ONE hallmark of a fascist is the refusal to be accountable. The prime minister's reaction, terming as "unfortunate" the ruling of the deputy speaker of Lok Sabha permitting a discussion on the carnage in Gujarat under Rule 184 which entails a voting, is a reflection of this. The prime minister, as is his wont, has retracted from his initial observation on this ruling in the face of notices of breach of privilege motion being served by the opposition. Both Mr Vajpayee's reactions and retractions are part of a design. They are structured to favour acceptability of different sections --- initial reactions for the saffron brigade and retractions for the liberal democrats. The country and the people, however, have seen through such hypocrisy and double-speak. Mr Vajpayee, on this occasion, is bereft of any more "masks."

The home minister's refusal to institute a probe into the Gujarat genocide by a sitting Supreme Court judge, as recommended by the National Commission of Minorities, falls similarly in the same category of seeking to escape accountability.

The ministry of external affairs (MEA), on its part, has chipped in with a campaign of disinformation to be disseminated abroad while bemoaning the role of foreign missions in India who are outraged at this gross violation of human rights in Gujarat. The MEA website currently is flooded with dubious statistics and information to somehow try and convey that all is normal in Gujarat! This is the current foreign policy preoccupation of this government!

With the prime minister, the home minister, the defence minister and the foreign minister all endorsing the claim of the Gujarat chief minister that the situation is normal, how dare the opposition seeks to discuss and vote on this matter? This is the thrust of the saffron brigade's ire.

Now, both the houses will be discussing and voting on this matter. Given this, the BJP has shifted gear and moved to another track of threatening the opposition that it shall similarly discuss the law and order situation in opposition-ruled states (which, by the way, are the vast majority in the country).

This is a reaction which is, at the same time childish, immature and absurd. The discussion in parliament has been sought by the opposition not on the count of a simple law and order breakdown in a state. The discussion will focus on the culpability of the state government in patronising, encouraging, and executing an inhuman fascistic pogrom. When such ghastly developments take place anywhere in the country, it is the duty of the parliament to discuss the matter and the duty of the central government to intervene and ensure that peace and normalcy are restored and those guilty of such inhuman atrocities are punished. This Vajpayee-led central government, however, refuses to intervene. It refuses because it is party to the game plan unleashed by the Gujarat chief minister and his administration in carrying on this cruel pogrom to date. It is therefore understandable that they do not wish to discuss this issue and hence paralysed the parliament's functioning for a week.

The BJP's argument that this discussion in both the houses will set a bad precedent holds no water. On many occasions in the past, the parliament discussed situations in various states when it affected the country's interests. Since the prime minister's memory is failing him, we need to remind him that he had moved a motion on Bihar as the leader of the opposition which was discussed and voted upon under Rule
184. Similarly, in 1997, the parliament discussed the incident of police firing on Dalits in Maharashtra. There are innumerable occasions when the situation in various states was discussed since they impacted on the country.

The need to discuss the present Gujarat genocide is substantially more necessary and urgent given the fact that this directly affects the unity and integrity of India. Further, since this is part of the saffron brigade's game plan to destroy the modern secular democratic Indian republic and in its place erect a fascistic "Hindu Rashtra." The people of India will not allow the BJP and the saffron brigade to cushion themselves from being accountable for their criminal inhuman deeds. Similarly, the people will also not allow the NDA allies who, on the one hand, profess allegiance to secularism, and on the other, continue to support the government in their lust for power and office. Such hypocrisy shall not be allowed.