The Wild West called Gujarat

In its December 8, 2007 edition, San Jose Mercury News has an article titled "Hindu official's re-election push alarms muslims."

It is an article on Narendra Mody, the CM of Gujarat, who is running for re-election. The article implies that he had a hand in the massacre of Muslims in the period after Godhra.

But, they neglect to mention the real events going on in India, which have spurred discussions in the media. When I started reading this SJMN article, I expected to read about the same controversy - but did not get it.

Last week, at a campaign rally, he incited the crowd by justifying a fake-encounter killing of someone called Sohrabuddin - an alleged terrorist. He asked the audience - "so what do you do when you find someone like this." The crowd chanted "kill-him." Modi then accepted credit. (http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/dec/05gujpoll5.htm). The fact that it was a fake encounter is proven. The government itself has agreed. The IPS officer who led that encounter is now in jail.

Different media articles mention that when this particular IPS officer was around, lots of terrorist plots to kill Modi were discovered, arms caches were found, and terrorists dealt with, extra-judically. Since this person was sent to jail, those things have reduced drastically. Everyone can draw their own conclusions about it - maybe other officers are not as vigilant, or that this officer was driving a political agenda.

Comments from readers on these articles, on the other hand, are overwhelmingly supportive of Modi. Supportive of this stance, not of his ability to govern the state, the economic miracle he has crated, and his clean image (corruption-wise).

What these writers don't realize is that once they legitimize the monster of fake-encounter killings, they are handing over executive, legislative and judicial power to the same people. How can we be sure that this power won't be used against other individuals and communities in the future. Are we converting a part of India into the Wild West?