Ranjona Banerji: Kanhaiya wrong about '84/'02 riots

Kanhaiya Kumar a PhD student at Jawaharlal Nehru University is now asked to speak at the drop of a hat all over the country Ever since that is he was made into a hero by the BJPled government at the Centre for his allegedly ldquoantinationalrdquo comments for which there is no evidence That is he was arrested for no reason He was beaten up by proBJP lawyers in a courthouse in Delhi And he has now become the posterboy for the resistance to the BJPrsquos absurd quarrel about nationalism and antinationalistsKumar had said that the 1984 antiSikh riots were different from the 2002 Gujarat riots because the first was mob frenzy and the second was statesponsored PicPTIHaving made Kanhaiya Kumar into a public personality he has been considered for a bright political future and he is asked to make pronouncements on just about everything I am surprised that he has not yet been asked to captain the Indian cricket team Of course having put this young man on this pedestal we must now look to bring him downIn a speech this week Kanhaiya Kumar made an error Now this is unforgivable in todayrsquos India because the rest of us never ever make mistakes We have also never paid so much attention to any one single PhD student in my living memory at least Kumar who is avowedly antiBJP said that the 1984 antiSikh riots were different from the 2002 Gujarat riots because the first was mob frenzy and the second was statesponsoredAnd yes he is very wrong The reason he is wrong however cannot lead us into a Hindu versus Muslim patriot versus traitor fight as so many of our vocal politicians and commentators may think The reason he is wrong is that riots of such magnitude cannot take place without state complicity if not active assistance by elements of the state By standing by and doing nothing the state is part of a riotProfessor Paul Brass in his mustread Riots and Pogroms for anybody interested in the subject talks of societies with ldquoinstitutionalised riot systemsrdquo where various elements often criminal are kept at the ready by political and other forces to be brought out when required Virginia Van Dyke in the same book says of the 1984 riots ldquoThe speed with which these riots were organised following the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards words in brackets mine leads to two inescapable conclusions they were prearranged and preplanned and an institutionalised riot structure was already in place a preexisting ldquotechnology of terrorrdquordquoIt is this ldquotechnology of terrorrdquo which is visible in similar riots and pogroms across the world where divisions in society exist It was visible in Mumbai and other parts of India after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992 And it was definitely visible in Gujarat in 2002But Kumar is also correct The two riots are different In 1984 justice did not come at all Rajiv Gandhi whose motherrsquos assassination was the immediate trigger commented that the ground shakes when big trees fall This comment may well be true but it was shockingly insensitive when 3000 people of the Sikh community were being butchered by his party workers for a crime they did not commit and there was no one to protect them The Congress party will have to carry this cross forever because no excuse can ever make up for the loss and sufferingIn Gujarat if we have seen for almost the first time rioters being convicted it is not because the BJP government in Gujarat and at the Centre or because Narendra Modi who was then chief minister have seen the importance of mercy and taking responsibility It was only a sustained effort by activists and the media that ensured that unlike other riots in India the justice system would have some say in these The horror of the deaths of almost 2000 Muslims in Gujarat may be a matter of pride for those of the Ultra Hindutva persuasion but it remains a matter of shame for IndiaBrass highlights a way to find an answer to largescale mob violence Rather than only try and apportion blame he suggests try and understand the uses of violence And there whether Kanhaiya Kumar is right or wrong you can even find the answer to why Kanyhaiya was arrested and attacked in the first placeRanjona Banerji is a senior journalist You can follow her on twitter ranjona