fear

Narendra Modi won the Gujarat elections. With a two-thirds majority. Again.

Only a few months ago, Tehelka confirmed what was long known but not often admitted this candidly: Modi and his government were behind the mass carnage that took place in Gujarat in 2002 (for those who aren't sure what this is about, check out this link: http://www.tehelka.com/story_main35.asp?filename=Ne031107gujrat_sec.asp). Modi's own men are on camera saying that he helped them carry out those grotesque murders and rapes, pointing out how many times he changed judges so as to get them out on bail, telling the camera of how he gave them three days to "do whatever they wanted," boasting of his blessings as they burnt hundreds of people alive. No clearer connection is possible between this now third-time chief minister of Gujarat and the horrors of 2002.

2 months have passed; no clear action has been taken. And now, Modi is back in power.

Many articles claim that he won this election based on "development" rather than Hindutva. That scares me more than it comforts me. "Development"-- of what, and for whom? Economic growth, they mean. Well, even so, for whom? The state's poor are often also the minorities-- Muslims-- and a political party that orchestrated mass murder and rape of this minority is hardly likely to care about economic growth for them. But more fundamentally, how does economic growth weigh in the balance against a tyrannical government who has recently been exposed as actually murderous? Pretty well, it turns out: so what if they kill and torture, it's still good for business.

What do you do when democracy becomes totalitarian? Hitler, too, rose to power democratically. Hitler, too, had a cult-like mass following. Being elected does not necessarily mean being just. This is not an argument against democracy but simply an expression of fear and helplessness: Where is this country going? What will it take to dismantle Hindutva if even Tehelka's expose couldn't do it? Why isn't murder making more people squirm?