‘Once the faith of the minorities in the impartiality of the administration is shaken, fundamentalists get an opportunity’

Prakash Karat
Politbureau member, Communist Party of India (Marxist)


The spiral of violence which has affected Coimbatore, culminating in the horrific bomb blasts that killed over 50 people and injured 200 others, is a grim warning for the working class movement in the city and all secular–minded citizens... The culmination of the series of incidents (growth of the RSS, the Hindu Munnani, the Tamil Nadu Hindu Merchants Association and the retaliatory Al–Jihad and Al–Umma) was the unprecedented violence which hit the city for three days between November 29 and December 1, 1997 — just three months back.

It was sparked off by the cold-blooded murder of a traffic constable by some extremist Muslim youth. In retaliation, with the people in a state of revolt, three days of murder, arson and loot took place. Eighteen Muslims and two Hindus died. A shocking incident, which occurred in the city General Hospital, reveals the depths of dehumanisation and bestiality which have been injected by the communal poison. Muslims wounded in the riots who were brought to the hospital were waylaid by a mob of Hindu fanatics and three of them were lynched and burnt alive in front of a watching policeman. A graphic account of these atrocities has been recorded by a People’s Union for Civil Liberties team which visited the city at that time.

As usual, the provocation by some fundamentalist elements saw the Muslim community bearing the brunt of the retaliation. Once the faith of the minorities in the secular impartiality of the administration is shaken, their alienation grows and fundamentalists get the opportunity to step up their activities. In the case of Coimbatore, there is sufficient indication that Muslim extremist groups are getting help from abroad.

This vicious pogrom on the Muslim community set the background for the bomb blasts, which have now come as an act of revenge. This is disturbingly similar to the events in Mumbai in 1993 when after the large-scale riots against the minority community and police atrocities, the bomb blasts came in retaliation.

To ignore all these developments and to harp only on one aspect of the situation, that Muslim fundamentalists are on the rampage, is what the BJP and the RSS combine finds convenient to project. Their culpability in creating the conditions for the horrific communal violence in Coimbatore is direct and has to be exposed.

The communal virus has already affected Tamil Nadu and it will require sustained and intensive efforts to eliminate it. The BJP’s alliance with the AIADMK will provide it with further opportunities to spread the RSS ideology in the state. The RSS tactic of setting up front organisations which use religious festivals and other occasions to spew hatred against minorities and then engineer riots is a modus operandi which has been seen in many urban centres such as Hyderabad, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Jamshedpur and Rourkela, time and again. This leads to the disruption of working class unity.

(Excerpted from Karat’s s piece in Frontline dated March 20, 1998)