After George W. Bush won
the 2004 U.S. presidential election, James
Zetlen created a sensation
by posting this photo of apology to the world.
Should Indians who voted
against Narendra Modi do the same?
Like Americans After Bush's Win, 'We Indians' Apologize for Modi
(Indian Express, India)
"A day after George W. Bush - the man responsible for the 'global
war on terror'- was re-elected U.S. president
in November 2004, a young student posted a picture of himself on the Web holding
a sign that read: 'Sorry world (we tried) - from Half of America.' ... In 2004, outgoing BJP Prime Minister Atal
Bihari Vajpayee, blamed the election debacle on the 2002 communal carnage in
Gujarat. ... The real secret of Modi's success lies in a happy coalition of
those who adore him for what happened under his watch andwho simply 'don’t care' what he did then,
because he promises unbridled growth."
A
day after George W. Bush, the man responsible for the "global war on
terror," was re-elected U.S. president in November 2004, a young student
posted a photo of himself on the Web holding up a sign that read: "Sorry world
(we tried) - from Half of America." Within days, the Web site, sorryeverybody.com,
set up by James Zetlen, had registered 27 million hits. A picture from one of
the respondents said: "This is one of the 55,902,001 Americans who voted
against Mr. Bush would like to apologize for the 59,422,689 idiots who did."
"Idiots" may have been too strong a word, but the message was clear:
majority and morality are not synonymous.
Six
months earlier, in India, the BJP-led NDA coalition had been trounced in the
May 2004 general elections. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, outgoing prime minister of
the alliance government, pinned the blame for the debacle on the 2002 communal carnage in
Gujarat, which occurred under a leader from his own party, Narendra Modi.
Now, ten years later, the same man has notched up an impressive victory after
leading a new NDA coalition from the front, and will be sworn in as prime
minister.
[Editor's
Note: According to
official figures, the 2002 Hindu-Muslim riots in Gujarat, which began after
the burning of a train largely filled with Hindus, resulted in the deaths of
790 Muslims and 254 Hindus; 2,500 people were injured non-fatally, and 223 more
were reported missing. Other sources estimate that up to 2,000 Muslims died in
the rioting. There were instances of rape, children being burned alive, and
widespread looting and destruction of property. Gujarat's chief minister at the
time, now prime minister-elect Narendra Modi, has been accused of initiating
and condoning the violence. Despite a phone call of congratulations from
President Obama, Modi remains on the U.S. terrorist watch list.]
The horrifying violence
in Gujarat began with the burning of a train
filled with Hindu
pilgrims, and ended with riots that resulted in the
deaths and mutilations of
thousands of Muslims. Was Modi complicit?
Have
we crossed a moral line? Has 2002 been forgotten and forgiven? Our turn to say
sorry to the world? I think so. We should, if we believe democracy is more than
just about electoral arithmetic. For concepts like human rights, civil
liberties, rule of law, constitutional governance, or democracy to have any
meaning, they must have universal jurisdiction and no respect for national
boundaries.
The
millions of Americans who logged on to sorryeverybody.com felt accountable to
the world and so should we if we claim allegiance to democratic values. Sadly, India
media was only too happy to swim with the tide of the opinion polls, leaving it
to Western media to raise the uncomfortable questions about candidate Modi. The
Economist commented a month ago, "He
(Modi) will probably become India's next prime minister. That does not mean he
should be. He is still associated with sectarian hatred."
Many
political commentators reminded us throughout the campaign, and in the coming
days, will continue to remind us, that Modi won because he and he alone spoke
the politics of aspiration: good governance, development, roads without
potholes, round-the-clock electricity, jobs on demand. At best, that's a
half-truth. A more accurate picture of what lay ahead was captured by a radio
journalist who, as early as October 2012, was told by an "elegantly
dressed, well-spoken" Indian woman in the U.S. city of Detroit, that, "even
if Narendra Modi was involved in the Gujarat riots, I don't care. His economic
work wins out. I will vote for him."
Whether
Modi's economic work wins out or not - and for whom, has been a matter of
intense debate over the past few years. The real secret of Modi's success lies
in a happy coalition of those who adore him for what happened under his watch
in Gujarat in 2002, and those who simply "don't care" what he did, because
he promises unbridled growth.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
In
the coming period, those who question whether economic growth is the only thing
worth aspiring for must fear the implications of Modi in power - and with no coalition
politics to constrain the authoritarian style of a former RSS pracharak [Full
time advocate for Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh, a right-wing, paramilitary, Hindu nationalist group
founded in 1925]. Among other things, will issues like the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya [dispute
centering in what Hundus believe to be the birthplace of the Hindi deity Rama],
Article 370 [the dispute
over Kashmir] and raising the profile of changes to the
uniform civil code [federalizing rules for the civil service, which are now
set by local jurisdictions] by moving them from the last page of the party's
election manifesto to the top of the government's agenda?
Earlier
this week, in an interesting coincidence, the Israeli judiciary sent out a
strong global message. On May 13, Judge David Rozen of the Tel Aviv district
court held the country's former prime minister, Ehud Olmert, guilty on charges
of corruption (during his tenure as mayor of Jerusalem), and sentenced him to
six years in prison. Rozen praised Olmert as "an impressive, warm, and
very intelligent man who knows how to convince others. He is a respectful man
who made a large contribution to the country." He then proceeded to
harshly condemn his "noxious" offences, describing him as "akin
to a traitor."
Posted By Worldmeets.US
Three
years earlier, the Supreme Court of Israel sentenced former Israeli President
Moshe Katsav to seven years in prison for committing rape. Modi is confronted
with the far more serious charge of complicity in Gujarat's 2002 mass crimes by
a survivor, Zakia Jafri. The case is now pending in the Gujarat High Court. It
could be heard next.
The writer is general secretary of Muslims for Secular Democracy, and co-editor of Communalism Combat.
