I recently read a blog post "We are more than our name" by Zahir Janmohamad. It's really disturbing and painful to read any riot survivor's account, this one is more painful for me as I know about this incident as it happened when I was still living in India. These riots happened in February 2002 when I was supposed to travel by train from Varanasi (UP) to Pune (Maharashtra). I read the news about the train bogie fire at Godhra station in Gujarat which killed 58 people, and communal riots followed after this. Due to the possibility of communal tension in other parts of the country, my relatives were worried about my travel as it was during the days following this incident. More than ten years have passed since this incident happened. Many people died during riots in Gujarat. This is not the only riot that happened in Gujarat or in India, there were many communal violence incidents before and after that. For example, the 1984 anti-Sikh riots after the assassination of Indira Gandhi, or Mumbai riots of 1992-93, or the issue of Kashmiri Pandits who were forced to leave their homes because of communal tension in Kashmir valley and live like refugees in their own country, or recent 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots. Many people lost their lives and survivors are still waiting for justice to be delivered in most of these cases.
This post is not about the Godhra riot or any other riot. Depending on which community or religion they belong people are more sensitive to particular riots compared to others. Their reactions are extreme if their community is at the receiving end in any of the riots. I can understand the anger and frustration when people from their own community suffer but can not understand when the same people justify other riots where people from some other community suffer at the hands of people of their own community. Somehow they feel the pain and agony of riot victims belonging to their own religion but are totally immune to the pain of victims of other religions. Every communal riot or violent incident (including wars and terrorist attacks) leaves behind victims and their relatives who suffered during that conflict and continue to suffer even after that for a variety of reasons. Most people who are not directly affected by this incident read about it in the news, watch it on TV, feel sad for some time but move on with their lives, which is very natural. Even some people who get affected by these incidents also try to overcome that stress and trauma and move on, but there are many for whom the memory of those painful days becomes a major problem in their life. It's very difficult for them to forget these events. Their physical wounds heal with time but their psychological wounds don't. These traumatic incidents leave a very deep impact on their mind and affect them psychologically. Zahir's post is one such post that displays such an impact. It shows the pain of the person who is still suffering from the trauma he faced during those days, his life is not yet normal as those painful memories are so deeply rooted in his psyche that he cannot remove them.
In India, some political party or leader gets accused for either instigating these riots or for not taking timely action to prevent it. Some political leaders owe their political careers to some of these riots. These infamous and tragic incidents made them famous and helped them to win elections and become very powerful leaders in their party and state. Many of these political leaders from various parties do get charged for some offenses related to these riots, some inquiry panel tries to investigate these riots, but I have not yet seen any powerful political leader getting punished for their involvement in these riots. Most of them get clean chit because of lack of evidence, it doesn't matter which party they belong to. I am not in a position to say for sure whether any of those accused politicians were really involved in those incidents or not as fortunately, I have not witnessed any riot myself personally but there seems to be the presence of a reasonable amount of evidence that hints towards indirect or direct involvement of many of these leaders. Many of these leaders are very powerful and popular so it is very difficult even for investigating agencies to gather any evidence against them, they always get the benefit of the doubt but that doesn't mean they are not guilty. Some of them may get punished eventually after a couple of decades once their fame and power wane, but this is useless as justice delayed is justice denied.
It's easy to say "move on" but in reality, it's not that easy, especially for victims who faced such a horrible incident in their life, and that too when they feel that justice is not delivered to them. It must be really difficult for them to digest the fact that people who they think are responsible for these riots are free, getting rewarded, and not even regret what they did. It is easy for people like me who are not directly affected by these riots to look at them objectively, analyze them, talk about them, and even debate about them, but how many of us really understand the real pain and agony of these victims. How many of us who justify some of these riots as acts of revenge are willing to put ourselves or our loved ones in that situation? Just try to imagine the trauma of these victims before trying to justify any of these heinous acts. Our desire for revenge dominates over our ability to feel pain and compassion for our fellow humans and if it is related to our religion or country then we passionately justify these killings. Once we decide to justify any heinous act then the question of right or wrong doesn't matter much.
Most of the world will move on or even forget about these riots, but posts like Zakir's will remind us about that ugly past, about the inefficiency and ineffectiveness of our legal system. It might make some of us uncomfortable but we can not blame people like him for digging into the unpleasant past unnecessarily because for them the pain and trauma are real. We need to allow people like him to express themselves. We should hear victim's stories if they are willing to share them, maybe this will help to relieve their pain to some extent. We all should try to understand the pain and agony felt by riot victims like him. I believe communal riots are avoidable incidents. We need to spread awareness about them and have strict laws and an efficient law and order system to catch and punish the culprits, no matter who they are. As long as we allow people responsible for these riots to walk free, and reap political benefits from these riots these things will keep on happening, the names of leaders will change but whenever possible they will keep on using communal violence as a tool to get political mileage. We need to diffuse this weapon, we need to make it totally ineffective so that they stop using it, and as long as we don't do that we will be forced to read such articles and wonder if we are living in a civilized world or some jungle.
This post is not about the Godhra riot or any other riot. Depending on which community or religion they belong people are more sensitive to particular riots compared to others. Their reactions are extreme if their community is at the receiving end in any of the riots. I can understand the anger and frustration when people from their own community suffer but can not understand when the same people justify other riots where people from some other community suffer at the hands of people of their own community. Somehow they feel the pain and agony of riot victims belonging to their own religion but are totally immune to the pain of victims of other religions. Every communal riot or violent incident (including wars and terrorist attacks) leaves behind victims and their relatives who suffered during that conflict and continue to suffer even after that for a variety of reasons. Most people who are not directly affected by this incident read about it in the news, watch it on TV, feel sad for some time but move on with their lives, which is very natural. Even some people who get affected by these incidents also try to overcome that stress and trauma and move on, but there are many for whom the memory of those painful days becomes a major problem in their life. It's very difficult for them to forget these events. Their physical wounds heal with time but their psychological wounds don't. These traumatic incidents leave a very deep impact on their mind and affect them psychologically. Zahir's post is one such post that displays such an impact. It shows the pain of the person who is still suffering from the trauma he faced during those days, his life is not yet normal as those painful memories are so deeply rooted in his psyche that he cannot remove them.
In India, some political party or leader gets accused for either instigating these riots or for not taking timely action to prevent it. Some political leaders owe their political careers to some of these riots. These infamous and tragic incidents made them famous and helped them to win elections and become very powerful leaders in their party and state. Many of these political leaders from various parties do get charged for some offenses related to these riots, some inquiry panel tries to investigate these riots, but I have not yet seen any powerful political leader getting punished for their involvement in these riots. Most of them get clean chit because of lack of evidence, it doesn't matter which party they belong to. I am not in a position to say for sure whether any of those accused politicians were really involved in those incidents or not as fortunately, I have not witnessed any riot myself personally but there seems to be the presence of a reasonable amount of evidence that hints towards indirect or direct involvement of many of these leaders. Many of these leaders are very powerful and popular so it is very difficult even for investigating agencies to gather any evidence against them, they always get the benefit of the doubt but that doesn't mean they are not guilty. Some of them may get punished eventually after a couple of decades once their fame and power wane, but this is useless as justice delayed is justice denied.
It's easy to say "move on" but in reality, it's not that easy, especially for victims who faced such a horrible incident in their life, and that too when they feel that justice is not delivered to them. It must be really difficult for them to digest the fact that people who they think are responsible for these riots are free, getting rewarded, and not even regret what they did. It is easy for people like me who are not directly affected by these riots to look at them objectively, analyze them, talk about them, and even debate about them, but how many of us really understand the real pain and agony of these victims. How many of us who justify some of these riots as acts of revenge are willing to put ourselves or our loved ones in that situation? Just try to imagine the trauma of these victims before trying to justify any of these heinous acts. Our desire for revenge dominates over our ability to feel pain and compassion for our fellow humans and if it is related to our religion or country then we passionately justify these killings. Once we decide to justify any heinous act then the question of right or wrong doesn't matter much.
Most of the world will move on or even forget about these riots, but posts like Zakir's will remind us about that ugly past, about the inefficiency and ineffectiveness of our legal system. It might make some of us uncomfortable but we can not blame people like him for digging into the unpleasant past unnecessarily because for them the pain and trauma are real. We need to allow people like him to express themselves. We should hear victim's stories if they are willing to share them, maybe this will help to relieve their pain to some extent. We all should try to understand the pain and agony felt by riot victims like him. I believe communal riots are avoidable incidents. We need to spread awareness about them and have strict laws and an efficient law and order system to catch and punish the culprits, no matter who they are. As long as we allow people responsible for these riots to walk free, and reap political benefits from these riots these things will keep on happening, the names of leaders will change but whenever possible they will keep on using communal violence as a tool to get political mileage. We need to diffuse this weapon, we need to make it totally ineffective so that they stop using it, and as long as we don't do that we will be forced to read such articles and wonder if we are living in a civilized world or some jungle.
Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.
[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]
[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]
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Part 1 of 3 post
ReplyDeleteYou declare this blog is not about any religion or riots but you start the blog by declaring “…this one is more painful for me…..”.
Why should it be any special just because you happen to be there or not!
It should make no difference and yet because you side with some muslim blogger and clearly show bias and continue your antihindu blogging.
Then you try to blame some politician for becoming famous due to the riots which is just so bizarre and false allegations. The entire blog is a political broadcast to bring down Modi and stop him becoming the next PM. This blog is yet another well orchestrated anti-Modi political broadcast.
Read the blog again The blog starts with how he loves Hindus and builds up a rosy picture then slowly with example after example turns it into a Hindu hating blog. By the time we have read all his woe story we feel so sorry for him that we start to hate Hindus as well. JOB DONE!
If everyone around the world did that everytime something like this happens then hate for muslims would erupt—Bali –7/7 London, 11/09 America, Kenya –Australia –Oil fleids, Somlain kidnappers, Bangladesh, Kashmiri Pandits, Hindu girls converted in Pakistan, Chritians bombed in Bolachstan, --hate filled Afganistan, South India where muslims attacked Hindus, suicide bombers caught in UK, Indonesia Hindu temples destroyed by muslims, and the list is endless and all true and you can read up about the sob story of all these people around the world.
But hate for Muslims have not erupted around the world and we all tolerate and hoping and praying for peace time and time again. But the muslims instead tolerating and praying for peace are bloggin and preaching hate and inciting both parties.
This guy writes [[The Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, who may well become India’s next prime minister, was quick to blame the attack on Muslims]] and [[Narendra Modi, after all, is popular in Gujarat because of the riots –]]
Its clear that this entire blog is about bringing down Narendra Modi so he doesn’t become the Prime Minister of India. Whether this story is real or false the entire blog feels like a devious political broadcast. An action to bring down Modi.
Its about inciting both Hindus and Muslims so they won’t vote for him. Hindius are stupid and will quick to believe what is \written here and Muslims are equally stupid because they will follow for this trickery and become incited.
His description of Hindu mob makes us hate them as well as our gods.
[[India was suddenly alien and would never again be called “home” by anyone in my family.]]
That’s so petty of him to write this since what is his views on Hindus who suffer daily in Bangladesh, in Pakistan, in Bolehchstan in Kasmir? Tens of 1000s have been displaced and Tens of thousands have been murdered and Tens of thousands converted.
He does not talk of the crimes by Muslims but is quick to point fingers at some riot which some muslims instigated. He believes that muslims started it but ignores all the crimes by muslims.
[[When I returned to the US, the Gandhi picture my dad gave me when I graduated from high school was no longer hanging in my childhood bedroom.]]
This is a clear message to all Muslims to stop acting and liking anything do with India or Hindusim. What did Gandhi do to you? You should instead be more inspired to bring peace and seek brotherly love. Instead he just removed his picture as if Gandhi was to blame. Pathetic really.
So you think it's wrong if one incident affect you more than others because of some personal connection, I wonder why? It's totally my personal feeling and it has nothing to do whether that particular riot was any worst than others or not...death is death no matter who dies but we all get affected by death of our closed ones more compared to death of many others who die every day just because we know them better than all others (because of our personal connections)...because of same thins I wrote those lines, it was just my personal emotion it has nothing to do with this riot more heinous or cruel compared to all others, according to me all of them are act of terror and cowardice, is it that difficult to understand or you just raised that point just for the sake of argument?
DeleteI don't categorize and form my opinion about people based on their religion, race or gender, for me there is no Hindu or Muslim or Christian blogger, they all are just bloggers for me. Use of term 'Muslim blogger' it self explains contents of all your comments. Once you stereotype any person, religion or gender then what you say or think about them follows that pattern and your comment shows that very well. Just get over your religious hangover and try to think like a human, may be you might feel some pain and agony of riot victims no matter which religion they belong. I know it's very difficult for people who always look at any issue through religious or political angle but just give it a try it might work. Thanks for sharing your views.
part 2 of 3
ReplyDelete[[Everywhere I went I carried a small yellow plastic bag filled with newspaper clippings and photos of the homes, mosques, and lives I saw destroyed. When people doubted me, I would open up my bag.]]
He admits he went around inciting people in his community! Could he not do the same by carrying all the crimes done to non-muslims around the world and eduicate his people to live in peace and preach peace as Gandhi did. Instead he writes [[“Gandhi is dead,” my father said.]]
We the readers are supposed to feel sorry for this guy and even praise or accept his actions. No thank you mister—its typical of what muslims do:- Preaching hate and creating more hate.
If he was really hurt by all this violence then he should bring about peace and understanding.
Who is this guy kidding? He went around preaching hate by showing photos of muslims being hurt then he was supposed to be stressed out and then worked for Amnesty International where he is required to keep a blanaced and open mind.
Even if this story is real then it’s a total farce and typical of hate preaching.
[[When I arrived, Hindus would not rent an apartment to me because I am Muslim]]
[[many Hindu rickshaw drivers refuse to enter Juhapura because they are “afraid.”]]
I think it’s a typical reaction of fear and not hate. But this guy is twisting the story sionce he is writing it. Making Hindus the villains.
[[But above all, Muslims in Gujarat told me they desire to be treated and viewed by their fellow Indians as Indians.]] The muslims are always demanding that their wishes are fulfilled and not care about other communities.
[[[“I was born,” he kept saying, “in the Gujarat riots of 2002.”]]
Hindus Cjhritiains and others all tolerate death and violence and genrally move on. But muslims never forget. They keep on inciting their muslims to hate others and want revenge and more revenge. If only they stopped demanding and actually did something positive then this world be a much better place to live in.
This guy continues to paint a piicture of hatred for one another and make himself and his community the subject of pity.
Then we have classic Bollywood ending My name is Khan [[“My full name,” “is Zahir Sajad Janmohamed.”
[[Three British Muslims from Batley, West Yorkshire were killed, and 1 Injured during the Gujarat Riots in February 2002, Last month marked the 11th Anniversary.]] This is true and only about a family seeking justice for their relative. There is nothing to hide here or special. Its true that Indian justice system is rubbish to both Hindus and Muslims. His many italic quotes taken from a real life case are just another brainwashing tactics to prove how right he is.
Sometimes these sob stories on blogs are written to keep the muslim minds inflamed so they can continue to have hatred for Hindus. I guess the blog has achieved its aim. More new Muslims will read it and will hate Hindus. More easy terrorist will be created by such brainwashing. Its even got Hindus hating Hindus another trickery well executed.
You might call me blah blah blah for writing this but Muslims live in denial of their own crimes and can only see crimes done against them.
They make pathetic plea to us saying that Muslims are nice peole and that only a few minors are doing this!! But exactly how many such minorities will continue to kill innocent people around the world in the name of revenge –in the name of “..everyone hates us muslims” “Oh the Christians are trying to rid world of muslims” all this “woe is me” creating unnecessary tension around the world and breeding hatred.
Part 3 of 3
ReplyDeleteMuslims should stop all this blogging and teach their own people to live peacefully with the world populations around them.
We read on the papers how they daily demand this and that!! When they don’t get it they cry –Islamapobia. A favourite word of theirs.
Muslims really take advantage of every situations to get their own way—they seem to unwilling to understand Hinduism. They create unnecessary tension like “we wont sing Vande Matram” or we wont accept coins with hindu god on it or some other many excuses. Next they will stop serving us because we are Hindus!!!
They already hate us in Muslim Arab states. They refuse us temples and gathering for prayers outside etc! They try to bring such Arabic teachings to India and is breaking it up with their so called ‘sentiments being hurt’.
They are intolerant of the world around them and are constantly preaching the world with their sob story. I am not moved by these brainwashers.
They need to write to their own kind and tell them to stop hating Hindus and Christians. But instead they write these false stories saying how they love Hinduisms but Hindus are hating them instead. It’s a classic story that has been turned on its head to make the Hindus the villains.
These so called ghettos are a creation of their own making but they constantly blame the others in whichever country they live. No doubt you will see these ghettos in America and Canada and UK whereever Muslims live togther in great numbers.
For Gujarat they seem to have a poor excuse about riot but what excuse are you going to use in UK where you create Ghettos of theor own making in cities like Bradford, Manchester, London etc?
They refuse to let their women folk work and are willing to take free hand outs from the Government. When their children do badly at school they blame riots and Islmaphobia etc.
Come on guys the Muslim communities need to wake up to their own failings and write decent blogs to unite the communities and not separate them further. They need to educate their own brothers and sisters to love the host nations they live in and stop being so damn arrogant and demanding.
I can go on with many examples but I wont because this blog is no better then any muslim blog.
[[No doubt you will see these ghettos in America and Canada and UK whereever Muslims live togther in great numbers. ]]
DeleteReally?? I have not seen them here in US...actually minorities in any country no matter who they are, which religion they belong want to stay together just to have some cultural and social atmosphere in which they are more comfortable, this results in some neighborhoods where people from certain nationality (like China town in US) or religion or caste (in India) dominate, there are some neighborhoods in US where one can see presence of considerable Indians, this not SPECIFIC to Muslims as you want to claim here, it's very general but some times it can also happen because they feel more secure living among people belonging to their own group because it helps them in case of situations like communal riots or racial conflict or hate crimes (like post 9/11).
This is not the place to vent your anger against Muslims, you are trying to paint a picture of entire community based on some isolated incidents by people who claim to do those things for their religion...which is wrong...
Every religion has black spots on them...so get real and look at the issue in impartial way, may be that blog will make some sense to you.
I just read the pathetic comments by Mohtbai Patel. It proves my point that this is political issue and nothing to do with riots or pity. The commenter is biased in his outlook and can only see crimes done to muslims but fails to see any crimes around the world done upon Hindus and Christians. This blog is a party political broadcast to bring down Mr Modi.
ReplyDeleteIm sure there are other equally pathetic outbursts. I dont have time to read them all.
So what you think riots are? Non political?? Riots and politics very much go hand in hand, crime is a crime no matter who does it, whether victim is Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian or from any other religion or sect doesn't matter, riots create suffering and hatred, both that blog and your comments are very much testimony of it.
DeletePeople like you always want to see everything with religious angle, rioters don't know or belong to any religion, they just want to kill and destroy, so stop categorizing them based on their religious affiliations all religions have blood on their hands, if you want to blame, blame them all don't be selective and try to paint wrong picture.
Why you think Mohtabai Patel's comment is pathetic? Just because it says something against Modi? What about followin lines which makes lot of sense,
Delete"Let us hope that all Gujaratis can enjoy the rule of law and live in dignity. There is afterall, only one Race – the Human Race and the lives of all people, Hindus, Sikhs, Dalits, Muslims are sacred. There are too many bad people in this world today. When Hindus get killed we should be outraged. When muslims get killed we should be outraged. When Sikhs get killed we should be outraged. Never should a person rejoice at the death of an innocent human being."
[[So you think it's wrong if one incident affect you more than others because of some personal connection, I wonder why?]]
DeleteIts you who have chosen to bring forward another Hindu hating blogger into your blog. Then pretend to be all wise about it.
[[It's totally my personal feeling]]
exactly!
[[it was just my personal emotion it has nothing to do with this riot]]
Well you shouldn’t have brought links of some radical blogger into your blog. What else are people to think.
[[Use of term 'Muslim blogger' it self explains contents of all your comments.]]
The use of the word ‘Muslim’ is not a dirty word but you are making it so. What a devious thing to do.
[[Once you stereotype any person, religion or gender then what you say or think about them follows that pattern and your comment shows that very well.]]
You will find that you are doing all that by yourself on all your blogs. I don’t have any worries of stereotyping anyone.
[[Just get over your religious hangover and try to think like a human,]]
Oh so now you declare religious people are inhumans. Whose stereotyping now?
My comments explains the intentions of the other blogger and clearly from the evidence --they are spiteful and insensitive to others religion and cultures. You are merely trying to find some faults with myself by bringing in religion. Just as bad as the other blogger.
Ghettos –[[Really??]]]
Yes and do some research.
[[This is not the place to vent your anger against Muslims, you are trying to paint a picture of entire community based on some isolated incidents by people who claim to do those things for their religion...which is wrong...]]
There is nothing against the Muslims in what I wrote. My comments clearly explain the pathetic hate blog article that you have put a link to. You seem very silent and supportive of this hate blogger who has clearly put such hate into the minds of the readers.
[[Riots and politics very much go hand in hand,]]
No. These riots are religious related and gang related but clearly you wont see that because you support the instigators of these violence. A train full of Hindus were burnt to death in an unprovoked attack. Just like bombing trains and Taj Hotel and other places in India where people of many cultures died. The repercussions of their continuous hate and violence were inevitable.
[[People like you always want to see everything with religious angle,]]
lol—I’ll have to repeat myself --my reply was not religious related at all. It was an explanation of the hate blog you put a link to. A blogger who instead of preaching understanding was bent on inciting hate and violence. Oh and your preaching is patronising. You think you are the only one in the world who knows the lessons of life. Such an ego problem.
[[[Why you think Mohtabai Patel's comment is pathetic? Just because it says something against Modi? What about followin lines which makes lot of sense,]]]
If you read the lines it starts with a view that Gujaratis (taints everyone with the same brush) –whom he considers are to be lawless and undignified. –that’s his first sentence!!
He then goes to preach about love and the human race –as if Gujratis don’t know this. This guy is ignorant and thinks everyone else are. He is literally saying ALL Gujaratis akin to animals. The Gujaratis don’t know what a human being is or what is love.
His last few lines are totally patronising to the intelligence of any human beings.
Only his last sentence makes any sense.
[There is nothing against the Muslims in what I wrote]
DeleteIf there is nothing against Muslims in what you wrote, then there is nothing against Modi what Mohtabai Patel wrote...
[My comments clearly explain the pathetic hate blog article that you have put a link to. You seem very silent and supportive of this hate blogger who has clearly put such hate into the minds of the readers]
I didn't find any hate in that blog but I found pain and frustration. I guess it all depends on what way you loot at it, you looked for hate you found it, so it's all depends on how you read it. I am neither supporter or opponent of that blogger, I just felt his pain and wrote a blog about situation of victims of any riot, it's your assumption that I am taking any side or talking only about Muslim victims or Sikh victims but this post is about victims of any riot or violent conflict.
[These riots are religious related and gang related but clearly you wont see that because you support the instigators of these violence.]
Can you explain how these or any riots are religion related? And if they are which religion justifies killing of innocent people? If religions justify riots then why we should have such religions who encourage violence? and for your information I don't support violence in any form.
Rest all mentioned in your comment follows exactly same pattern as in your previous comments so there is nothing more to comment about it.
[[If there is nothing against Muslims in what you wrote, then there is nothing against Modi what Mohtabai Patel wrote...]]
DeleteWell we all know your hate for Hinduism and Indians so its no surprise you support these comments You’ve just further confirmed what I have been saying. Cheers.
[[I didn't find any hate in that blog but I found pain and frustration. ]]
Again. Its no surprise that you love a guy who hates Hindus and Indians. The nature of his opinions are very clear to understand and you love it. People in his sort of situations are more often inspired to love and build bridges with each other. This guy wants us to divide and breakaway from each other. His hate for Modi is clear too.
[These riots are religious related and gang related but clearly you wont see that because you support the instigators of these violence.]
[[Can you explain how these or any riots are religion related?]]
lol. Certainly not going to give you the privilege of using my answers -with those twisted views of yours--on your blog. And your preaching rant about how great you are is really boring.
If you have strong feeling of hatred about anything in your heart, you will find hate almost anywhere you look, because you are only looking for hatred....your comments show this sentiment, I can only wish you to get well and feel better. All the very best.
DeleteYoure very desperate to lay somethign on me lol.
Delete