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Books

Deadly modus THE ANATOMY OF HATE days and nights during the
2002 anti-Muslim riots
operandi Revati Laul in Gujarat. Snared in a

WESTLAND BOOKS sting operation by Ashish
Rs.1,499 Khetan of Tehelka, who
N RECENT YEARS, Pages 220 goaded him into boasting
there has been an about his barbarism, he is
Iincreasing tendency of sentenced to 31 years of
enraged vigilante groups imprisonment. However,
running amok, creating people who crowd-funded many of his more discreet
havoc and mayhem in civic this study contributing The author has accomplices escaped the
society. Under the protec- Rs.9.6 lakh within 15 days, chosen to study arm of the law through
tion and cover of powerful because they believed this three individuals protection of the then gov-
politicians, safety of num- book needed to be written who swiftly meld into ernment machinery.
bers, and official complic- — and read. mobs, to understand The dominant theme
ity, horrific crimes have Pranav — a pseudonym the circumstances of this landmark book
been perpetrated country- — is a college-going Brah- and motivations that is the careful selection
wide by lynch mobs. min youth, with no specific make them ready by sangh parivar activ-
Independent journal- ideology, who is swept into tools of politicians ists of disenfranchised
ist, film maker, and social the riots, witnesses the and revivalists youths, their nurtur-
reformer, Revati Laul has mayhem and together with ance and indoctrination
bravely investigated the some college mates, seizes to arouse mobs against
identities of individuals opportunities to loot up- of the sangh parivar (RSS Muslim communities. Laul
who quickly band into market department stores. family) because of his maintains a sharp focus
riotous mobs indulging in After graduating and extraordinary ability to on these actors to provide
loot, arson and worse. job hunting, he finds arouse and inflame mobs, insights into their minds
Using the Gujarat riots himself working in an charging them up with and the compulsions that
of 2002 as the backdrop NGO engaged in reha- unlimited quantities of drive them. She deliber-
canvas, Laul has chosen bilitation of the victims illegally brewed country ately avoids detailing the
to study the personalities of communal riots, and liquor made available by horrific incidents of the
of some individuals who comes face-to-face with the parivar in the “dry” pogrom, as according to
swiftly meld into mobs, to those whom his orthodox state of BJP ruled Gujarat. her, enough and more has
understand the “belly of Hindu culture had taught Under the protection of been written — and buried
the beast” and the circum- to hate. It took Laul ten the parivar, his rise is me- — about it.
stances and motivations years of interaction to teoric and he is currently a Perhaps the only
that make them ready get Pranav to detail the political leader. lacuna in this painstak-
tools of politicians, revival- mental trauma he suffered Suresh ‘Langdo’ is from ingly researched book is
ists and criminal elements. because of contradictions the Chahar community that it doesn’t describe the
Laul has selected three between his Hindu up- which has a historical tra- step-by-step indoctrina-
individuals — Pranav, bringing and his remorse dition of thievery, violence tion of innocent youth by
Dungar and Suresh — for atrocities inflicted on and lawlessness. Stricken well-trained RSS pracha-
from differing social and Muslim neighbours during by polio at a young age, he raks into enraged anti-
cultural backgrounds to the 2002 riots in Gujarat. compensated his handicap Muslim fanatics ready to
investigate this phenom- Dungar — also a pseud- by persistent body build- commit inhuman atroci-
enon. Over 14 years of onym — is a Bhil tribal, ing to transform into the ties against them, many
interviews and research, member of a community neighbourhood bully. He of them neighbours they
battling threats and troll- isolated by the accident of marries, loves, tortures have grown up with. Re-
ing, and support through birth, who can’t see a way and brutalises Farzana, a ports from other sources
financial crises by angel out of poverty, struggle Muslim woman, whom he indicate that the modus
investors, she has com- and menial existence. disguises as a Hindu. operandi is to narrate a
piled this path-breaking In the RSS, he discerns Incited by a woman distorted history of alleged
anatomy of pliable foot a passport to upward MLA, he joins mobs that Muslim atrocities against
soldiers of hate mongers. mobility. By participat- slaughtered, raped, looted Hindus stretching back
She expresses special ing in their satsanghs he Muslims in Naroda-Patiya, centuries, and to illustrate
gratitude to 105 unknown rises rapidly up the ranks Ahmedabad, for three that nothing has changed.

MAY 2023 EDUCATIONWORLD 135