It's a massive human tragedy unfolding right now. I have quite a bit of detail with me as I am a part of a group organizing donations now for the riot victims. But this post is not about any donation, but only about how "secularism" works in India when reporting human tragedy.
Let's do some comparison.
2002 Gujarat: Both parties in riots were Indian, local. Knew terrain well.
2012 Asom : One party is foreign illegal intruders, supported by "secularism" via voting cards and ration cards.
2002 Gujarat: The number of displaced at the peak was 200,000 or 10-15% more than that.
2012 Asom : Already hearing 400,000 and might even be getting beyond the 2008 precursor to these riots when 400,000 became homeless temporarily.
2002 Gujarat: BJP state govt and BJP central govt.
2012 Asom : Congress and Congress
2002 Gujarat: All Neighboring states were all Congress ruled.
2012 Asom : Most neighboring states, if not all are Congress or UPA ruled.
2002 Gujarat: Cause of the riot was 48 hours before the riots flared (Godhra train).
2012 Asom : Cause of the riot (shooting of Bodo youth) was on 6th July, a full 2 weeks before riots flared up.
2002 Gujarat: Riot not very close to any international border.
2012 Asom : Riot within a walking distance (20KM) from 3 countries. Extremely vulnerable & vital link to the North East of India.
2002 Gujarat: Riots were reasonably controlled after the initial 3 days.
2012 Asom : Riots going unabated even after 1 week. Shoot at sight for days now.
2002 Gujarat: Media 24*7 covering
2012 Asom : Indian media hardly covered anything till social networks forced the media to reluctantly cover it.
2002 Gujarat: Media openly using "Hindu" and "Muslim" terms flaring up passions during coverage.
2012 Asom : Media downplaying it as "ethnic" clash or using Bodo versus minorities. Reality is Bodos are 5% of Asom and Muslims are 30-35% now. Horrible hypocrisy displayed by media, particularly TV for the first few days.
2002 Gujarat: Modi made a TV appeal on the same day, passionately asking people not to take law into their hands. Accepted the riot situation. Was seen in public right from Godhra.
2012 Asom : Tarun Gogoi didn't make any acceptance. In fact he is not even accepting (for years) that Bangladeshi Muslim illegals are even present in the state! Worse, this guy took over 6 days to even make his first public visit to riot hit area :(
2002 Gujarat: Maut Ka saudagar - Sack him screams. Anger in media against the Home Minister.
2012 Asom : No such thing. In fact, justifications all around to shield an inefficient CM-PM combo. No one heard anything meaningful from the HM
2002 Gujarat: TV channels like NDTV never reminded people about the bloody history of riots in Gujarat, particularly the 1969 one.
2012 Asom : TV channels like NDTV kept on flashing that Asom has had "bloody history" of riots, showing counts etc. from 2008.
2002 Gujarat: No bickering between state and center BJP govts. Army & other help arrived.
2012 Asom : State government blames the center (both Congress) for 5 days delay in getting army.
There's more. But the sheer level of hypocrisy on how "secular" media and parties are behaving in a comparable human tragedy, is sickening.
And, in 1980s, Pandits comprised of 5% of Jammu and Kashmir. Today Bodos (Christians and Hindus together) comprise of 5% of Asom. I just hope that this is not a Pandit ethnic cleansing part 2 being played out, thanks to massive Bangladeshi illegals fully supported by Congress, TMC and Commies in border states..
