US embassy cable - 05MUMBAI1931

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 MUMBAI 001931 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, KIRF, PINR, CVIS, PREL, PGOV, KISL, IN, Human Rights 
SUBJECT: GUJARAT: PEACEFUL ON THE SURFACE, YET STATE GOVERNMENT 
CONTINUES ITS POLICIES OF COMMUNALIZATION 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
1. (SBU) The riots of 2002 belong to history, and communal 
harmony now reigns in Gujarat, business leaders and the state's 
Chief Secretary told the Consul General during his September 8-9 
visit to Ahmedabad.  The Chief Secretary criticized the USG for 
continuing to probe into the judicial aftermath of the riots, 
and directly admonished the CG for meeting with human rights 
NGOs who he said failed to portray an accurate picture of 
Gujarat.  NGO reps confirmed that the state was peaceful, but 
they said the GOG maintained a discrete, yet systematic policy 
of isolating and marginalizing the state's Muslim minority. 
Interlocutors from across civil society claimed the GOG was 
continuing to communalize many aspects of public life. 
Communalization of education was an example cited often.  In 
reaction, Muslims were withdrawing from public schools and 
Muslim education was experiencing a "blossoming" in the form of 
new and even modern madrassas, the CG was told. 
 
2. (SBU) Christian leaders told the CG that groups close to the 
RSS were planning a massive Hindu gathering in a remote tribal 
district early next year as part of an effort to bring Christian 
converts back into the Hindu fold.  The general secretary of 
SEWA, a large and well-respected union and self-help 
organization for poor women, claimed that the GOG was hoping to 
use the group's reach and extensive membership as a conduit to 
disseminate communal ideologies.  SEWA was resisting fiercely, 
the CG was told, and feeling the wrath of the GOG as a result. 
The local press expressed some interest in the USG decision to 
revoke the visa of Chief Minister Narendra Modi, but the CG's 
other interlocutors hardly broached the issue.  Modi's troubles 
with rebels in his own party was also not a topic on most 
people's minds, and those who did mention the issue felt that 
Modi's opponents were too weak to topple him.  Modi declined a 
request to meet with the CG, citing a scheduling conflict.  End 
Summary. 
 
Human Rights Activists: Most Gujaratis Have Forgotten 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
3. (SBU) Kirtee Shah, a well-known human rights activist and 
architect in Ahmedabad, wasn't surprised when the Consul General 
told him that government and business leaders were claiming that 
the 2002 riots now belonged to history.  About 8 in 10 Gujaratis 
had forgotten about 2002, Shah said.  "Who are these people who 
say everything has returned to normal?" he asked.  "It is 
Gujarat's business community, which will always be interested in 
normalcy.  It is also the state's political establishment, which 
will never accept guilt or responsibility."  But most 
importantly, Shah said, it was the Hindu majority that saw no 
need to reflect on 2002, and that felt neither remorse nor 
regret.  Shah said Ahmedabad, with its long history of communal 
flare ups, had a "dual character."  When riots break out, things 
get very bloody.  "But three months later everything is back to 
normal."  Outsiders found it difficult to understand how people 
could forget such bloodshed so quickly.  Only a small number of 
Gujaratis and some NGOs were truly interested in broader issues 
of human rights and justice.  Because the vast majority wanted 
to forget, NGOs were easily branded as "5 star NGOs" that 
survived on foreign funding and were bent on maligning Gujaratis 
and the state's "good name" to ensure that donations kept 
flowing, Shah said. 
 
4. (SBU) Father Cedric Prakash of the Prashant Center for Human 
Rights and Justice said the Hindu majority and the political 
leadership not only wanted to forget, but had to as well. 
Otherwise, "the consequences would be too terrible. Large parts 
of the state's political leadership and too many citizens would 
be held accountable" for the atrocities against the Muslim 
minority, Prakash said. 
 
5. (SBU) While the majority looked ahead, the riots and the lack 
of justice remained on the minds of the state's Muslim minority, 
the CG heard repeatedly.  Gujarati Muslims had lost all faith in 
the ability and readiness of the system to bring justice, said 
Dr. Shakeel Ahmad of the Forum for Democracy and Communal Amity. 
 Shah echoed Ahmad's thoughts.  "It took 21 years for the 
central government to acknowledge the wrongdoings against Sikhs 
in 1984," Shah said in reference to the riots that followed the 
assassination of PM Indira Gandhi.  "Muslims are asking 
themselves how long they'll have to wait for justice in Gujarat, 
especially when Chief Minister Modi remains in power."  Congress 
politician Arjun Modhwadia, opposition leader in the Gujarat 
parliament, said only a few of the several thousand cases 
pending would ever lead to a conviction.  The BJP government was 
actively torpedoing the justice system; many witnesses were 
abysmally poor people who could be bought off cheaply, he said. 
 
6. (SBU) The CG's NGO interlocutors acknowledged that 
anti-Muslim resentments had long existed within the Hindu 
majority in Gujarat.  However, the current government was unique 
for actively using these resentments as part of a communal-based 
policy, Hussein Jowher of the NGO Sprat told the CG.  Jowher 
said anti-Muslim feelings would never have led to the scale of 
bloodshed seen in 2002 without the active encouragement of the 
state government.  The use of communalism continued until the 
present, although the state government had become far more 
discreet in using it to further its political objectives.  On 
the surface the state government attempted to project a picture 
of communal harmony by sponsoring large-scale, visible events 
around some of the state's major holidays, Jowher said. 
 
The GOG View: A State of Communal Harmony... 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
7. (SBU) In his meeting with the CG, Gujarat Chief Secretary 
Sudhir Mankad painted a picture of an economically vibrant, 
peaceful state living in communal harmony.  Mankad explained at 
length the GOG's plans to support events around certain 
holidays, and cited the success of such events as evidence of 
good communal relations in the state.  (Note: Citing 
unavailability, Chief Minister Modi denied a request for a 
meeting, as did the leadership of the state's economic promotion 
board.  End note).  After an extended discussion on the economic 
situation in Gujarat (septel), the CG asked Mankad what the 
state government was doing to address the injustices of 2002. 
Mankad said the riots were a closed issue.  The culprits were 
being tried in "special courts" (the Chief Secretary did not 
specify which courts he meant).  A significant number had been 
prosecuted and received jail sentences.  Gujarat had moved on, 
Mankad added.  The state was now peaceful, and the crime rate 
was lower than India's national average or, for that matter, 
lower than in the U.S., he claimed. 
 
...But Don't Ask Us About The 2002 Riots 
---------------------------------------- 
 
8. (SBU) When the CG asked for specifics on the number of 
convictions, Mankad lost his patience.  He asked the CG why the 
U.S. was "so obsessed" with the riots.  "You always express 
concern about the riots, but look what else is happening in the 
world," Mankad complained.  The GOG was just as concerned about 
human rights in Gujarat as anyone else, but it was not a 
government's concern, or business, to inquire about the human 
rights situation elsewhere.  Reps of other diplomatic missions 
visited Gujarat to discuss the economy, education or cultural 
issues. The U.S. was always different.  "When I saw your 
schedule I asked myself why you need to talk to all these 
groups", he said, referring to the CG's NGO interlocutors.  "I 
would like to express the concern of my government that you are 
meeting with such people." D. Rajagopalan of the state's 
department of industries and mines, who joined Mankad in the 
meeting, told the CG:  "You should get a feeling for the state 
of Gujarat before you meet with these extreme people."  The CG 
underlined the importance the USG attached to human rights, and 
said we would continue to follow this issue closely.  He asked 
Mankad for data on the number of convictions related to the 2002 
riots.   The Chief Secretary promised to provide the data. 
(Comment: At the time of this writing Consulate had yet to 
receive anything from the GOG.  We honestly don't expect the 
Chief Secretary to follow up on his promise since the 2002 riots 
are not an issue that the Gujarat establishment enjoys 
addressing.  End comment.) 
 
Business Leaders: Life is Normal, Business is Good 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
9. (SBU) In several meetings with business leaders, everyone 
touted the commercial climate in Gujarat but did not mention the 
2002 riots until the CG brought up the issue.  Gujarat had 
returned to normal, the CG heard.  Gujaratis were pragmatic, 
peace loving people, and the riots were an aberration.  Several 
interlocutors said most Gujaratis were surprised when the USG 
revoked CM Modi's visa.  The USG's motivation for doing so was 
not immediately clear to most people, Sunil Parekh, an advisor 
for the rating agency Crisil told the CG.  Gujaratis were 
initially angry with the USG, but most people, including Modi 
himself, quickly decided that the visa issue would not affect 
Gujarat's relations with the U.S., Parekh said. 
 
BJP Rebels, Visa Revocation Both Non-Issues 
------------------------------------------- 
 
10. (SBU) Congress politician Modhwadia also praised the USG for 
revoking Modi's visa, but acknowledged that the issue was not on 
most people's minds.  In state politics, the top issues were 
power outages in rural areas, price inflation, crime and 
corruption, he said.  The CG's interlocutors hardly mentioned CM 
Modi's struggles with his inner-party opposition.  Modhwadia 
told the CG that the rebels were not strong enough to topple 
Modi, and would probably not gain enough backing in any case. 
Shah echoed Modhwadia's views, adding that the national BJP 
leadership was desperate to hold onto Modi because his 
leadership in Gujarat was one of the few success stories that 
the battered party could demonstrate in India. 
 
HR Groups: GOG Continues to Marginalize, Isolate Muslims 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
11. (SBU) Echoing statements we had heard in earlier visits, 
spokesmen from human rights NGOs and Muslim groups described 
what they said was the state's discreet yet active isolation of 
Gujarati Muslims.  Hussein Jowher said Ahmedabad's Muslims were 
being marginalized into four separate, unconnected pockets of 
the city either out of fear for their safety or because buying 
or renting a home elsewhere had become virtually impossible.  In 
one such case, no single public college, post office or other 
public building serviced a pocket of 400,000 Muslims in Juhapura 
in Ahmedabad, he claimed.  Jowher said the GOG closed the 
facilities during the mid-eighties after a riot and never 
reopened them. 
 
Communalization of Education Continues As Well 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
12. (SBU) Both Prakash and Ahmad said the state continued to 
propagate communalism in the state's schools.  Catholic 
Archbishop Stanislaus Fernandes also said that Hindutva themes 
were making stronger inroads into the official school curricula. 
 The church faced a dilemma, as it was required to implement 
state guidelines in its curricula, he said.  When discussing the 
growing communalism of education with well-meaning civil 
servants in the state's education bureaucracy, Fernandes said, 
he was told: "be patient, Father, all of this will pass one 
day," implying that things could change if the Modi government 
ever lost power.  Such assurances were not comforting, Fernandes 
said, since communal education was also influencing future 
thinking in the state by targeting today's youth.  A similar 
development was observable in Gujarat's court system, he said, 
where communal thinking had also seriously affected how judges 
think.  Such thinking would not disappear quickly should Modi 
leave office, he said. 
 
The Reaction: The "Blossoming" of Madrassas 
------------------------------------------- 
 
13. (SBU) Fernandes said increasing numbers of Muslim families 
were sending their children to Christian schools to escape the 
communalization of education.  NGOs reps also described the 
dilemmas facing Muslim parents in Gujarat.  Many families had 
withdrawn their children from public schools because of 
increased communalization of education, Shakeel Ahmed told the 
CG.  Other families whose children had to traverse non-Muslim 
neighborhoods to reach school had also withdrawn their children 
out of safety concerns, Jowher added.  In addition, many 
families could not afford to send their children to school.  New 
Madrassas were openly rapidly to address the educational needs 
of the Muslim population, Shakeel and Jowher said.  Ahmad spoke 
of a "blossoming" of Muslim education in madrassas.  A madrassa 
was easy and inexpensive to open.  Schools were more expensive, 
more red tape was involved, and many Muslim neighborhoods did 
not have a critical mass of students to support a school, he 
added. 
 
14. (SBU) Jowher cautioned against interpreting the growth of 
madrassas as a sign of increased communalism or fundamentalism 
on the part of Gujarati Muslims.  Most Gujarati Muslims realized 
that secularism benefited them.  They knew they would always be 
losers in a communal India because they were a minority.  Muslim 
parents wanted religion to be part of their children's 
education, but they also wanted schooling that prepared their 
children for the demands of modern working life.  Madrassas were 
adapting to such expectations, with some "modern" madrassas also 
teaching contemporary subjects and even computer skills. 
Nonetheless, most Muslim parents would prefer that their 
children attend normal schools.  Children don't learn English in 
most madrassas, and a madrassa education will not qualify 
children for college, Jowher said. 
 
Freedom of Religion Act Yet To Be Implemented 
--------------------------------------------- 
15. (SBU) Archbishop Fernandes said the GOG had yet to implement 
the so-called Freedom of Religion Act of 2003, which would have 
required local state officials to approve any religious 
conversion.  The GOG was not interfering in his church's 
conversion activities.  He added, however, that the church was 
being cautious to avoid any confrontation with the state. 
Fernandes said pentecostal Christian groups were "more vocal" in 
their conversion activities and were giving his church a "bad 
name."  Father Prakesh said local officials were invoking the 
act to intimidate people in tribal areas who wanted to convert. 
Some officials had warned potential converts to Christianity 
that they might not be able to register conversions because of 
the ambiguities surrounding the implementation of the law, 
Prakash claimed. 
 
16. (SBU) Both Fernandes and Prakesh told the CG that 
organizations affiliated with the RSS were planning a massive 
Hindu gathering in February 2006 to the Dangs district, a remote 
tribal area in southeastern Gujarat.  (Note: In 1998 attacks on 
Christian churches and missionary schools in the Dangs attracted 
international attention.  End note) Prakash said the RSS groups 
aimed to "Hindu-ize" the tribal populations in the district, 
many of whom were Christians.  Prakash said the planned action 
was part of a sustained campaign called "ghar wapsi" that aimed 
to bring tribals in central India back to the Hindu fold. 
Subsequent to the CG's meeting with the Christian clerics, the 
media has reported that the GOG was supporting the RSS groups' 
plans for the gathering over the objections of the local tribal 
residents. 
 
GOG Targeting Well-Respected Women's Group? 
------------------------------------------- 
 
17. (SBU) The CG visited the Self Employed Women's Association 
(SEWA), a highly respected trade union and self-help 
organization with over 500,000 members throughout Gujarat. 
Reemaben Nanawati, SEWA General Secretary, told the CG that any 
communal harmony projected by political leaders was only 
superficial.  The GOG was trying to project normality, but 
politically the government was using communal animosities to 
"divide and rule" the state's many communal, caste and tribal 
groups.  The state government was obstructing the activities of 
SEWA in the remote area of Kutchch in northwestern Gujarat, 
Nanawati said.  The GOG was withholding grants for state 
projects being implemented by SEWA in the region, she said, 
ostensibly over financial irregularities.  In reality, the GOG 
was interested in using SEWA's reach and vast membership as a 
conduit for its communal ideologies, Nanawati claimed.  SEWA was 
resisting fiercely, since communal harmony among its members was 
an important factor for its success, she said.  The resistance 
was making the GOG more vindictive and causing it to step up its 
pressure on the organization, she added.  Due to lack of funds 
over 12,000 extremely poor SEWA members have not received wages 
for over five months, Nanawati claimed. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
18. (SBU)  "Dual character" aptly describes the mood in Gujarat. 
 Most of our interlocutors from the Hindu majority appear to be 
sincere in their views that the 2002 riots belong to history. 
They have moved on with their lives, and normally do not mention 
2002 until we bring up the subject.  One interlocutor's comment 
that most Gujaratis did not immediately understand the USG 
motivation for revoking CM Modi's visa shows how far removed the 
events of 2002 are from many people's daily concerns.  At the 
same time, the bloodshed of 2002 appears to be very much alive 
in the back of people's minds, otherwise it would be hard to 
explain why the GOG goes to such length to promote festivals 
that are aimed at documenting communal harmony in the state. 
The Chief Secretary's emotional reaction to the CG's inquiries 
on the subject also shows just how raw nerves can be whenever 
2002 is mentioned.  And however much the majority wants to 
forget, the remaining bitterness among the sizable Muslim 
minority and outspoken human rights NGOs will ensure that the 
riots will continue to play a role in the political life of 
Gujarat. 
 
19. (SBU) As alive as emotions may be under the surface, none of 
the CG's interlocutors expected communal tensions in Gujarat to 
flare up any time soon.  CG Modi may have actively fanned 
communal tensions in 2002, but today he no doubt shares the view 
that any repeat of the 2002 bloodshed would be detrimental to 
his political fortunes, both within Gujarat and outside the 
state as well.  In fact, contacts in Gujarat have long told us 
that the police have strict instructions from the political 
leadership to nip any communal violence in the bud.  In the 
longer term, however, the state government's clearly visible 
attempts to marginalize the Muslim minority and its discreet 
attempts to further communalize public life can only increase 
the risk of heightened tensions and renewed bloodshed in a state 
with a history of communal rioting. End comment. 
 
OWEN