Lecture Series-2

Punjabi Bhawan, Ludhiana

January 15, 2004

Mr Harsh Mander, who resigned from the Indian Administrative Service in the aftermath of the Gujarat riots, believes that the “idea of India” needed to be redefined as the concept of those who fought for the country’s independence seemed to have been long forgotten.

Mr Mander was here to deliver a lecture on ‘Challenges of Securing Social Justice and Secularism in Indian State’ organised by the Media Artists. He maintained that there was a sustained campaign going on against various minorities. “We are creating minorities and manufacturing hatred against them”, he regretted.

Commenting upon the communal situation in the country, the former bureaucrat refused to agree that the incidents like the Gujarat violence, the 1984 Delhi riots or the 1992 Mumbai riots were aberrations. “We will be deceiving ourselves if we believe that these were aberrations,” he asserted, while holding that the communalism had infected “the very soul of the society”.

He recalled from his experience in Gujarat that the participation of Dalits, tribesmen and women in the riots was very disturbing. He stated that he was more pained to see that “everything seemed to be going on in an absolutely normal way” after violence in Gujarat. “There were no regrets seen anywhere, while nearly one lakh people were still living in the relief camps”, he said.

Holding on to his contention that the Gujarat riots had the clear approval of the government, he said, “I believe from my experience that no riots, howsoever serious these may be, cannot continue for more than a few hours if these have not the approval and support of the government”.

Calling for a thorough introspection, Mr Mander said: “We need to think whether we are going to create a ‘Hindu Pakistan’ in India or to realise the ideals visualised by the founding fathers of our Constitution who dreamt of a welfare and secular state with the theme of social justice and equality for all”. He said the nation was at the crossroads and it was necessary for the people to make a careful choice.

(The Tribune)