BJP Game: keep reopening old wounds

by Guest Mon Sep 29, 2014 2:00 am

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/bjp-chief-amit-shah-chose-to-visit-gorta-to-reopen-1948-wounds-say-critics/article1-1266939.aspx?hts0021

---
Although Shah did not make any overtly provocative statements in his speech, the gathering was marked by aggressive behaviour. In addition to anti-Pakistan slogans, groups of activists headed for the venue chanted provocative limericks in which they pledged to turn every village into Gorta...
The story of Gorta, says Kannada writer K Neela, is like any from the partition era, when thousands of Muslims and Hindus were killed in a cycle of violence and counter-violence.

Neela, who led a demonstration in Gulbarga against Shah’s visit, says, “Erecting a memorial that represents only one side of the story is a clear attempt to polarise society and reopen old wounds.”

For activists such as Neela and Suryavanshi, the recently declassified Pandit Sundarlal Commission (commission sent by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru after reports of large-scale violence) report has become an important tool.

The December 1948 report, which was first accessed by historian AG Noorani in 2001 and became public in 2013, notes that around 50,000 Muslims were killed in the erstwhile princely state to avenge the atrocities of the Razakars.

by Guest Mon Sep 29, 2014 2:03 am

85-year-old Vittal Rao, a landless Dalit from Gorta, lost his father Gundappa Kesari, uncle Narasingh Rao and relatives Madhava and Lakshman Kesari in the 1948 battle.

He wasn’t among the people at Shah’s meeting, neither were other Dalits. The 300 Dalits in the village were ordered to stay off the venue by Lingayat landlords.

“They don’t like our version of history,” says Rao.

“We were attacked by both the landlords and the Razakars. The local Lingayat landlords fought the Razakars because they wanted to protect their land. We had no land so we did not join either side. The Lingayats attacked us calling us traitors and the Razakars attacked us because we were not Muslim,” he says....
As competing narratives of a 66-year-old story swirl around, Dalits in Gorta try to draw attention to the more immediate issue of their life and livelihood. “Our houses and our convention hall were damaged in 2009 floods. Nobody wants to repair that,” says Rajendra Kesari, 35.
Fellow Dalit Shrimanth Shinde says, “We are not allowed into barber shops, hotels and temples to this day. Will Narendra Modi solve our issues when he comes next year?”

Hitskin.com

BJP Game: keep reopening old wounds

BJP Game: keep reopening old wounds

Re: BJP Game: keep reopening old wounds