The Feminist October 16, 2013
1. Role of the BJP and Allied Organisations – RSS/VHP/BD
1.1. From its declaration of the Gujarat bandh on February 28 and the Bharat bandh on March 1, following the Godhra tragedy, the questionable role of the Sangh Parivar in Gujarat and the ruling BJP’s active ‘fraternal’ support to them is clear. Within hours of the VHP’s bandh call, on the afternoon of February 27, the BJP’s Gujarat general secretary extended to them his party’s support.
1.2. Following the declaration of the bandh with detailed action plans, including steps taken to ensure police complicity, (see chapters — State Complicity, Police Misbehaviour, Volume III), many of the BJP’s elected representatives to the civic corporation or Parliament, were active in leading the mobs targeting Muslims.
1.3. They have been named in FIRs, fact-finding reports of citizens groups and newspaper reports. (see chapter– List of the accused, Volume III)
1.4. The tight control that outfits like the VHP and RSS have on the ruling BJP in Gujarat and on the dominant partner of the National Democratic Alliance at the Centre, has been evident for long. The Gujarat carnage has thoroughly exposed how even the murder of innocents could be condoned by a party, the BJP, ostensibly wedded to democracy and the rule of law.
1.5. Most shocking in this condonation of the Gujarat carnage, was the role of the deputy prime minister and home minister, Shri LK Advani, whose electoral constituency is Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat. On innumerable occasions, Shri Advani has been engaged in high praise for Shri Modi and given him a clean chit, when he should, in fact, have been upholding the Constitution of India. He referred to the Gujarat CM as the “best chief minister in 50 years” and has repeatedly praised Shri Modi’s Gaurav Yatra, which is nothing short of a celebration of the violence that his government effectively sponsored. It is in the course of his Gaurav Yatra that Shri Modi made some extremely offensive remarks, describing the relief camps as “breeding centres” for Muslims, which his government had no interest in promoting.
1.6. The close nexus between the Modi-headed BJP government in Gujarat on the one hand, and the RSS and VHP on the other, is apparent from the backing that each gave to the other’s statements, including those casting aspersions on constitutional authorities like the election commission and the chief election commissioner (CEC).
1.7. Three days after Shri Modi had hit out at the CEC, JM Lyngdoh, as well as the Congress party president, Smt. Sonia Gandhi, because they both happen to be of the Christian faith, on August 23, the international general secretary of the VHP, Shri Praveen Togadia, forcefully repeated the charge. Describing Shri Modi as the ‘he-man’ of Gujarat, he charged Lyngdoh with having an ‘anti-Hindu’ bias because of his decision to defer the elections in Gujarat. After delivering a lecture on Islamic terrorism, organised by the Indraprastha VHP at the Constitution Club in Delhi, Shri Togadia told reporters, “There are two similarities between Mrs Gandhi and Lyngdoh. They are both Christians and both of them don’t want early elections in Gujarat.” The CEC, he said, had also “betrayed his anti-Hindu bias” earlier, in a lecture delivered at Mussourie in the aftermath of the anti-Christian violence in Dangs (Gujarat) in 2000.
1.8. The clear connection and nexus between the democratically elected BJP government in Gujarat and outfits like the RSS and the VHP is evident from the former’s conduct, since the carnage. Reports of the Gujarat government’s deliberate avoidance of the arrest of at least 150 VHP, Bajrang Dal and BJP kingpins — their names figure in the FIRs filed by the police for directly leading the mobs who slaughtered Muslims and indulged in bloody violence — have been confirmed by the absence of their names in the charge-sheets.
1.9. Although Shri Modi’s government claims to have arrested over 2,500 persons involved in the post-Godhra riots, not a single mastermind from the VHP, BJP or Bajrang Dal named as riot perpetrators and mob leaders in various police complaints, have been arrested. On the contrary, police officials who have named these leaders from the Sangh Parivar in the FIRs are being pressured to either drop their names or book them under less serious charges. At least six BJP workers have been named as the main accused in the Naroda carnage case, where over 150 Muslim men and women were massacred after girls and women were brutalised sexually. The accused include, Shri Raju Sharma, Shri Kishan Kurani, Shri PJ Rajput, Shri Harish Rohara, Shri Bapu Bajrang and Shri Raju Chaubal, all identified as BJP and VHP activists. FIRs have been lodged against the six Sangh Parivar activists under IPC 302, 395 and 143, 149 and 148 for slaughtering and rioting. However, police have been instructed not to arrest the culprits. “It is politically incorrect to arrest them and we are under tremendous pressure not to act against them,” said police officers. (The Indian Express, March 9, 2002).
1.10. The Tribunal observes that in Gujarat, many cabinet ministers are simultaneously prominent leaders of the VHP. The home minister, Shri Gordhan Zadaphiya, is one of them. So, too, is the former revenue minister Shri Haren Pandya, a senior VHP functionary. He has been named by many witnesses who appeared before us, as trying to influence police not to take action against the accused. Minister for forests, Shri Prabhat Singh Chauhan and minister for cottage industries, Shri Narayan Laloo Patel are also two clear examples of this.
1.11. In Bhavnagar, which witnessed the worst communal violence in its history, there are FIRs against Shri Om Trivedi, the city VHP president, and Shri Mansukh Panjwani, a city BJP office bearer and former municipal councillor. Both Shri Trivedi and Shri Panjwani are alleged to have led mobs that set fire to over 80 Muslim-owned business establishments. They are, however, yet to be arrested.
1.12. Similarly, at Surendranagar, CR No. 54/2002 names six persons, who are primary members of the BJP and VHP, for instigating riots and indulging in mayhem. They have been charged under IPC 395, 436, 147, 148 and 149 but have not been arrested. These include district VHP in-charge, Shri Raju Vaishnav, BJP councillor, Shri Narottam Satwara, VHP joint secretary, Shri Dhiren Shukla, Shri Tulsibhai Ranchhod Bharwad and Shri Devji Bharwad, (the last three being active BJP workers). Each time chief minister Shri Modi and the union home minister and present deputy prime minister, Shri LK Advani were questioned on this matter, they have simply feigned ignorance. This attitude, on both their parts, amounts to shielding the guilty.
1.13. Soon after the Gujarat carnage, there was a nation-wide clamour for the dismissal or resignation of the chief minister and the imposition of President’s rule in the state. While on occasions the Prime Minister Shri Vajpayee gave the impression of being somewhat shaken by the events in Gujarat, it soon became evident that it was the RSS who had the final say, when the then BJP president, Shri Jana Krishnamurthy, effectively overruled the PM and asserted that Shri Modi’s resignation was out of the question.
1.14. It is clear from these associations, and the desire of the central and the Gujarat governments to grant these outfits legitimacy, that a close and abiding link exists between the BJP, the RSS and the VHP/BD. (Two years ago, the Gujarat government decided that there lift the bar on government servants from joining the RSS. The decision had to be withdrawn following country-wide protests, including those from the BJP’s allies in the NDA coalition at the Centre.)
1.15. On February 27, concerned over the strident posturing related to the campaign for building the Ram temple at Ayodhya on the site of the demolished Babri Masjid, none less than the Prime Minister of India, Shri Vajpayee, met with the working president of the VHP, Shri Ashok Singhal.. At this meeting, the RSS joint general secretary who was also present promised “to tone down the movement.”
1.16. Within days of the PM expressing some remorse over Gujarat during a visit to the US, Shri Singhal responded (September 22): “PM Vajpayee’s statement in the US regarding the Gujarat riots had lowered the image of the people of Gujarat. The prime minister made a ridiculous remark in the US that what happened in Gujarat was a matter of shame. The remark in fact is most shameful… Gujarat is a lesson for all times to come. Since Independence, Hindus had been victims of Muslim vandalism. Now the Hindus of Gujarat have beamed a message that jehadi programmes will no longer be tolerated in any part of the country. Gujarat has served as a warning to those trying to make India a pan-Islamic nation. There are one lakh madrassas (Islamic institutions) which are propagating a dangerous ideology to make India Dar-ul-Islam. They are breeding grounds for terrorists…”
1.17. The role played by the BJP and organisations like the RSS, VHP and BD in threatening internal peace and security in many parts of India is clear. There is an urgent need to put a complete stop to these activities, which are subversive of the Indian Constitution.
1.18. The Tribunal would like to record here, the ample evidence placed before it by expert witnesses, newspaper reports and fact-finding team reports, documenting the aggressive tone and posturing of organisations like the RSS, VHP and BD, especially since the BJP-dominated National Democratic Alliance came to power at the centre. These activities and such public posturing indicate several things:
u The intimate connection and the hold that these organisations have on the BJP, a party which heads the central government today;
u The avowedly anti-constitutional thrust of their intent and activities, whether in the matter of the construction of a temple on the site of a demolished mosque, in the absence of a court verdict on the matter, or on other issues;
u The series of arms training camps held all over the country, by the VHP and the Bajrang Dal, both off-shoots of the RSS, with close links to the BJP, since, at least, the year 2000. The Indian Arms Act, 1959, expressly prohibits the possession of arms by private parties without licence (the only exception being security agencies). The possession of a licence before a firearm is owned is a legal requirement. The Bombay Police Act, which applies to Gujarat, is similarly stringent on the question of possession of arms by citizens. The police are empowered to demand production of a licence. (Section 19 of the Arms Act). The exemption of the trishul (which in fact is a sharp, three-pronged weapon, which can cause fatal injury), from the provisions of the Arms Act, through a GR issued by the central government, is a clever ploy to encourage the militarisation and arming of a section of civil society by such groups. The swords that are also freely sold at the arms training camps, along with the air guns and rifles that are used for shooting practice, are clear pointers to the intent of these organisations. Yet, the police in BJP-ruled states and the BJP-led central government have turned a blind eye to such ominous developments.
u In the specific case of the Gujarat carnage, whether on the issue of the removal or resignation of Shri Modi from the chief minister’s post or others, it is evident that the BJP-led ruling NDA’s demeanour and actions have been strongly influenced by the utterings of the RSS and its siblings, the VHP and the BD.
1.19. The intelligence departments of three states in India — Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan — have asked for a ban on the Bajrang Dal, on the grounds that it is generating “terror” and spawning home–bred terrorists. The testimony of many witnesses, from both communities, who appeared before the Tribunal, reinforces the assessment of the state police in Gujarat’s neighbouring states. “Many Gujaratis, Hindus and Muslims alike, felt that the Bajrang Dal had made a business of deliberately transforming ordinary people into terrorists. Where people had been living peacefully, they unnecessarily spun stories about Muslims, although, so far, Muslims had never given them any trouble. They wondered why people were being taught things like this.” (A witness’ testimony before the Tribunal.)
2. Training
2.1. In recent years, groups affiliated to the Sangh Parivar have been in the ascendant country-wide, given their increased access to political power, patronage and money. But the extent and scale of their mobilisation in Gujarat should be a matter of grave concern for the law and order machinery.
2.2. The BJP’s rule in Gujarat, after its return to power in February 1998, has been marked by frequent attacks on the religious minorities in the state and other anti-constitutional actions that remained unchallenged. (See chapter on Build -Up in Gujarat, Volume II).
2.3. Evidence led before the tribunal from Naroda Patiya, Naroda Gaon, Gulberg society, Chamanpura, Gomtipur and Rakhial (all in Ahmedabad), from Vadodara, Bharuch, Ankleshwar and from villages in Himmatnagar, Sabarkantha, and Panchmahal district reveals that local tensions built up after the formation of an RSS/VHP/BD unit in the area. These groups started marshalling young Hindus, assuming an aggressive attitude, distributing swords and trishuls and, in general, adopting a vigilante stance against ‘impending attacks from Muslims.’
2.4. The Tribunal has led specific and detailed evidence on the method of mobilisation and training adopted by the VHP and Bajrang Dal from four recruitsformer recruits. This explains the phenomenon whereby huge mobs surfaced so promptly all over the state during the carnage. It also explains the ability of these organisations to collect youngsters, indoctrinated with misconceptions and with hatred in their hearts, who were available at a signal from their leaders to commit murder, loot, arson and rape, and defy all laws, secure in the conviction that with the BJP in power, they would have full protection and need have no fear of the law and order machinery.
2.5. Reproduced here is the gist of the testimony of the four recruits/former recruits mentioned above, which provides a clear picture of the BD’s and the VHP’s mobilisation techniques. The enrolment fee for a new entrant to a BD shakha (cell) is Rs. 55. Once admitted, you are expected to attend meetings held around 8 p.m. every night, mostly on private premises, sometimes in small temples. Secret meetings for the more select are held once a week, later at night, around 10 p.m. Enrolment to the shakha entitles the volunteer to a card identifying him as a Bajrang Dal karyakarta (activist). If you help recruit 10 more youth, you are made a ‘VHP Mantri’. You are given a trishul the moment you enrol. You are told that trishuls were not meant to be kept inside a temple and worshipped but to be used to protect the Hindu faith. You are also told that the trishul should not be used to kill one’s ‘brothers’, but to save ‘our’ religion.
2.6. At the weekly meetings, members are told, more explicitly, that the trishuls are to be used against Muslims whenever there was a riot or a fight. If you killed Muslims, the organisation was there to protect you from penal consequences. If something happened to you, the organisation was there to take care of your family. If you did get arrested during the riots, all you had to do was to show your Bajrang dal membership card and the police was sure to let you go.
2.7. The VHP Mantris are assigned the responsibility of training 60-70 boys each day. What did the training involve? The training primarily involved compiling an exhaustive list of all Muslims living in the area. Members had to collect information about Muslim places of residence, property, businesses, family, etc. in the locality: Who lived where, how much they were worth, how many children they had, etc. All the information so gathered was to be passed on in the form of a written report that was maintained by the Mantri.
2.8. The Tribunal notes with horror, the level of impunity that such unlawful, armed organisations have come to enjoy in BJP-ruled Gujarat.
2.9. Apart from the detailed account of the four recruits/former recruits to the Bajrang Dal, other witnesses from Naroda, near Ahmedabad, and from Kheda, Bharuch and Panchmahal districts also gave evidence before the Tribunal about training camps being organised in their neighbourhoods. In all these cases, an intensive training of the BD/VHP volunteers began after September 2001. An advertisement encouraging youngsters to join the Bajrang Dal in large numbers had appeared in the Gujarat daily, Sandesh in August last year.
2.10. This suggests sinister preparation and planning for the Gujarat carnage long before the Godhra tragedy, by the Sangh Parivar affiliates, their leaders confident of impunity from the long arm of the law since they enjoyed the patronage of the ruling party.
2.11. Notwithstanding the in themselves startling and brazen revelations made by professor Keshavram Kashiram Shastri, the 96-year-old chairman of the Gujarat unit of the VHP, in an interview to rediff.com, there is evidently an attempt to deny past preparation and planning, intensively so in Gujarat since last year. In the interview (see Annexures, Volume I) Shri Shastri said that the list of shops owned by Muslims in Ahmedabad was prepared on the morning of February 28 itself. This was in response to the allegation that shops in Ahmedabad were looted on the basis of a list prepared by the VHP in advance, and that the violence was not a spontaneous outburst against the Godhra outrage. Asked why they did it, he responded, “’Karvunj pade, karvunj pade’ (‘It had to be done, it had to be done’). We don’t like it, but we were terribly angry. Lust and anger are blind.” He said the rioters were “kelvayela Hindu chokra” (“well-bred Hindu boys”). The impunity with which Shri Shastri could speak with the candour that he did in his interview on March 12, and again on March 29, when he told the same journalist that the organisation (VHP) had been asked to pull back, is shocking, to say the least. That the Gujarat government has taken no action whatsoever against Shri Shastri speaks volumes about the BJP-VHP nexus.
2.12. The constant invocation of caste Hindu symbols, militant and aggressive posturing, the possession of trishuls and swords and regular weapons’ training were elements of the methodical preparation of these cadres. Young men were told that Bajrang Dal workers should always greet each other with ‘Jai Shri Ram!’ to identify themselves. One of the centres used for physical training was at a theatre beyond Adalaj on the Gandhinagar road outside Ahmedabad. While trishuls were often distributed on payment of enrolment fees, members were asked to pay Rs. 310 for a sword. They were assured at the secret weekly training sessions that the swords were ‘legal’. They were also told that if ever the police found them, all they had to do was tell them that it was a Bajrang Dal sword, and no one would say anything. Swords were sold to the recruits quite openly and instructions on how to use them were given at the secret meetings.
2.13. At the advanced stage of training, the more seasoned members were told they would have to participate in fights or riots (ladhai-jhagda, danga-fasaad) whenever necessary. They said that, as Bajrang Dal leaders, they would, necessarily, be the most active, but young men, too, should always be prepared. They might be woken up in the middle of the night and should be ready to participate. The recruits were promised that when they participated in a riot, the organisation would pay them double the money that they lost in regular wages. Young men were also assured that if ever they were injured or killed during a riot, their families would receive adequate compensation.
2.14. The speeches at these meetings followed a basic pattern. Leaders would be brought in to brainwash the young members against Muslims. The single point agenda, evidence before the Tribunal has recorded, indicates that the desire was to demonise the Muslim community as also to create an armed cadre of young men, indoctrinated, full of hatred in their hearts, and sufficiently trained to perpetrate the grossest forms of physical abuse on their victims.
2.15. The Tribunal collected concrete information about the kind of mental training and brainwashing imparted to young men at the secret, weekly meetings – “We were told that until now it is the Muslims who have been harassing Hindus. ‘They have molested Hindu sisters and Hindu daughters. In Hindi films today, all the top heroes are Muslims, but there are no Muslim heroines. It is Muslims who are forging ahead in our country. They don’t let their daughters out in public but they spoil our Hindu daughters. Muslims are the ones who always use force. Our country was once a Hindu nation. The Muslims invaded us by force, married our mothers and our daughters and converted us to Islam.’”
2.16. According to the witnesses, in the Bajrang Dal camps, young men are told: “Under the pretext of prayers [namaaz], Muslims gather at 2 p.m. every day and maulvis instruct them in several activities. They specially employ young men, pay them a salary and send them to college to spoil Hindu girls. Muslims are involved in several such nefarious activities.” They said that they wanted to start a similar practice amongst Hindus. That was what the secret 10 p.m. meetings were meant for. Here the members would all band together, worship/invoke Hanuman and prepare “to give Muslims a fitting reply.” The secret meetings – gupt shakhas — also gave special training in the use of arms.
2.17. The Tribunal, therefore, concludes that abundant financial resources was one distinguishing feature of these outfits; that mercenary means are adopted to sustain the interest and participation of young cadres, ready to do the bidding of their hate-filled masters.
2.18. The Tribunal records that in Gujarat, quite apart from the political patronage and impunity from the law accorded to these outfits, there is enough money to finance the mobilisation. The source of such funds, used increasingly for blatantly unlawful and unconstitutional activities, needs to be investigated.
2.19. The Tribunal received detailed information on the Sangh Parivar’s shakha activities all over Gujarat, from the evidence of witnesses living in neighbourhoods where the training takes place. It should be a matter of priority for the local police to keep a tab on such activities, and curtail them, as they clearly disseminate hate literature to create permanent disharmony, fissures and tensions in Indian society and distribute arms and give arms training to pit one religious community against another.
2.20. Reports in credible national dailies and periodicals show that the VHP and the Bajrang Dal have been regularly conducting arms training camps in different parts of the country, for the last two years at least. (See Detailed Annexures, Volume III). From the statements on record, the objective behind these camps is evident, as are the objectives of their organisers and the instructors who conduct them: to spread venom against the minorities, especially Muslims and Christians, and to prepare a band of heavily indoctrinated, well-trained youth ready at a moment’s notice to pounce on the minorities. “We are preparing these able-bodied persons to fight any eventuality. With the ISI spreading its tentacles, these people are being trained to challenge the anti-Hindu forces… It is not the gun that matters, but self-confidence.” (Ved Prakash Sachchan, joint convenor of the UP unit of the Bajrang Dal, in an interview to The Times of India, June 13, 2001.) Such are the declared activities at these camps. The Tribunal has on its record, details of such arms training by these outfits in different states all over the country.
2.21. Given this background and the detailed evidence gathered by the Tribunal in the course of its investigations for a fortnight in Gujarat in May 2002, on the objectives and the kind of training given in the course of these camps, it is clear that they are a means to poison minds and generate hatred among Hindu youth towards other faiths and their followers. For Indian society, the consequences of such systematic and large-scale indoctrination and training, which is blatantly unconstitutional and seriously threatens internal peace, cannot be overemphasised. Instead of orienting them towards productive, creative and noble purposes, hate-mongers from the Sangh Parivar are busy mobilising youth for destructive activities. Anyone concerned about the health of Indian society and its progress should be acutely disturbed by these developments. Governments in the states and in New Delhi should view these developments with the urgency they deserve and halt such hate-driven mobilisation for violence.
2.22. Testimonies recorded by the Tribunal from Vadodara showed that about 2 months prior to the Godhra incident, a big meeting (sabha) was held at Tarsali bus stand near Vijaynagar colony. About 2-3000 people attended. It was a meeting for people from the Bajrang Dal and was attended by the international general secretary of the VHP, Shri Praveen Togadia as well a religious leader whose speech was telecast on the local television channel. The Tribunal recorded evidence that showed objectionable and criminal statements were made and telecast. Witnesses testified before the Tribunal saying that Hindus should not interact with Muslims on a normal basis but should only maintain good relations with those Muslims who have good looking wives, so that when the time came they could do what they had to do.
2.23. In August 2001, the VHP and the Bajrang Dal had organised a VHP Bharti (Join VHP) programme. Nearly one lakh people marched through the streets of Ahmedabad even though curfew was declared. This went on until September. One of the main programmes was held at the VHP’s Vanikar Bhavan, Paldi. Their main avahan (call) was, “Muslim ko nasht kar do!” (“Destroy the Muslims!”) Advertisements were also released, asking for membership.
3 Impunity from Punishment
3.1. Gross and heinous crimes instigated or committed by the Sangh Parivar with the connivance of the BJP-ruled state government, during the post-Godhra carnage in Gujarat, has been matched with a celebration of the crimes and open contempt for the rule law. On March 9, The Indian Express reported that even before the police had apprehended or prepared charge-sheets against the VHP and Bajrang Dal activists named in FIRs for attacking Muslims, the VHP had a team of 50 advocates ready to defend the killers in court. “The advocates will work in teams of five each. What is more, a core committee was set up on Tuesday to provide ‘succour’ to families of men on the run or in judicial custody… The VHP state wing general secretary, Jaideep Patel says, ‘These men (the Godhra victims and those facing police action for post Godhra crimes) have fought a religious battle. They also fought to protect Hindu lives under attack. Not only the VHP and Bajrang Dal, the whole community should come forward to help them’… Patel is not sure how many of his men are already in police reports or will be named in them, but says it ‘will not be less than 3,000’, including those responsible for the Gulberg society and Jakar Falia attacks.”
3.2. According to the same report in The Indian Express a top Bajrang Dal functionary, Shri Harshad Gilletwala said, “Cases are being registered against our men all across the state — Ahmedabad, Surat, Panchmahal. Maybe some of our men may have been involved in reprisals, being emotionally charged by the Godhra attack. But in most cases they are being falsely implicated.”
3.3. Incidentally, Shri Gilletwala himself faces similar charges. He is named in several cases of rioting in Ahmedabad over the last few years, the most infamous being the 1999 Bhagyodaya restaurant case. Gilletwala and a gang of Bajrang Dal men allegedly set fire to the restaurant in the Satellite area and burnt alive one of its Muslim owners in July 1999. (See chapter on Build-Up in Gujarat, Volume II)
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