UPA Government'sresponse to Muslim mob violence over the demolition of a Sufi dargah at Vadodra is most disconcerting. Sri Prakash Jaiswal, Union MoS for Home who rushed to the town to garner Muslim votes under the garb of having a first hand assessment of the law and order situation in the disturbed town, had no word to deplore violence against officials and policemen performing their duties, not to talk of innocent Hindus who had nothing to do with the demolition work.
Two Hindus were stabbed to death and more than a dozen were seriously injured in stabbing incidents by the marauding mobs in the wake of the demolition of the dargah by the Municipal Corporation. What is more disturbing is that the Minister sought to communalise the demolition work carried out under High Court'sorders by asking the administration to be more sensitive to the ?feelings and sentiments of the minority community? pushing under the carpet the fact that the Muslim community had frustrated all attempts by the administration to hammer out a formula to relocate the dargah that was an encroachment on public land. In sharp contrast to the Muslim community'srigid stand, the Hindu society magnanimously allowed the administration to relocate as many as 20 temples to enable the administration to undertake a vital development project.
The Minister didn'tfind time to visit the families of Hindu victims but had ample time to address the media to express his deep anguish over the demolition of the dargarh, thereby underlining the secularists? ideology namely Muslim ?sentiments? (read votes) are more important than Hindu lives.
Countless people?mostly belonging to deprived sections of the society and middle classes?have been rendered homeless (or should one say, jhuggiless?) and deprived of their livelihoods because of the court-mandated demolition drives against encroachments of public land in Delhi and other parts of the country. The affected families have staged demonstrations and, at times, resorted to stone throwing and violence against officials involved in the demolitions and policemen escorting them. Nowhere, barring in Vadodra, were such demolitions communalised by the affected people. One can understand people'sanger against the administration and the police but why attack people belonging to another religious community to express your anger against the administration? The simple answer is that Muslims have been so pampered by the ?secularists? that they have now come to believe that no harm would come their way if they attack Hindus for any or no reason. On the other hand, they know they will get plenty of support and sympathy from the ?secularists? even if they are in the wrong.
Sample the statement issued by infamous SEHMAT. It saw a ?sinister? motive behind demolition of the dargah. Although, it didn'tcare to identify the motive, the implication is clear. The foreign-funded anti-Hindu outfit'sallegation is that the Modi Government had purposely demolished the dargah to injure Muslim sentiments. Nothing can be farther from truth. The demolitions were ordered by the High Court. While the Hindus willingly agreed to relocate of their sacred shrines for public good, Muslims, particularly their pig-headed leaders, frustrated municipal corporations? attempts to arrive at a negotiated settlement. However, the ?secular? brigade must attach motives to routine drives by the administration. They won'tadvice the Muslims to take a reasonable stand on relocation of a dargah that is not considered a shrine by the Muslims.
Communal violence that erupted after the stabbing incidents, including the burning alive of an innocent citizen, is deplorable. Chief Minister Narendra Modi has done everything in his power to control the violence. He asked the Union Home Minister to rush in additional forces to prevent the tension erupting into violence in other parts of the state, particularly polarised city of Ahmedabad that has seen countless riots since Independence. The army staged flag marches and para-military forces have arrived in the state to assist the local police. Although the tension persists, the situation is, by and large, under control. But the Congress party and its allies have left no stone unturned to milk the Vadodara violence for garnering Muslim votes. Second and third rung leaders of the Congress and other ?secular? parties hopped from one TV channel to another to denounce the administration for hurting Muslim sentiments and blaming Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for his ?failure? to control the situation. The ?secularists? have a passion to denounce Modi for every conceivable or inconceivable reason. By doing so, they are digging their own political graves. Bt pursuing an anti-Hindu policy, they are generating a Hindu-backlash. Secularists? attempt to demonising Modi has made him more popular in and outside Gujarat. His track record as Chief Minister is impressive. Gujarat is ahead of all other states so far as economic growth and development are concerned. To the ?secular? brigade'sdismay, the Chief Minister is emerging as an idol of Gujarati and Hindu pride.
The Government used diplomatic channels to advice the Danish Prime Minister to postpone his official visit to Delhi. It, thus, went out of the way to express its displeasure to the Danish Government although the latter had nothing to do with the publication of the cartoons and has no control over media in its country. Contrast this with UPA Government'sinaction over the demolition of the famous Krishna temple in Moscow and a century-old Hindu temple in Malaysia. Hindus in Russia and Malaysia did protest – of course, peacefully – and Hindu outfits in India did raise their voice but our ?secular? Government maintained a deafening silence over these issues concerning Hindu sentiments and sensitivity. This is yet another manifestation of distorted secularism.
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