Ms Sonia Gandhi and Dr. Manmohan Singh may have already apologised for 1984. Rahul Gandhi may perform a penitent kar seva at the Golden Temple or get his party loyalists from the Sikh community offer him yards of the ceremonial saropa; the entire Congress party including those accused of leading murderous mobs in 1984 may apologise, but that should not stop the wheels of justice from moving. An apology ought, at best, to be treated as a symbolic gesture. But the danger is that in our political discourse it is rather seen as delivery of justice to the victims. Apology cannot be absolution. There is no concept of absolution in the modern criminal justice system. The principles of restorative justice do not apply to people who call themselves leaders, wear khadi and offer floral tributes at Rajghat, and then go on to lead murderous mobs burning people to death with petrol-filled tyres. They do not apply to men in khaki who take an oath of allegiance to perform their duty with integrity and impartiality and then end up serving the interests of their political masters. They do not apply to those who head a nation or a part of it and simply choose to remain passive during a riot or a pogrom. That is why even if Mr. Narendra Modi folds his hands a hundred times in apology, Qutubbudin Ansari’s folded hands will always remain the emblematic image of the 2002 Gujarat riots. No matter how much pain he expresses at the idea of an imaginary puppy coming under the wheels of his car, and even though the judiciary gave a clean chit to him, he must be judged by how the guilty ministers like Maya Kodnani were rewarded with plum jobs. Similarly, the Congress party will have to be held accountable for how leaders like H.K.L. Bhagat were rewarded with ministerial berths. If Mr. Gandhi is serious about empowering people then it is not enough to just acknowledge that the 1984 killings took place and that they were completely wrong. He cannot just mumble: “Gujarat happened. People died. But the real issue as far as I am concerned is […]” The real issue as far as anybody must be concerned is that people died. They died in 1984 in Delhi. They died in 1990 in Kashmir. They died in Bombay in 1993. They died in Muzaffarnagar in 2013. And that many responsible for these killings or abetting these killings are still roaming free. Mr. Gandhi can wear his Asics sneakers, roll up his sleeves and tour the countryside as much as he wishes to. But the real test of his intent would be whether or not he supports Mr. Arvind Kejriwal’s decision to set up a Special Investigation Team to probe 1984. Some day, Mr. Modi will also have to face the truth of 2002 even though for now he is busy flying kites with Mr. Salman Khan. Meanwhile, let us stop asking for apologies. Let us begin by demanding that those accused of involvement in the 1984 killings be brought to justice. Let us begin from the other end of 2013 as well. Let us put the nails of Muzaffarnagar in Mr. Akhilesh Yadav’s path; let us force him to get down from his Mercedes cycle. Spot on -brilliant stuff from a respected Indian author and journalist Rahul Pandita.Lets not mistake the woods for the trees .
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 10:15:28 +0000
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