Communalism and Secularism

1998. On way to Mumbai, my co passenger was a Muslim from Gujrat.  En route, we talked on different subjects to pastime. BJP Government was in power.

I said: “Is there any marked difference in the governance of the State by the present regime?”

He said: “Yes.”

I said: “What is that marked difference?”

He said: “During the Congress Government, communal riots were more than frequent. A Muslim entering into a Hindu dominated area would rarely come out alive and likewise a Hindu entering into a Muslim dominated area would not be spared. A minor scooter accident would flare up into a major communal riot and a number of people would be massacred from both the communities. If the score of the dead would not be up to the mark, it would be leveled by the police firing. Now since the change in the Government Gujrat has seen no communal riots.”

I said: “The reason?”

He said: “The BJP government has put all the mischief mongers irrespective of their party or community affiliation behind the bars”. Both Hindu and Muslim goondas have been cut to size under anti goonda act. Communal riots are the creation of the Congress Party. They scare the minority by these riots and give them the false impression that they are their saviors”.

Knowing that I am a Hindu from Kashmir, he posed me a question.

“Is it not true that Mufti Mohammad Syed the then Congress President of J&K State initiated communal riots in the valley in 1986 to grab power from the then Chief Minister G.M. Shah of National Conference? He managed to set ablaze a number of temples and Hindu houses in Anantnagh district. When despite the gimmick, he failed to become the Chief Minister of the State; he deserted the party and joined Janta Party to be the Home Minister of India. Who is responsible for the miseries of seven lakh Kashmiri Hindus? Had the BJP been a communal party could it not instigate its people against the minority in rest of India? I believe in the contrary BJP is secular and the Congress governed by an imported lady is communal to rule, using the imported formula divide and rule”

I had no reply and preferred to change the topic.

It is proved mathematically by the method of induction that for the development of the State, the CM must be a bachelor one.