E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

164 Contextualising Gandhian Thoughtaudio tapes that spread hatred. They have no qualms inpreventing action against those who are engaged in buildingarms dumps and organising anti-social elements for riots, eventhe punishment of those who are found guilty. The result is thecreation of an atmosphere of suspicion and hatred; thestockpiling of weapons, even in places of worship; theformation and training of action-squads; increasing incidents ofcommunal conflict, and so on. The fact that those who havetaken a leading part in organising communal riots aresometimes concurrently elected from a number ofconstituencies in the area of conflict throws light on the extentto which the poison has spread in our body politic. There areinstances in which the elected representatives of the peoplecoming from premier parties have led marauding mobs and gotaway with impunity. What more is required to show that ourpolitical parties have collectively undermined the basicconcept, of secularism and created a situation in which someleading figures can talk of a fight to the finish, or push thecountry to the brink of a civil war?The threats that we witness in the tribal areas in theborder states as well as in the heartland have arisen from anumber of factors. It is not possible for us here to go into themat length. The policy of the imperialist government was aimedat isolating them from the mainstream, and exposing them tothe exclusive influence of forces that could be relied upon tosupport the government. When independence came, ourpoliticians, businessmen, traders and others failed to welcomethese citizens of our country on terms of equality, respect, andfriendship. Those who were better off tried to exploit theinnocence and openness tribal population with cynical abandonand contempt. Brazen inroads were made into their traditionalhomelands in the name of development, of the exploitation ofmines and minerals and timber, and the location of industrial