BUSINESSMEN AGAINST MANDIR-MASJID POLITICS

Having suffered enormous losses in the wave of communal violence after the Ayodhya episode, businessmen' and traders all over the country are perturbed about the growing communal divide and lawlessness. A Times of India survey of the business community in major urban centres reveals that it desperately yearns for peaceful resolution of divisive conflicts and is fairly united in its opposition to politics of communalism and the increasing proclivity of political parties to mix religion with politics. The near-unanimous condemnation by businessmen of the political forces and practices which have disrupted normal life in the country is understandable considering the hefty losses inflicted by riots in production and distribution of goods and destruction Losses in Bombay alone are estimated at about Rs. 2,000 crores caused by the disruption in trade and production and destruction of property and goods. In Ahmedabad and Surat, these are expected to be in the region of Rs 3,000 crores. However, since the entire industrial belt stretching from Bombay to Surat and Ahmedabad has strong bonds of interdependence across the country, these estimates represent only part of the loss inflicted by communal violence. SAURASHTRA CALM: The Saurashtra region for instance, barring a few stray incidents remained calm and quiet. Yet rioting in Bombay and Ahmedabad disrupted both trade and manufacturing. As a director of the Rajkot engineering association, Mr. Vajubhai Mavani said: 'with Bombay shut, it was just impossible to send goods there. And with Ahmedabad in a state of disarray, there was no way of getting either raw materials or A measure of the loss is provided by the Rajkot municipal corporation's income from octroi which in normal times averaged Rs. 5 lakh's a day. In the week after the Ayodhya episode it dipped to a measly Rs 75,000 per day. According to one estimate Gujarat as a whole may have suffered unprecedented losses worth nearly Rs. 12,000 crores spread across most sectors of trade and manufacturing like textiles, engineering, and industrial raw materials. The impact of Bombay and Gujarat spread right across the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh which has major industrial estates at Indore, Pithampur, Dewas and Ujjain. Trade and transport operations were also hit hard affecting truckers and merchants and manufacturers dealing in textiles, bullion and engineering goods. Karnataka could not remain unaffected either. According to the President of the Federation of Karnataka chamber of commerce and industry, the state lost over Rs 100 cores as the entire mercantile activity was affected for a couple of weeks because of problems arising from riots in Bombay. Trucks remained off the roads, goods either kept piling up in factories or were stuck in Bombay and raw materials were in short supply. The leather industry, garment manufacturers and chemicals and automobile traders were the worst hit. The communal violence in Jaipur inflicted losses worth about Rs. 200 crores, claims Mr. K.L. Jain, general secretary of the Rajasthan chamber of commerce and industry. Apart from he small-scale sector and the export-oriented gems and jewellery industry, riots had a severe impact on small shopkeepers, tea-stall owners and kiosks selling pan

Lucknow is another state capital where local businessmen suffered losses exceeding Rs. 500 crores. What worries them even more is a sense of uncertainty about the future as they apprehend another round of violence if the prevailing communal tension in the city and adjoining areas like Ayodhya and Kanpur is allowed to persist. Mr AK Aggarwal, executive director of Indian industries association says.' 'If the situation is allowed to remain like this the state's economy will be hit hard.' According to Mr Banwari Lal Kanchchal, general secretary, Lucknow Vyapar Mandal, the economy of the state has already been pushed back by about 10 years. FEAR OF VIOLENCE: The fears of future violence have motivated businessmen to speak up against politics of communalism. Mr Sandeep Bansal, president of Lucknow's Yuva Vyapar Mandal and an active member of the BJP says that all political parties should desist from taking those steps which militate against interests of trade and business and that communal co-existence is necessary for the all-round development of the state. This view is articulated more sharply in Bangalore where all the businessmen and traders who spoke to The Times of India are vehemently opposed to the politics of communalism. Mr Abdus Subhan, a shopkeeper in Russel market bemoaned that politicians were exploiting issues like Ayodhya for their selfish ends and this kind of politicking must stop. POLITICAL ISSUE: Likewise most traders in Bhopal do not see Ayodhya as a religious issue. Mr. Ajay Kumar, who runs a general store says 'It is clear that this is nothing but politics. Who cares about religion. Politicians are only interested in Ayodhya because it means votes on either side. Businessmen and traders across the country are fairly united in advocating that religious issues must be kept out of politics and all cases of disputes should be resolved peacefully and within the parameters laid down by the Constitution. The president of Karanataka Small Industries Association, Mr D.N. Gangadhar argues that religion is a purely individualistic subject and politicians should not meddle with it and the secularism means that religion and politics are kept apart. Mr. Bimal Poddar, branch manager of Caprihans India in Ahmedabad, blames all political parties for making a mess of the Ayodhya issue, which he contends should be settled in a constitutional manner. CENTRE'S FAILURE: Most traders and businessmen are also critical of the government's failure in checking communal riots and the breakdown of the law and order machinery. Mr Satish Chandra Patel, a small engineering goods' seller in Indore says good governance means that the politician-police-criminal nexus should be broken. It is not just the prospect of losses that makes businessmen wary of communalism but the fact that it is unsustainable as in most manufacturing and trading activities both Hindus and Muslims form a complex web of interdependence which is critical to the very survival of business. In the gems and jewellery industry of Jaipur for instance, while a majority of traders are Hindus, the cutting, polishing and packaging work is done mostly by Muslims. Likewise the powerloom sector in Gujarat is dependent on workmen from both the communities. The same situation obtains in most other places from Bombay to Bhopal and Indore to Lucknow. As the BJP activist in Lucknow, Mr Sandeep Bansal puts it, 'The people of the two communities are so dependent on each other that their co-existence is necessary for the prosperity of trade and industry.' (The Times of India, February 8, 1993)

جو انھوں نے روزنامہ پائینر (۲۰ جنوری ۱۹۹۳) میں شائع کی ہے ۔ انھوں نے لکھا ہے کہ بی جے پی اپنے سیاسی مقصد کو ہندوتو کے لفظ سے ظاہر کرتی ہے۔ اس مقصد میں کامیابی حاصل کرنے کے لیے اس نے تمام تر فرقہ وارانہ جذبات (communal feeling) کو ابھارنے پر انحصار کیا ہے۔ مگر فرقہ وارانہ جذبات کی ایک حد ہے۔ اور واقعات بتاتے ہیں کہ بی جے پی کے لیے وہ آخری حد وہ ہند تو جس کو یہ انتہا پسند لیڈر پیش کرتے ہیں وہ ۶ دسمبر کو اپنی خطرناک حدوں پر پہنچ چکا ہے، اب وہ مزید قابلِ استعمال نہیں :

Hindutva as interpreted by the hardliners reached its dangerous limits on December 6 and is no longer exploitable. (N.J. Nanporia)

تمام سنجیدہ لوگوں کی اس خواہش میں میں شریک ہوں کہ اس معاملہ کو اب باضابطہ طور پر ختم ہو جانا چاہیے ۔ ذاتی طور پر میں اس مسئلہ کے ساتھ ۱۹۸۶ سے برابر وابستہ رہا ہوں۔ غورو خوض اور طرفین سے تبادلہ خیال کے بعد اس کا ایک حل سامنے آیا ہے۔ یہ حل تین نکات میرا احساس ہے کہ یہی اس مسئلہ کے حل کی واحد ممکن تدبیر ہے۔ اور وہ یقیناً تمام متعلقہ فریقوں کے لیے قابلِ قبول ہو سکتا ہے۔