

Not just Muslims but most Indians have little faith in the judiciary. When the highest court of the land acquitted a corrupt politician it was anybody's guess as to why it happened. The same act was repeated most recently too. The many acts of omission by Indian judiciary has engendered a climate of absolute distrust in the law. How does a country trust the judiciary when 365 Sikh youths were arrested, detained and tortured for 4 years and finally released just like that? Tamil Nadu recently saw a spate of protests against the pending execution of 3 convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. Again, distrust of the judiciary and due process was the bedrock of the protests.

A section of the population celebrating a killer or assassin is not all that uncommon in India. Sikhs celebrate the killers of Indira, Tamils celebrate the killers of Rajiv, Hindutva group celebrates the killer of Gandhi. Even forest brigand, thug and murderer Veerappan is celebrated. Yet, nothing rankles the hearts of many like seeing Muslims mourning Yakub Memon. And THAT is because Muslims, as always, are held to a different standards.

Poor Abdul Kalam has become a political football even in death. The Sikh community had fractured relationship with Giani Zail Singh under whose presidency the anti-sikh riots happened and with Manmohan Singh who accepted the prime-mistership from the party that conducted the riots. This is natural. Kalam accepted the presidency from a party that was an implacable foe of Muslims and it could very well have led to an alienation from the community. Such an alienation, in their eyes, is fully justified. One also has to bear in mind the nefarious motives and tortured reasonings of the Hindutva crowd in singing the praises of Kalam. Just as there are Hindus today who want to worship Godse there happen to be Muslims who are mourning for Memon. When Gandhi was assassinated Chitpavan Brahmins in Pune, the community of Godse, distributed sweets.

To my mind those who thronged Yakub Memon's funeral are not different from those who milled around Bal Thackeray's funeral. At least Memon died a criminal convicted in a court of law and executed in accordance with the law of the land. That Thackeray was buried with State honors is a shame. That Advani and Vajpayee were elected leaders is a shame. That the thousands of Sikhs are still awaiting justice is an shame. That Dalit residences were burned, on no lesser day than August 15th, for wanting to take their own temple chariot in a procession, is a shame.

References:

1. http://www.jeyamohan.in/77891#.VdZ9gLTigso
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashimpura_massacre
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_massacre
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombay_Riots
5. http://www.caravanmagazine.in/vantage/thirty-two-years-later-nellie-massacre-remains-all-forgotten

Abdul Kalam and a Nation Bereft of Idols

When Kalam passed away my friend, a nuclear physicist, called him an inspiration and my mom was distraught at the loss.That a very mediocre intellectual with less than modest intellectual accomplishments and no academic distinctions has become the most sincerely mourned man in recent memory is testimony to the intellectual bankruptcy and pathetic lack of moral leadership in a country of a billion people.

Let us first dispense with the biggest fallacy of calling him a scientist. He was not a scientist by even the most lenient definition of the term. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, born into dire poverty went on to become the President of a country and more importantly a source of inspiration for an inspiration starved generation. Yet, no one can point to any significant doctrine by him and he did not propound any theories. His autobiography has no literary quality to it and is pathetically pedestrian and yet it is being hailed as a book to be read. This, in a country where Nehru's autobiography is still available to read. Khushwant Singh carped that Nehru's writings were mediocre. I wonder what would he say of Dr Kalam's books.

In 2001 a speech by Kalam went viral. The speech was vintage jingoism. He told Indians to stop referring to India as a 'developing country' and instead exhorted them to refer to India as 'developed country'. A very dear friend of mine sent it to me. I replied thus, "Now coming to the very major canard of calling India a "developed" nation:Does Mr Kalam sincerely beleive that re-labelling would satisfy our jingoistic impulse.I'd like to hear from him which developed country has the following distinctions : telecommunications disrupted for 20 days inflicting a huge 5000 crore loss,banking industry closes for a day causing 2000 crore loss, FERA accused fugitive gets elected to the parliament,a dacoit becomes an MP; murderer,rapists,looters,thugs get elected to assemblies; roadways are a joke,communication infrastructure is a parody,consumers pay 85% taxes on each car they buy,black market economy is valued modestly at Rs70,000 crores,medical care is pathetic,pollution on roads makes every citizen susceptible to lung disease,freedom of expression is threatened by lumpen elements which go scot free,the justice system is anything but just,mediocrity is sanctioned in the name of social-justice.....is there any end to this litany of problems." The reply holds good today too. 

Kalam peddled bromides in the name of inspiration. The saving grace was the man's down-to-earth humility and sincerity in what he was peddling. As Tamil writer Jeyamohan notes Kalam was probably one of the last of a generation that came of age in the Nehruvian era when dreams and hopes were even more grandiose and even more intellectual. A half century since the death of Nehru India could produce only a Kalam.

Alternately hailed as 'missile man' and 'father of Pokhran-II' Kalam had little do with either from the perspective of pure science contributions but he became, unwittingly, their face. Pokhran-II and the subsequent elevation of Kalam to the Presidency by the then BJP government thrust him into a national debate. Unlike Einstein who turned down a presidency Kalam went on to occupy, with no qualifications, the presidency. When an ill qualified, albeit very simple and honest, man occupied an office that scumbags and toady politicians had occupied earlier the country rejoiced and that set the trajectory of how Kalam would be perceived in the years to come.

That Kalam, a muslim, was elevated to the highest office of the land by a Hindu fundamentalist party drove polarizing opinions of who he was though he himself steered clear of any politicking and remained simple Simon. Hindu fundamentalist and purveyor of Hindutva Gurumurthy symbolizes one section of Hindus who thought that Kalam had "Gita in one hand, atom bomb in another". In his obituary of Kalam Gurumurthy, like Subramanian Swamy, extolled Krishna for dispelling Arjuna's hesitation to kill while revealing the Gita. Chiding Asoka, usually referred with a suffix 'the great', for being muddle headed and giving up killing in favor of pacifism. Gentle Hindus are usually offended when atheists like DK's Veeramani speak of Gita as inciting violence but here are two fanatics speaking on behalf of Hindus besmirching a wonderful scripture that the Apostle of Peace, Gandhi, swore by, as a text that encourages to kill without hesitation. No one can insult a great religion like Hinduism like the Hindutva vipers can do. Pakistan, not to be outdone by India, soon followed with its own nuclear blast. A 'Muslim bomb' against a 'Hindu bomb'. The strategic benefits, if any, of Pokhran II is beyond the scope of this blog.

The Hindutva crowd went into overdrive in its obituaries for Kalam by not so shyly highlighting his capacious mind to enjoy Hindu religious texts and practices as the desired qualities of a 'model Indian-muslim'. Of course nobody bothered to ask if Rajendra Prasad read the Koran and visited Sufis. It is only poor Muslims and other minorities who have to consistently prove their nationalist credo by satisfying the litmus test of paying respects to Hinduism. 

A rabid pro-LTTE Tamil blogger spewed venom that Kalam's cosmopolitan mind was nothing but a mask to curry favor with the Hindu nationalist BJP government. Kalam, born into utter penury, enjoyed the patronage of a Brahmin teacher as a student. In his auto-biography Kalam recorded how the teacher invited him for lunch at the latter's house. The teacher's wife was not thrilled at the prospect of serving a muslim boy and Kalam, sensing the discomfort, did not want to visit any more but his teacher who would have none of it said "she'll learn". Growing up in a community where two religions existed cheek by jowl Kalam enjoyed drinking water from the two great streams that watered India's conscience. 

The outpouring of love and affection for Kalam is situated in reasons beyond such dishonorable politics. Though India had lost its greatest son, Gandhi, to religious violence and an assassin's bullet only after the assassination of Indira Gandhi did Indians witness their leaders shutting themselves off behind layers of security. Kalam's informality was a breath of freshness for Indians. Vexed and frustrated at seeing venal politicians selling empty dreams the common Indian became a reservoir of deep cynicism and then Kalam happened. 

In a nation that had such intellectual giants as Homi Bhabha, Vikram Sarabhai, J.C. Bose, S.N. Bose, C.V. Raman, Viswesvarayya and many other lesser lights it was a tragedy that scientific achievements, especially of the kind that could arouse a nationalist pride, had decayed and ceased to exist. A long period of despondency reached its nadir in the early 90s when the nation was plunged into a 'balance of payments crisis' and had to pledge gold to earn foreign exchange. In that vacuum the quick successes of Indian science with Kalam as its face brought much needed pride to India and with it a sense of hope. Kalam spoke of hope and India fell in love with him. As the 90s economic liberalization brought prosperity, though unevenly, hope in a better tomorrow was an enticing prospect to a people which wistfully and often with indignation spoke of a glorious past. Kalam fueled it further with his talk of India becoming a super power by 2020. Much before Barack Obama made Americans swoon with words Kalam's words were hypnotic to gullible Indians.

To Indians who were accustomed to seeing the kinds of Laloo Prasad Yadav, Devi Lal, Deve Gowda, Mayawati, Karunanidhi, Jayalalitha, Mulayam Singh Yadav and the many others who populate India's hall of shame Abdul Kalam looked liked their prayers answered. Of course by now Indians had lost all notions of what true excellence meant, what scientific achievements really were and what intellectualism meant. How else does one explain the fact that the nation of Homi Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai come to consider Kalam who was, in truth, a scientific nobody, as a scientist? 

When news of Kalam spread social media was flooded with anecdotes by all and sundry of some apocryphal story of his humility and his unassuming nature. So many, many posted some incident or the other of meeting him, even during the days of his presidency, and sharing a word or two. Here was a man who, unlike India's politicians and preening intellectuals, did not talk down to his audiences but talked to them on equal terms. 

Neil de Grasse Tyson, America's first African-American to head a planetarium, visited Cornell and met Sagan to evaluate if he should join Cornell. Sagan wanted to see Tyson enroll in Cornell and took him on a tour of the campus and later in the evening even dropped him off at a bus station. Later Tyson went to Harvard. Such things while common in USA are unheard of in India, a nation mired in an obsession over hierarchy and worshipping authority. Kalam broke those barriers and publicly so though in a far less intellectual sphere.

The overwhelming adulation that poured forth for Kalam only underscored how much Indians yearn for honest leadership even more than skillful leadership. For those who doubt if Indians would still value a Gandhi the flood of affection for a simple man like Kalam shows the void for such a persona in India's public life. We should thank Kalam for not just kindling hope in India's future but for keeping the embers of hope that Indians can still be touched by honesty and simplicity. And for keeping that flame alive may his soul rest in peace.