Sunday, February 27, 2011

The Godhra potboiler

There was a conspiracy. A bogie was meticulously burned and its passengers killed.

What should a government do? Try and get the situation under control, immediately, using all the available resources. Using all available resources, find the cause of the incident. It now having been confirmed that it was a conspiracy, hunt down the accused and put them on trial.

What did actually happen? And therein lies the tragedy.

And now 9 years later, internet-nationalists are outraged that 63 people were acquitted for no crime of theirs.

There is no denying that there was a conspiracy. I earnestly appeal for the most stringent punishment for the perpetrators of this heinous crime. I also appeal that the perpetrators of the Gujrat pogrom be also put on trial. Injustice should just not be tolerated in this great nation of ours.

The tragedy of Gujrat is not just Godhra. The tragedy is both Godhra and post-Godhra Gujrat. As long as this divide exists, Gujrat will always be viewed as a stigma. And that is an even bigger tragedy.

Life has continued and will continue. But at the next flare-up, and we are all fools if we believe that there won't be a flare-up, the tragic consequences will even be greater.

Doesn't Gujrat deserve better? Doesn't India deserve better?

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