After months of evasiveness when everything failed, the government had no other option but to table the report. But those who heaved a sigh of relief that finally the Tiger had been trapped in its own lair, the respite proved temporary. A damning report by Justice Srikrishna was soon followed by the Action Taken Report (ATR) of the government damning the former. Among other things the ATR has accused the report for being ‘anti-Hindu, pro-Muslim’.

But thanks to the Commission’s report, this has been the strongest indictment of the Sena ever since it captured power in Mumbai. In the past, the Sena had always got away with all its fascist offensive, be it the deportation of ‘illegal’ Bangladeshis, attacks on artists etc. However, this time its culpability in the Mumbai riots is now recorded legal evidence as part of a public document.

Since the riots of 1992, many independent investigations have extensively documented the Sena’s role in engineering the riots leaving little to doubt. The Srikrishna report is an impartial judicial finding whose veracity is unquestionable. But true to the fascist culture that he propogates, the Sena supremo without any remorse unashamedly defended his inflammatory writings in Saamna and Navakal. In one of the pieces in Saamna around that time, Thackrey wrote warning the Muslims that "dissent on the Ramjanambhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute would be an act of treachery for which the Muslims would be banished from the country". In an interview to Time after the riots, he defended that "Shiv Sena’s terror was the true guarantee of the safety of citizens"!

The report in unequivocal terms accuses Thackrey as the ‘veteran general’ who masterminded the entire progrom leaving 900 killed and 2036 injured in the two phases of the riots in December 1992 and January 1993. In fact, as the report mentions, in the peaceful interregnum between the two phases of rioting, Thackrey ordered maha artis to be taken out all over the city where the Muslims were openly provoked to ‘come out for action’. In those days of relative calm and in the presence of armed personal patrolling the streets, the Sainiks publicly broadcasted highly insidious slogans like ‘Is desh me rahna hoga, to Vande Mataram kahna hoga’ (Say Vande Mataram if you want to live in this country).

The Sena alleges that the riots were in retaliation to the havoc wreaked in the first phase of rioting when Muslims mobs went on a rampage. However, the Srikrishna report in clear terms has repudiated these claims. It says, "There is no material on record suggesting that even during this phase (15 December-6 January) any known Muslim individuals or organisations were responsible for the riots, through a number of individual Muslims and Muslim criminal elements appear to have indulged in violence…".

Manohar Joshi, also charged in the Commission’s report, quite shamelessly defended his mentor on the floor of the house while tabling the government’s ATR. He has even thrown aspersions at the integrity of Justice Srikrishna thus throwing an open challenge to the judiciary in violation of the established norms and breaking the propriety attached to his constitutional position. His impassioned speech, which was eulogised by the Sena supremo as a historic defence of the ‘Hindu cause’ that the Sena stands for, reveals the dangerous proportions saffron fascism can take even at the cost of running roughshod over all democratic norms.

As expected, the BJP government at the centre has refused to put any pressure on the Maharashtra government to take action on the report leave alone dismissing the government or arresting Thackrey which Justice Srikrishna has recommended in his report. Defending the Sena chief it has said that the executive at that time should be solely responsible for failing to control the riots. It has also alleged that the commission has added little importance to the Mumbai serial blasts of 12 March 1993 thus charging the commission’s report of bias. In fact, it was during the ‘13-day wonder’ government of Vajpayee that on BJP’s insistence that the Joshi government agreed to reinstate the Srikrishna Commission after it had been disbanded by him earlier. And as a compromise the Joshi government extended the terms of reference of the commission by including the investigation into the serial blasts. It was expected that the findings into the latter would snub the Muslims for their role in the blasts. However, the government’s move has come a cropper. The report says, "the link between the blast and the blasts was one of cause and effect and they were not part of common design".

The role of BJP too has come in for strong indictment by the report. The report mentions that BJP’s zealous activists actively aided the Shiv Sainiks in the riots in Mumbai. Further the report has connected the demolition of the Babri Masjid to the explosions in Mumbai and the riots that followed and which the Party has denied. Perhaps the Sangh Parivar believes in the myth that the demolition of the mosque had no connection with the developments of the next few weeks in Mumbai and elsewhere in Surat and Kanpur. Perhaps another Srikrishna report is required to investigate into the calculated and murderous attacks planned by the Sangh Parivar in Surat and Kanpur to clear off all such myths.

However, in its flimsy defence of protecting its oldest ally, it has spilled some beans about its rival, the Congress. Some BJP leaders while acknowledging the menacing growth of the Sena blame the Congress for having allowed the Sena to carefully nurture its hate machine. Even in the fifties, the Sena’s acidulous attack on Tamils settled in the city went on without the then Congress government batting an eyelid. In fact the monstrous growth of the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra has been possible due to the symbiotic relationship it shared with the Congress. While the former overtly whipped fanatic Hinduism, the latter silently accepted it in order to protect its soft Hindu line.

The role of the then Congress government headed by Sudhakar Naik and the police force with a ‘built-in-bias’ against Muslims, has also been indicted by the Commission’s report for its complicity and inability to deal with the riots. The report alleges Naik’s intentional delay in calling in the army which gave the Sena supremo free reign in stoking the communal passions against the Muslims. Naik’s admission in the immediate aftermath of the Ayodhaya demolition was that if leaders like Thackrey were arrested ‘Bombay would burn’! Even months before the riots broke out, the Congress government failed to arrest the growing hate propoganda being spewed by the Sena in its preparations for the kar seva. Ram paduka processions, chowk sabhas and meetings by the Sena intimidating Muslims, even in the months of June-July 1992, went on smoothly without any hindrance by the Naik government. Justice Srikrishna has also named police officers who either intentionally neglected their duty or personally "indulged in arson, looting and actual participation in the riots".

The Congress’ response to the report has also been specious. It has not demanded the dismissal of the Joshi government. At first it demanded the arrest of Thackrey, then came down to the demand of taking "appropriate action" against the guilty and then watered down its position to constituting a panel to study the report and then shape its demand. It is worried of a possible Hindu backlash and still hopes that the Hindutava plank will work in the assembly elections in the state in year 2000. But it is to the credit of the Commissions report that once again the Congress’ dubious role in defending secularism has shown its true face.