Why Gujarat voted saffron

Narendra Modi has cleverly pulled off the Goebbelesian trick of projecting himself not as instigator of violence, but protector of Hindus.

DIONNE BUNSHA

“This time, we had to show them. We couldn’t let them get away with this (Godhra), or even more Hindus would have died than Muslims,” said Pramodbhai (name changed), an owner of a taxi service in Baroda. Pramodbhai drove this reporter around central Gujarat two weeks before election day.

“Whatever happens, Narendra Modi will return. For three days after Godhra, he let us react. He said 'do what you want, you won’t be caught'. The police won’t do anything. Godhra was pre-planned. Later, it was a Hindu reaction,” he explained.

In many ways, Pramodbhai’s response typifies the pro-Hindutva mood in Gujarat. Those outside Gujarat find it difficult to understand how a party, that is known to have supported the carnage of more than 1,000 people, has come to power. But, by playing on people’s fears and by fierce anti-Muslim propaganda, the BJP has managed to gain support. It has literally capitalised on votes over dead bodies.

“Pay your homage to the Godhra martyrs. Cast your vote,” read a huge BJP advertisement in the Gujarati media on election day. In his last campaign speech, Narendra Modi told his audience, “You decide whether there should be a Divali in Gujarat or whether firecrackers should burst in Pakistan.” He added, “Friends, when you all go to vote this time, if you press your finger on the hand symbol you will hear the screams of Godhra! The pain of Godhra. I took a vow on the Godhra platform that I would not spare the sinners of Godhra. I'll teach a lesson to the merchants of death…. if your son can't return home safe in the evening, what's the use of money or development?” For the last 10 months, the BJP has ensured that this sustained propaganda has seeped deep into the psyche of different caste and class strata in Gujarat.

There was virtually no escape from being reminded of the burning train. Sprawled across Gujarat were posters of the burning Sabarmati Express, portraying Narendra Modi as the saviour. As part of Modi’s anti-Pakistan rhetoric, posters were put up with Modi and Musharraf’s pictures, depicting them as adversaries. It prompted a Congress leader from Madhya Pradesh who was campaigning in Gujarat, to comment, “I didn’t know Musharraf was contesting elections in Gujarat!” T-shirts were distributed with the slogan: ‘I will not make my village another Godhra’. The chief minister described the charred bodies in graphic detail at public rallies.

By manipulating people’s insecurity, Modi pulled off the brilliantly Goebbelesian trick of projecting himself not as the instigator of violence, but the protector of Hindus. “There’s no security. We could walk out of the house and terrorists could shoot us. See what happened at Akshardham. It could happen anywhere,” said Jayaben (name changed), a middle class housewife from Maninagar, Modi’s constituency in Ahmedabad. “Modi will do something to protect us. During the riots, he helped Hindus.”

In cities like Ahmedabad and Baroda, interaction between the two communities has become much less ever since ghettoisation set in after the 1985 riots. This has made the unknown fear of ‘them’. Ahmedabad is virtually divided by the Sabarmati river into two different cities – the walled city (the poorer city with a greater Muslim population) and new Ahmedabad (the more elite and middle class areas). During the riots, people in the new city celebrated weddings, while people in the poorer areas of Ahmedabad were being killed.

Middle class Gujaratis view Muslim areas as ‘mini-Pakistans’, ‘breeding grounds for criminals’. Rajat (name changed), a chartered accountant told this reporter, “All this talk about soft and hard Hindutva is bogus. Hindus have always been soft. This is the first time we stood up and fought. There was a feeling of frustration due to overprotection of the minorities. This tempo was so strong that lakhs came out on the streets. The police couldn’t do anything.” Rajat belongs to the same class of upwardly mobile people who looted the shops on the posh C.G. Road after they were broken into by Sangh Parivar goons. Ahmedabad’s elite excitedly rushed to the stores, grabbing whatever they could and filling their cars with stolen goods. They even sent messages on mobile phones informing their friends of the booty. It was just another wild shopping spree. Yet, Rajat says, “They (Muslims) are all anti-socials. But we are described as dangerous.”

The sentiment in Ahmedabad’s ghettos is no different. People refer to narrow lanes as ‘borders’- dividing Muslim bastis from Hindu ones. Even though they live so close together, poor Hindus and Dalits harbour the same prejudices against Muslims. “All of them do illegal businesses,” said Hiren (name changed), a Dalit youth who is a local BJP leader. However, Hiren’s work isn’t very lawful either. He boasted, “I haven’t worked a day in my life. I earn my living through cheating. I take haftas.” He also bragged about leading a mob during the riots. A month after our conversation, Hiren was arrested for bootlegging. “After the BJP government came, the Hindu bootleggers have more power than the Muslim ones,” he told this reporter.

The BJP attracts Dalit youth like Hiren by giving them opportunities to flex muscle in their neighbourhood. But the BJP government has done nothing to create employment for these youth. Hiren is from the Ahmedabad’s old textile mill area, Gomtipur, where more than a lakh workers, like his father, lost their jobs when the mills closed down. But instead of new jobs, the BJP only has Hindutva to offer. For several Dalits, it is a way to gain social acceptance with higher castes. As the economic recession in the state worsens, the growing army of urban unemployed youth have been recruited into the Sangh Parivar. The lumpenisation of this section is complete. The Sangh’s fascist ideas also appeal to a large section of the aspiring lower middle class. Several Sangh workers are also teachers, which enables the widespread infusion of their propaganda and ideology among students. Since Gujarat is the most urbanised state, with a 38 % urban population, it has made the spread of fascism easier here.

In the last ten years, the Sangh, through its Vanvasi Kalyan Kendras, has been trying to gain ground in Adivasi areas of central and south Gujarat, where the Congress has a very old and strong support base. Until now, it didn’t yield any electoral gains. The Congress retained a large majority of seats in these regions. These were precisely the areas targeted during the communal violence. And, this time, the BJP has swept the polls in the riot-hit areas of Panchmahal, Dahod and Vadodara, winning every seat in this Congress bastion. Its propaganda has seeped so deep that tribals have started talking about Godhra instead of basic survival problems. “This has always been a Congress area, but now the BJP has also become popular. During the riots, the BJP bailed us out when we were arrested. The Congress didn’t help us. If Muslims harm our religion, why should we let them?” said Ramsinh Dhabi (name changed), from Bhilpur village in central Gujarat. Several poor Adivasis from this drought-hit were paid and given liquor to be part of the Sangh mobs. They were told that they would not be arrested.

The Sangh Parivar has been working hard to make inroads here. “This is supposed to be a safe seat for the Congress. But not anymore. After Godhra and the Gaurav Yatra, Adivasis have also become kattar (hardline) Hindutva. They think the Congress only supports Muslims. After Godhra, they looted Muslims,” said Rajubhai Rathwa, a local BJP panchayat leader. The RSS has also been mobilising support. “We do a lot of work within villages. We want to awaken Hindus,” said Madhusudan Pancholi, a local RSS leader. While the Sangh’s cadres have been systematic and organised, the Congress has been complacent and virtually non-functional. In fact, the Congress rout in its strongholds is also, in some way, an anti-incumbency vote against long-time MLAs who have done nothing for their constituencies. When Adivasis here talk of their problems, they don’t blame the BJP government, but the local MLA.

Gujarat still has to open its eyes to Hindutva’s divisive agenda. The polarisation is so pervasive that no one in Gujarat is ever allowed to forget the distinction between the two communities. While creating electoral bases through violence and hate, the Sangh Parivar has been ripping apart the social fabric in the state. It has succeeded in creating such fear and paranoia that people like Pramodbhai believe that they are only safe if others are killed.

Frontline, December 21, 2002 - January 3, 2003 Also available here