Typically in India, localised issues get transformed into full-scale incidents of communal violence when political forces plan things in a certain way and the police neglects to perform its duty to act promptly to nip trouble in the bud and book the mischief-makers. A terrible communal conflagration occurred in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining areas of western Uttar Pradesh in September 2013. It was pretty evident that this was an essential part of polarising politics in the run-up to the Lok Sabha election to be held in May 2014.
Alas, all too little of this is reflected in the report of the Vishnu Sahai Commission of Inquiry which was recently tabled in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly. The commission blamed intelligence failure and low-down police personnel for failure to do their job.
UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has promised to take action against the then SSP. But that’s where the matter ends. It is plain that the judicial luminary who presided over the sensitive probe has chosen not to look beyond his nose in his 700-page report.
Local BJP leaders made extremely provocative speeches and the ruling Samajwadi Party appeared strangely silent, giving an impression of callous indifference to the goings-on, quite contrary to its image of being a “secular” party. But no specific responsibility for the communal violence has been pinned on the local bigwigs of these outfits. The Uttar Pradesh CM has reportedly gone along with the commission’s findings. He can’t blame the victims and their wider community if they don’t have a sense of justice.
