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| India-Pakistan |
| Vajpayee tut-tuts ineffectually over Gujarat violence |
| 2002-04-27 |
| Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said on Saturday the country will weather the worst religious bloodletting in a decade. Vajpayee, speaking to business leaders exactly two months after a Muslim mob set fire to a train carrying Hindu activists triggering a wave of violent reprisals in Gujarat, said the violence was a blot on the nation, but it would blow over. What makes him think that? If the Muslims don't let it drop, and the VHP/RSS thugs don't let it drop, then they've got it forever. "The ship of the nation is strong, reliable enough to weather all storms and will soon leave the present turbulence behind," Vajpayee said. The ship of the nation is strong until somebody bores holes in the bottom and you don't bother pumping because the guy that bored the holes controls a bunch of votes that you expect to get. "India's secularism is too deep to be blown off course by temporary turbulence," said Vajpayee, whose Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party is under fire for failing to control the violence. Rivals accuse the party of a bias against Muslims. "No, no! Not us! The goon squads aren't the party, even if they do get out the vote for us!" Two more people died in Gujarat on Saturday following overnight clashes between Muslims and Hindus. More than 800 people, mostly Muslims, have died in a wave of revenge killings and clashes since the train killings on February 27. Authorities on Saturday clamped indefinite curfews on large swathes of the industrial town of Baroda after one person was stabbed to death and another died of gunshot wounds in overnight religious clashes and police firing. At least 10 people were wounded in the clashes. If it was all water under the bridge, then Vajpayee would be doing the right thing. But it's not water, it's blood. All those people who were killed and maimed were real, live human beings. Trying to reduce them to the byproducts of a mere difference of opinion is cynical and stupid. Vajpayee deserves every bit of the heat he's taking, and more. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |