Humans, or Animals?

JUNE 18 Humans, or Animals? Gandhiji started his campaign of service to his countrymen in the city of Ahmedabad. It is one of history’s great ironies that as this centenary was being celebrated all over the country in 1969, that very same city became the scene of communal riots. Shree Bishambhar Nath Pandey, an MP and an eminent historian, commented on these shocking events in an article entitled, ‘Traditions of National Integration in India’ (published in the Journal of the Khuda Bakhsh Library, Patna, and read out in Lucknow on the occasion of the Fakhruddin Ali Ahmad Memorial Lecture in 1986): In 1969 this state was not under central rule, but under the rule of the regional party. Miscreants went on the rampage, looting and burning shops and houses, killing innocent people. It seemed as if this city, long associated with Gandhi’s selfless devotion, had bade good-bye to humanity. The then Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, said to me, “Many delegates have gone to the city to bring reports, but I am not satisfied with their report. I would like you to visit the city and see for yourself whether humanity still survives there in the midst of animality.” I left for Ahmedabad and stayed there for about one month. I visited hospitals to see the injured. I consoled people who told me heart-rending tales of destruction of their property. About six thousand houses had been burnt. According to the government report 350 people, (but according to the military intelligence about 2000 people) had lost their lives in this communal riot. The majority of the casualties belonged to the minority community. One day I was patrolling past Memobai Chal, and about 150 people gathered around me as I reached there. All the houses of that locality had been burnt to ashes. From some of them smoke was still coming out. I asked them, “Brothers, did all the homes belong to Muslims?” A person aged about 40-45 said, “No, there were 35 Muslim houses and 120 Hindu houses in this Chal.” Then I asked him his name. He told me that his name was Kalyan Singh. Then I asked again: “Does that mean that first a Muslim mob came here and burned all the Hindu houses and then a Hindu mob came here and burnt all the Muslim houses? ”He said, “No, only a mob of Hindus had come here.” Then I was all the more astonished, “Then does