The title of the column is not the result of any dishonest jihadist talk or desire among a Muslim Pakistani, especially the common man.
Rather, it is taken from Khushwant Singh's book, "The End of India", published in 2003, the most popular author of the West Indian subcontinent for the past half century. This is actually a collection of his writings which he periodically wrote about the Gujarat tragedy and then published it in February 2003.
He calls Gujarat a "Hindutva" laboratory. He says that I realized this danger only in 1998 when I saw boards on the main highway heading to Ahmedabad. But Ahmedabad has been replaced by AMDAVAD and this was done under a government order. Khushwant Singh thus set the "bemoan" of India's fall from the day of the board's transformation.
During writing these articles he faced lots of hate and he describes that hate and sarcasm in preface of book in such way: “In response to my columns, I have been receiving hateful letters from Hindu fundamentalists. Not a week goes by when I do not receive a letter or postcard in which I have not been declared a curse for India or a Pakistani agent. ” There are other types of abusive writings that are not worthy of publication. " Khushwant Singh had begun to feel the devastation long ago.
But even his own writings cried tears of blood over Ahmedabad's 1969 riots fifty years ago. What is happening in India today in 2019 is so scary that no one feels the need to remember the old wounds of history. Because every day there is a new Karbala. September 18, 1969 was the day when riots broke out in Ahmedabad. Congressman Desai was the Chief Minister of Gujarat. It was only 22 years since the country came into being, and the secular liberal rule of Congress was stable and the Muslim enmity that had been hidden in the veil of secular hypocrisy had killed 2,000 people. Forty thousand houses and shops were set on fire and the number of injured was immense.
The riots began with the cow of a Hindu Sadhu who seriously injured a Muslim. As soon as the Muslims hit the cow to save the man's life, the whole Hindu city was broken like a disaster on ten percent of the Muslims.
The massacre was a continuation of minor riots. From 1960 to 1969, there were 685 riots in urban areas of Gujarat whereas 578 out of these 685 riots took place in just one year ie 1969. On this basis, about 2 riots were reported daily. In all these riots, the form of the secular Congress, which is seen by the curse of the elections, the interest of the electorate and the dictatorship of democracy, is in no way inferior to the BJP. The Congress government strongly supported the RSS and laid the foundation of India's future blood.
Khushwant Singh went to Ahmedabad five months after the riots and wrote a tragic article. This article is from fifty years ago today. But the pain that lies in the line, shows the helplessness of Muslims in Indian society, seems that India has never been good for Muslims. Khuswant Singh wrote fifty years ago: "My purpose was not to discover what happened. Rather, why has this happened? And what do the people of Ahmedabad think today, and what will happen if there is an incident which again strains the relations between the ninty percent Hindu and ten percent Muslim population of the city?
I start my investigation by visiting Jagannath Temple - I have no clue. I asked a pundit to comfort me. He told me to look outside, I went out and saw. Above the entrance was a glass covering an icon. The glass was broken from three places. I reached the sadhus under the banyan tree and asked them if there was any harm. They expressed themselves in unclean and abusive language.
I reached this shrine while passing through the bazaar. It is said that the riots started from here. The herds of temple cows flocked to the shrine and injured the people. The door to the shrine was closed. Constables were guarding it.
I asked the caretaker sitting outside, "Is this the place?" He looked at me with suspicious eyes. He spit mucus on the sidewalk to answer.
Police sub inspector looked at me with a dirty look. I don't like the cops, so I moved out. I went to Sindhi Bazar It has many small shops, made of plywood and tan sheets.
Clothes bunches and colored saris were hung in small shops, and the place looks like a firearm on Indian Oil's gasoline holder. I was told that this market was set on fire. I could believe it. However, I did not see any signs of damage. Sindhis belong to brave and nomadic race. They must have rebuilt it and resumed business.
I accepted an invitation from one of my shopkeepers to do some shopping … I had to buy "a piece of cloth" for getting information. I had to hear hate from them, I rented a scooter and I found out what the driver's belief was, from the 786 Arabic numerals written on the meter. A scooter is not the best way for friendly conversations. I went on to comment on "bad days." The driver turned around: "Do you want some information from me? I know who you are with! " He didn't speak the words with his tongue, but his sad eyes were saying it.
I tried to ask the Paan sellers, the chana sellers, the fruit vendors. The result is the same. If they speak, you should understand they are Hindus. If they are quiet, then they are Muslim. Conversation and silence are filled with hate.
I remind myself of my mission. It is not to mourn the dead past, but to evaluate the current situation and thus predict the future.
However, the days of September are always with me. I come out of Ahmedabad along with Sabir Matthi. I pass by a pile of debris. A half-broken minaret tells the truth of this debris. I pass through the Graves whose epitaphs are broken, I lose control and tears begin to flow from my eyes. How were the demons and the pigs who neither left the worshipping places nor the graves? "
This is a fifty years ago "India" whose song has been conveyed to me by the secular intellectuals of my country. But today there is not a single Khushwant Singh in India who can write, publish and then survive in this society. Thirty-four years after this writing, Khushwant Singh wrote in his book "The End of India" that "if we fail to make ourselves a nation, we will be responsible for this failure. And we ourselves will be the real culprits of India's death" I wish he would have been alive today and witnessed "India" on it's way to death.
Written By:
Orya Maqbool Jaan
English Translation By: M.Ali
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