STOP THE "RIOT ENTERPRENURS" IN THEIR TACKS
P.N. Benjamin, Vijay Times, March 15, 2006
Life is returning to normal in the Holy City of Varanasi, after the March 7
twin bomb blasts that killed 20 persons and injured 125. It is basically
because of the remarkable restraint and control of the people of Varanasi
shown in such a provocative situation. The city today presents a model of
communal harmony. How did it happen?
After the terrorist killings, an uneasy calm descended on the city where in
a show of solidarity, all sections, cutting across religious and social
affiliations, observed a bandh and took out peace marches. In a spontaneous
move, Benares Hindu University (BHU) students marched to the Sankat Mochan
temple, where a deadly blast occurred. They reiterated their resolve to
fight terrorism. Hindu and Muslim women joined hands and took out marches
for communal harmony through the busy streets. So did many other
organisations. They carried placards and raised slogans of
Hindu-Muslim-Sikh-Christian unity and brotherhood.
Hundreds of BHU students and volunteers of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
(RSS) participated in blood donation camps. There was no shortage of blood in
the hospitals where the people injured in the blasts are being treated.
Abdul Batin Nomani, Mufti-e-Banaras, a respected cleric, issued appeals for
maintaining peace and communal harmony. He appealed to all sections of the
people and political leaders to "refrain from making our city the boxing
arena for settling political scores and deriving political mileage from such
tragic incidents. Hindus and Muslims here are dependent on each other. Both
communities have lived in perfect harmony and enjoyed cordial relations. If
weavers are Muslims, traders are Hindus. Their economic bonds are very
strong and they share a remarkable trust. This fabric should not be harmed
by anyone."
Similar sentiments were expressed by Sankat Mochan Temple Foundation's chief
priest, Veerbhadra Mishra, who lamented the loss of lives in the terror
attack. He said such attacks would change the security scenario, and even
religious places would be turned into police strongholds, restricting the
free movement of devotees.
Indeed, a miracle seems to have occurred in Varanasi. It once again proves
Ashutosh Varshney's deceptively simple thesis that "the greater the
patterns of inter-communal civic engagement in a city, the lower the
likelihood of violent conflict and communal riots." (Ethnic Conflict & Civic
Life). For example, "the Hindus of Varanasi would not attack the Muslim
artisans who make the masks and effigies for the annual Ram Lila, even if an
irresponsible and bigoted politician egged them on to do so."
In many parts of India, Hindus and Muslims engage with each other in strong
associational forms of civic life, from political parties and non-religious
movements for social justice or land reform, to trade unions and business
groups. In some places, caste is a more important divider than religion.
Such networks of civic engagements bring Hindu and Muslim urban communities
together. These networks may take the form of associational interaction or they
be everyday forms of engagement. Both forms, if inter-communal, promote peace
but the capacity of associational forms to withstand events is substantially
higher. Vigorous and communally integrated associational life can serve as an
agent of peace by restraining those, including politicians, who would polarise
Hindus and Muslims along communal lines.
Varshney's central insight is invaluable, and its buttressing with an
impressive array of facts and figures from over seven years of research
means that it is solidly grounded. Varshney has no illusions about how
communal riots are instigated and manipulated: whatever the proximate
trigger for violence, there is always a politician with an axe to grind,
pulling the strings, inflaming passions, exploiting the victims for purely
political ends. But the chances for success of such politicians (the breed
of "riot-entrepreneurs") would be remarkably lower if there is vigorous and
communally-integrated civic life, not just through everyday casual contact
but through formal associations that consolidate the mutual engagement of
the two communities.
.
The Varanasi miracle will have to be properly nurtured and strengthened. One
hopes that politicians, in their zeal to obtain votes in the forthcoming
elections, do not revive communal vengeance, which has done so much harm to
communal harmony and peace in the country. Hindu-Muslim civic engagement
should be an urgent priority for the politicians and policemen who make
public policy and in whose hands lie the safety of our fellow citizens the
next when a riot is instigated.
It is relevant to remember today how Gandhi poured out his soul during the
dark happenings in the wake of Partition. On October 2, 1947, which was his
birthday, while he was struggling to bring peace to riot-torn Calcutta, he
asked one of his disciples, Nandita Kripalani, the grand-niece of
Rabindranath Tagore, to sing the following poem, which is so relevant even
today:
When the heart is hard and parched up/come upon me with a shower of mercy/
When grace is lost from life, /come with a burst of song. /When tumultuous
work raises its din on all sides shutting me out/come to me, my Lord of
silence with Thy peace and rest/ When my beggarly heart sit crouched, shut
up in a corner,/ break open the door, My king and come with Thy regalities,
/When desire blinds the mind with delusion and dust, /O Thou holy one, thou
wakeful, come with Thy light and Thy thunder.
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