Riots By Ram Rahim Supporters:
Khattar and Modi Are Responsible
The
courage showed by two women has resulted in justice. Gurmeet Ram Rahim
has been sentenced to twenty years in prison for raping two women
sadhvis in the custody of his Dera. He continues to face charges of
having a brother of one of the rape victims as well as a journalist who
reported the rapes murdered, as well as charges of forced castration of
400 men.
The
Haryana High Court has rightly held the Prime Minister and the Chief
Minister of Haryana squarely responsible for the riots that followed the
conviction of the Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim. The High
Court observed that the BJP Governments of Haryana and the Centre
“surrendered before the followers of Dera Sacha Sauda for political
considerations… to allure vote bank… let a city like Panchkula burn for
political motives.” In an extraordinary and unprecedented manner, the
Haryana High Court was forced to chastise the PM and CM, reminding them
that they were expected to safeguard the interests of India and Haryana,
not their own party the BJP.
The
BJP Government of Haryana allowed the Dera Sacha Sauda supporters to
gather in Panchkula in massive numbers; it allowed the Dera centres to
stockpile weapons; one of its Ministers announced publicly that Section
144 “could not be applied to faith.” These were clear signals from the
Government that the rioters had its approval. Haryana Minister, BJP’s
Rohtak MLA and long-time RSS cadre Manish Grover justified the riots
saying: “When there is a crowd of 50,000-1 lakh and they have devotion
towards Babaji, tab unmen ek natural gussa ata hai (they have a natural anger).”
Allowing
– or encouraging – mobs to run riot is a trademark of the BJP model of
governance. In the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the genocide of
Muslims in Gujarat 2002 too – each on a BJP CM’s watch – violent, armed
mobs were allowed to gather and riots were then justified as a “natural”
reaction before which the Government was “helpless.”
Stung
by the High Court’s chastisement, Prime Minister Modi tried to control
the damage to his image in his Mann Ki Baat address by declaring that
“India is the land of Mahatma Gandhi and Lord Buddha” and that “Violence
is not acceptable in the nation, in any form.” Such a declaration that
takes refuge in Buddha and Gandhi is so generalized that it appears to
have no specific relation to the planned, organized violence that is
being encouraged and justified by his own colleagues.
Modi
pointedly avoided saluting the two women who fought the rape case so
courageously for 15 years. He avoided saying that supporting a convicted
rapist was morally indefensible. He also avoided mentioning that he
personally as well as other BJP leaders patronized, protected, and
funded the rape-accused Ram Rahim in exchange for electoral support, and
that a host of his colleagues are openly supporting Ram Rahim even
after his conviction. RSS ideologue Rakesh Sinha has even tried to imply
that the BJP was justified in making a man accused of rape, forced
castration and murder a brand ambassador for “Swacch Bharat” because he
has millions of supporters. BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj has said that millions
support Ram Rahim while just one woman has accused him of rape. BJP MP
Subramanian Swamy has implied that the rape case against Ram Rahim is a
conspiracy against “Sadhus” to grab their land. Such statements indicate
that on the BJP’s moral scale, rape and murder charges weigh far less
than the power to control the votes of “millions of supporters.”
In
spite of ML Khattar’s spectacular collusion in the riots by Ram Rahim
supporters, the BJP has refused to sack him. This further proves the
BJP’s approval of the riots.
Both
the Congress and BJP must be held responsible for the kind of power and
wealth Ram Rahim and his Dera enjoyed. These parties exchange patronage
for electoral support from the man accused of heinous crimes. But even
more serious and condemnable is the fact that essential welfare services
such as de-addiction, healthcare, support for transgender persons and
sexworkers, and so on had been outsourced by successive Governments of
Punjab and Haryana to the Dera Sacha Sauda and other similar religious
institutions. Hordes of poor and vulnerable people came to depend on the
Deras for these services which they should have been able to expect
from the State. Instead of spending Government funds on these essential
services, Ministers in the Government got in the habit of “gifting”
crores worth of public funds to the Dera Sacha Sauda for their supposed
“social welfare work.” At least three senior BJP Ministers of Haryana
for instance, recently donated public funds to the tune of more than one
crore rupees to the Dera. This meant that in exchange for electoral
support, the Government was using public funds to help the Dera Sacha
Sauda attract the support of – and control the lives of – the poorest
and most oppressed people. Thus, these Governments are responsible also
for the Dera Sacha Sauda’s power to cynically sacrifice the lives of
these people in the fire of riots to defend its rapist chief.
There
are several takeaways from the Ram Rahim episode. ML Khattar and other
Government functionaries must be investigated and punished for their
role in allowing the riots to take place. Criminal cases against
fraudmen like Asaram, also accused of rape and of getting key witnesses
murdered, must be expedited. Governments must be prohibited from handing
over public funds to such religious institutions, and must instead be
held accountable for providing welfare services directly to people.
Families of those killed in the riots – including those killed in police
firing – must be adequately compensated by the Government of Haryana
which must take the full blame for the violence and the deaths.
from ML Update
A CPI(ML) Weekly News MagazineVol. 20 | No. 36 | 29 Aug – 4 Sep 2017
