Perspective is at once a terrible and a beautiful thing and therefore must be handled with caution. Hence, we could either look at riots and communal clashes as isolated events or we could judge them to be parts of a larger pattern. 15 years ago, on the 27th of February, a certain event shook the very foundation of this nation. The Godhra Massacre shall go down in history as the cataclysmic event that would forever change the politics in the nation. Riots are always brutal but those heart wrenching images of innocent Hindu men, women and children burnt in a train compartment shall forever be etched into the memories of every Hindu.
The Godhra Massacre and the riots that followed could be viewed in isolation but it would be a myopic view of the clashes that transpired.
The riots are much more appropriately considered as another clog in the wheel of a war that has been waged generations after generation for a thousand years. After Hindus lost a major share of their land in 1947 after much bloodshed and strife, it was assumed that the Historical War between the two communities would finally come to an end after reaching a peak crescendo during the pre-Independence phase. But such an assumption was just wishful thinking of naive minds.
After the partition of India, it was assumed that the Muslims who chose to stay in India would develop a new identity as ‘Indians first’ within the framework of a pluralistic constitution that incorporated their beliefs and gave them exclusive rights in a country that had over 80% Hindu population. But over time, religious identity has inevitably asserted its supremacy over national identity as a natural consequence of Democratic Politics that promotes creation of Vote Banks for electoral gains and the overwhelming influence that religious preachers hold over the community and the hateful divisive rhetoric that they often employ. Reality is harsh and polarization of the country is reaching another crescendo unashamedly abetted by secular parties and the liberal establishment.
After a decade of the Babri Masjid Demolition, when Hindus restructured a monument testimony to the oppression they were forced to endure for centuries, the 2002 Gujarat riots triggered by the Godhra Massacre once again highlighted the deep fault lines within the country. And despite extensive casualties on both sides, Hindus were unequivocally demonized by the secular establishment while Muslims were presented as the oppressed. At a time when festering wounds demanded immediate medical attention, vested interests took it upon themselves to damage the situation beyond repair and further worsen the scenario. But after a witch hunt that lasted over twelve years, the man they tried to nail to the coffin emerged as the democratically elected Prime Minister of the country, after they failed to produce a single evidence of involvement in the riots.
Since the Godhra carnage, the Thousand Year Old war has taken a much more decentralized form. Kaliachowk, Dhulagarh, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar are all places where the war has tipped over the edge and entered the mainstream narrative. But the war is waged on many fronts these days, violent clashes being the most extreme. One of those fronts is, of course, Demography. The illegal immigration of Bangladeshis into India continues to be the greatest threat to the great Hindu Civilization. As a wise man once said, Immigration without Assimilation is an invasion. And one thing could be said with certainty, they are surely not assimilating.
Dhulagarh and Muzzafarnagar are evidence of the fact that the Thousand Year Old war is very much alive and thriving. And even after the Partition in 1947, we, the Hindus, are only conceding more ground. Kashmir, the Land of the Devas, which was home to numerous Shaivite and Vaishnava sects, has become a flashpoint of the Clash of Civilizations. After the Kashmiri Pandits were driven away from their own land, the ancient Hindu Civilization conceded yet more ground. With West Bengal undergoing a tectonic Demographic shift, the future does not bode well for Sanatana Dharma in the land of Paramhansa Ramakrishna and Sri Aurobindo as well.
The aftermath of the Godhra Carnage marks one of the few occasions where Hindus have reacted in the same way after unprovoked aggression. Hindus have been lulled into a false sense of security by the Secular State and the liberal establishment by repeatedly portraying them as aggressors all the while as our civilization is being compromised at all levels by the nexus. The victims of the Godhra Massacre have been obliterated from public memory by the dominant narrative that has gripped the Gujarat Riots. But they shall forever remain in our memory as innocent victims of a Great War that has consumed the lives of millions and continues to make martyrs of Hindus every second of everyday. But We shall not surrender our nation and its people to the false song of secularism. Let the memory of the fallen in the Godhra Carnage galvanize our hearts in this Clash of Civilizations. Dharma Shall Prevail.