My Dilemma

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Until the elections actually got over and I got around arguing with some friends why Narendra Modi aka "NaMo" should or should not be voted for, I actually never thought from the other side.

It goes this way. On a freezing Monday night, at Lucknow, sitting around a bonfire, I overheard some discussion about the Gujarat elections. Being known for my staunch anti-Modi comments, I naturally made myself part of the discussion. The group of 5 (plus 1-2 floaters) soon started on why or why not Modi?

Like most anti-riot supporters, my thoughts started and ended on one thought - that Modi aided the mass genocide post-Godhra and how all his positives cannot take that stain off him. The pro-Modi classmate of mine asked me one simple question: "Why did thousands of people come out and actually rallied against the Muslims? Is allowing riots to happen enough to actually make those Hindus come out in the open, to go and make them kill?" My answer remained the same, that it is in the innate self that every human being should find the answer. Every stone does not have to be answered with a brick. But the apparent, simple yet shocking truth behind his subsequent words actually had me hesitating for a reply. He asked me that "ofcourse there was this hatred inside those men, maybe not all, but at least 80% of them, that drove them to riot. That decades of communal violence, killing of their families, neighbours etc had rooted deep inside them, a rage, that boiled over post-Godhra."

Not that he justified what happened, nor am I doing the same, but why this hatred? Or what is the solution to the ghettoisation that has happened in most corners of the country? How do we remove this hatred? Is minority appeasement actually benefitting us? Suddenly, there were no clear answers, at least not practically.

Though we anti-Modi guys managed to make them concede their initial point and accept that as the responsibility of the state, and as an elected leader, Modi was wrong in allowing the riots. But the questions continue to linger. Is it enough to say that he is wrong, and that Congress leaders in 1984 also were wrong? It's too idealistic to say that ok; we should not kill in response to a killing. Apparently, and obviously, human emotions in these cases are too fragile.

Our politicians, cutting across party lines, have been using the communal card for their vested benefits. Be it in the form of Hindutva or minority appeasement, the society has always been taken for a ride.

Ideally, yes, Modi should be punished. Yes, but after that what are the steps we take to make us Indians take as much pride in our social and communal fabric too as we take in our economic progress or our cultural richness. Anyone out there with an answer?