The doings of Narendra Modi and his officials have once again come to
public notice; and, as before, for acts which would shame decent
people. The media, both electronic and print, have reported that
there is a determined attempt to shut down the relief camps in
Gujarat, throwing the inmates out to fend for themselves. There are
also some reports of inducements being given to them to leave.

If this is true, then it must rank with the worst horrors of the
recent ethnic cleansing in that wretched state for sheer barbarity.
People do not willingly live in government relief camps, which are,
god knows, no five star resorts. Besides, human beings would always
prefer to live in their own homes, however modest. If they persist in
staying in the camps they have either no homes to go to, or they are
frightened of what might happen if they return. Either way, the first
thing that obviously has to be done is to bring back a sense of
confidence, or build homes that have been destroyed, before the camps
can be shut down.

The decision is also monumentally stupid. Did Narendra Modi - not
renowned for his sagacity and good sense - really think he could keep
it quiet, that the forcible shutting down of relief camps would not
become generally known? And now that it has, what excuse is he going
to produce for his action? Earlier he had said enough about the
violence in the state to mark him out as a cruel, vicious man, unfit
to be a jail warden, let alone the chief minister of a state. Now
that he has once again shown himself for the pitiless, foolish
creature that he is, what will he now say?

There is of course the possibility that the reports are not entirely
correct; that people are indeed leaving the camps, and perhaps there
are some groups of people who are persuading the Muslims to stay
back, to gain some political mileage. Perhaps, perhaps not. The point
is, why in the name of all that is sane and rational does this man
not tell us what's going on? Why is it not possible for the state
government to go a little beyond issuing fatuous statements and take
media persons to the camps, let them meet the inmates, and see for
themselves what the situation really is?

Why the furtiveness, the action taken secretly, as if in darkness?
And even if it isn't being done like that, why give the impression
that it is?

Modi's convenient excuse is, of course, that the media are playing
politics, that whatever the state government or the chief minister
does will be twisted and made to look evil, sinister, and communally
motivated. This will not wash.

The media are reporting facts: that Muslims are being stoned when
they try to go back to their villages, that they are in fact now
building their own villages, that the state is heading towards a
ghettoised future, with Muslims in their own villages, Hindus in
theirs, and, doubtless, soon the scheduled castes will be driven to
their own ghettos, the tribals to theirs, and true apartheid will
descend on the state.

Modi has obviously been reading the speeches of a gentleman called
A.L. Geyer who was a passionate supporter of apartheid as being good
for all races, and the reasons he gave would appeal to Modi and his
familiars; that all that is good in the state came from one race (we
know what that would translate into for Modi and gang) and the other
races (or communities) are incapable of even knowing what is good for
them, so they have to be told, and made to live in a way that is good
for everyone concerned. Is that what Modi wants in Gujarat? No? Then
why doesn't he say so?

Is it a fact that Muslims are not being allowed to return to their
villages? If it is a fact, what has Modi and his government done to
ensure that they can, that those who presume to decide who can live
where are locked up in jails till they see the error of their ways?
And if is not a fact, then what has he done to make this known, and
known convincingly, not just by making ringing speeches which no one
but his fawning followers believe?

It may be, just may be, that the state government is doing something
to help the Muslims go home and live in peace. But no one knows about
it, and no one believes it. Meanwhile, political parties and groups,
all ready to espouse causes which will further their political ends,
have got into the act, and assumed all kinds of virtues which they
accuse Modi of lacking. All this is because of the almighty mess Modi
has made of communicating with the public at large, apart from the
mess he's made of everything else.

Will he never realise that there is much more to be gained by being
open and frank about what has happened, and is happening in the
state? That is, assuming he knows what is going on, and has some
shreds of conscience left in him. But his actions, as seen by the
media, damn him for being a black-hearted man who is pitiless,
consumed by a hypocrisy and deceit that is compounded by his innate,
offensive arrogance. And in the absence of anything convincing to
disprove this, he must accept that it is as such a monster that he
will

be remembered. A monster who brought to the once peaceful, prosperous
state of Gujarat, unspeakable violence and hatred, in the name of a
religion which millions of Indians revere.

And the irony is that it could very well be that the events that
occurred and his role in what happened, and in the closure of the
relief camps, are different from the general impression one has; it
may be, and it may not. His folly has been in not realising that, in
not establishing open and frank links with the media. Had he done
that, it is just possible his voice would have been heard, that his
version would be given something other than the contempt it gets
today.

And while he continues with his folly, the whole country is obliged
to look on with horror as he orders the camps - shelters for
frightened victims of violence - forcibly closed down, and the
inmates pushed out to face whatever the future holds for them. Given
the fact that the purveyors of violence are still prowling around the
cities and villages of the state, because of the consideration showed
to them by Modi and his friends, one can imagine what that future
will be. And in the capital the leaders will find new casuistry with
which his action will be blindly defended.

Our leaders face Pakistan bravely enough, and are passionate about
Kashmir being an integral part of India. But when they so declare
themselves, let them remember what is happening right now in Gujarat,
and let them not, whatever else they do, lie to themselves. They know
what is going on; they know they can stop it. If they wish to be
consistent and seen to be so in their beliefs in basic values and
truths about Kashmir and the integrity of India, they need to
consider what they have not done, but still can do, in Gujarat.