'The exclusion of Gujarat's Muslim community is systemic, state-led'

Harsh Mander, a former IAS officer who resigned in the wake of the Gujarat 2002 riots, was one of the first people from outside Gujarat to report on the bloodshed. Now, as someone actively engaged in providing succour to the victims of the riots, he speaks to ANIL VARGHESE on how the genocide has assumed an economic form.

You have been involved in providing relief to the victims of the 2002 riots in Gujarat. What is the situation in the relief camps?

In Gujarat, five years after the riots, there are no relief camps. They have been disbanded. 2 lakh people have been displaced; some, because they are homeless, and others, because they are too frightened to return. The government refused to set up relief camps. Initially, the Muslim community mustered personnel and resources and set up relief camps. The government decided to go for elections 6 months after the riots and unfortunately disbanded the camps. The situation on the ground did not change much. Fear and hate was still in the air. The victims were not welcome back in their villages. They had to renegotiate their return. The people in the villages preferred not to have them back but if they did return, conditions were laid down.  The conditions included not pursuing legal justice and that the sound of adhan should not be heard. Some people, about half of the displaced, have accepted these conditions and returned to their villages. Even now they are living in conditions of extreme fear and hatred. It has almost become a way of life. People refuse to employ you and trade with you. Of the other half displaced, some have left the state altogether. There are others who have moved into ghettoes. There were still some who had nowhere to go. They were picked up from the streets and kept in relief colonies. There are 81 such colonies. The state government was in complete denial, leaving the colonies with no resources and facilities. We took up the matter in the Supreme Court. Also as a special commissioner of the Supreme Court in the 'Right to Food' case, I managed to get the state government to admit to the need for relief for these victims of the riots. Now these colonies have the basic markers of relief.

To what extent has the Muslim community been economically ostracised?

In rural Gujarat, the boycott is more visible. In urban areas, it is also there but with the anonymity in the urban context, identities are concealed and and a systematic boycott is not easy to operationalise. The spirit of boycott is still there but the practice is stronger in the villages affected by the violence. This continues even 5 years after the riots.

Did the conditions, which prevailed in rural Gujarat prior to 2002 as opposed to the rural areas of the neighbouring Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh in areas of education, agriculture and employment, throw up explanations for the riots?

The conditions, which led to the riots, resulted from a intensive work by the Sangh Parivar over of a period of 15-16 years under BJP rule in the state. Hindus and Muslims have lived together for centuries in India. A carnage of this magnitude was planned systematically with the support of the BJP and that of the non State actors like the Sangh protected by the State. And the preparations and the manufacture of a polarised community led to the carnage.

In 2002, the genocide with all the bloodshed drew widespread condemnation. Has it now taken on an economic guise?

In some ways it has been observed that 5 years since the carnage, now, it is as or even more genocidal because there are no weapons, mobs or bloodshed but people continue to live in fear. That is the reality in Gujarat in areas that were affected by the violence. There is very little remorse and reparation. I shall, however, underline the fact that this is not the complete story. There have been extraordinary individual acts of compassion from the Hindu community. This is also the reality of Gujarat. There are individuals who have shown enormous courage in coming to the rescue of their Muslim neigbours both during the riots and after.

How would you describe the present state of schools, workplaces and agriculture in rural Gujarat?

There exists boycott of Muslim agricultural labourers to the extent that they would employ non Muslim labourers as far as they are available. They deal with non Muslim shops, again as far as they are available. Schools are not segregated yet but a significant number of children from Muslim families have dropped out. Parents are frightened to send their children to school after the carnage.  There is also the economic compulsion. I see the situation in Gujarat after the carnage as a process by which second-class citizenship of the Muslims has been achieved. That is what is terrifying.

Modi has been projecting Gujarat as a ' vibrant' economy. The government also released the Ernst and Young Report recently with much fanfare. Is this a ploy to cover up the fracture that runs through the state? With the majority community benefiting exclusively, is Modi paying back his supporters for their part in marginalising the Muslim community?

There is a huge amount of debate about the extent of the economic prosperity as to whether the development has been taking the normal course or this particular government actually contributed to it in the last 5 years. This is certainly a part of India that seems to be prospering. Leading industries have lined up there to legitimise the Modi Government including the Tatas, Birlas and Ambanis. But many experts dispute the claims of economic prosperity –how deep it is, how widespread it is. But for me, that is not the crucial question. The crucial question really is this. Do a democratically elected economy and a vibrant economy really legitimise this fascistic politics and mass murder? Of course the development here is not inclusive nor is it anywhere else in the country but the difference is that the exclusion of the Muslim community is much more systemic, state-led here.

Is there a space for the corporate leaders to be a little more responsible especially those operating from outside Gujarat?

Mr ( Vijaypat) Singhania, now the chairperson of IIM Ahmedabad, remarked in his last convocation address on these lines; that we should get our priorities right, not lose ourselves in the minor issue of the genocide but focus on the economic growth. I found this statement extremely dangerous. We have other people like Anu Aga, Chairperson of Thermax, speaking out on the situation in Gujarat, explicitly stating that we cannot speak of   economic growth in the context of economic injustice, fear and hate. I don’t think the corporate leaders have stood up and countered adequately the injustice prevalent in Gujarat.

And the bureaucracy in Gujarat. How communalised is it and how have the civil servants from other states been taken on board?

With the bureaucracy there has been widespread complicity, not just in the carnage but also in the issues surrounding the rehabilitation and investigation. None of this would have been possible if the bureaucracy had put its foot down on the matter.  But there are many extraordinary examples of courage as well from young police officers during the carnage and the investigations that followed. By and large the institution has been extremely complicit. I have this question. Do the bureaucrats and policemen crawl because they are frightened or because they share in the project of hate? To me, the way the communal politics has been played out is the most dangerous aspect.

RB Sreekumar, the intelligence chief of the Gujarat police during the riots, remarked in a recent interview with Tehelka that the IAS and IPS officers joined in the bandwagon of hate because they were promised better positions and transfers in exchange.

The fact that the bureaucracy was complicit in carrying out the carnage is beyond dispute. There could be three reasons for their complicity. One, they were so frightened they couldn’t take a stand; second, they were bribed by seniors and third, they believed in it. My observation is that sometimes it is bits of all three but usually it is the third. If this is actually true, this is truly frightening.