Dear Lord Meghnad Desai,
I am J.S. Bandukwala, a retired professor of physics at M.S. University,
Baroda. I have never met you, except on the occasion of Dr I.G. Patel’s 75th
birthday celebration in Baroda.
I read your Sunday Express column regularly. It is thought provoking, though
I often disagree with your views. But your column on Narendra Modi and
secularists shocked me (‘Power shocks’, IE, August 5). Permit me to enumerate
the reasons.
The tone of your piece is heavily pro-Modi. You cite the convictions so far
at Ode, etc as great achievements, comparing them with the failure to convict
anyone for the Mumbai 1993 and the 1984 Sikh riots and the Babri Masjid
demolition. That comment itself is pouring salt on our wounds. Muslims have
suffered periodic mob fury, which has gone unpunished by the state, since 1947.
The logic of the BJP’s existence appears to be hatred for Muslims, traced
back to Savarkar and Golwalkar.
The Congress, on which we are forced to rely, is only interested in our
votes. It has no interest in our socio-educational and economic uplift. The
very nature of politics is such that a few Muslims — whether in the BJP or the
Congress or even in socialist parties like the Samajwadi Party — act as agents
for the community, and siphon off the benefits for their own selves.
The illiteracy and poverty (which have deep historical roots), combined with
an absence of genuine community leadership, left the space open for the ulemas,
who have only worsened the plight of the Muslims of India.
My own house was completely destroyed in 2002. The leader of the attacking
mob was an officer of M.S. University, Baroda. My daughter, who is married to a
Gujarati Hindu, and I barely escaped certain death. The mob leader was not even
served a simple memo.
The Modi government has done everything possible to see that its saffron
supporters are not touched by the post-Godhra Supreme Court activism. He got
support from the SIT. Those convicted so far are outside the saffron band.
We are deeply grateful for support from activists like Teesta Setalvad who
have fought for justice at great personal sacrifice. The English and electronic
media have also been very supportive. Of the local language press, the less
said the better.
So far, I have considered you a sympathiser. But my trust has been broken.
You see Narendra Modi as a future prime minister, and would not want to be on
his wrong side. Frankly I will do whatever it needs to protect my community
from that menace.
With regrets,
J.S. Bandukwala, Baroda, Gujarat
