 The decision of the Narendra Modi government to appoint a commission of inquiry to study the migration and polarisation of population on religious basis hasn’t gone down well with Gujarat’s human rights activists. They believe that Modi is preparing his communal agenda for the 2012 assembly elections.
The commission has been set up to study the changes in the demographic profile of the state since 1947. It will also identify the reasons behind the polarisation and migration of populations belonging to different religions. The deadline set for the commission is January 2011. It has also been asked to recommend policy guidelines for “stopping polarisation of the population” on religious grounds.
Father Cedric Prakash, director of the Ahmedabad-based NGO Prashant, says, “This so-called commission is bound to target the minorities and aggravate the fears that already exist among these groups.” Mukul Sinha, senior advocate and president of Jan Sangharsh Manch, has reacted sharply to the move. He says: “They have created this polarisation and now they want to discuss the issue. If the state government is concerned about the minorities, then it must provide basic civic amenities to the residents of Juhapura, which has the largest concentration of Muslims in Gujarat.”
The commission will be headed by a retired judge of the Gujarat High Court, BJ Sethna, who, during his tenure, was involved in several controversies. Sinha has demanded that “this appointment be terminated immediately”.
Some years ago, Sethna was involved in a tiff with a fellow judge. The matter went up to the SC, which rescinded his transfer to the Sikkim HC. Instead of obeying the SC’s order, Sethna preferred to resign.
While serving as a judge of the Gujarat High Court, he had hit the headlines in January 2004. A two-judge bench headed by him upheld the verdict of the Vadodara fast-track court acquitting all the 21 accused in the infamous Best Bakery mass murder case of 2002 but the S C rejected his judgment and ordered a fresh trial by a special court in Mumbai and the accused were finally punished.
Earlier in 1999, the Gujarat Government had initiated a survey of Muslims and Christians of the state. This was challenged in the Gujarat HC and Justice MR Calla maintained that “once this country has adopted the Constitution, we have to abide by the same, which is the fountain source of law. If any survey or census is to be made or any information is sought to be gathered with regard to the criminal activities or for other allied purposes, may be as a part of routine exercise, cannot be based on a communal footing.” Realising that the move was against the Constitution, the then Gujarat Government withdrew the survey.
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