Tripura governor, Tathagata Roy is no ordinary loose canon or motor-mouth BJP leader with a hardcore RSS background. After spending years of training at RSS shakhas the man was picked to hold a constitutional post under Narendra Modi as India’s prime minister.
Modi hand-picked him to become Tripura’s governor, a highly revered constitutional post expecting the incumbents to function with utmost integrity and impeccable political neutrality. Roy has blatantly thrown both these attributes out of the window while continuing to fly the flag for the right-wing militant Hindutva ideology.
In June last year, Roy flaunted his connection with the RSS even after holding a constitutional post when he visited an RSS shakha and later justified by saying ‘being a committed swayamsevak, I have done nothing wrong.”
However, his more nauseating rant had come a year earlier, when he confessed to being communal. In September 2015, the controversial governor, known for his bigoted and racist views, tweeted this, “Whatever gave you the notion I am secular? I am a Hindu. My state, India, however is secular since 1976.”
In February this year, Roy astonishingly broke the standard protocol when he refused to read out some portion of his written speech criticizing the Centre, in the Assembly on the opening day of the budget session, which led to uproarious scenes.
While reading the written speech, he said “I have read out two pages and now I would read out after para 95.”
On Tuesday, he went a a step further and condoned the genocide of Rohingya Muslims at the hands of the Burmese military and Buddhist terrorists. More than 400 Rohingya Muslims, one of the most persecuted ethnic groups in the world, have been killed so far while more thousands of them have fled to the neighbouring Bangladesh to escape certain death.
In a series of tweets, Roy said, “Myanmarese have more sense than our leaders of 1940s. They realise that the Rohingiyas can demand a partition-they’re taking care of that.”
Myanmarese have more sense than our leaders of 1940s. They realise that the Rohingiyas can demand a partition-they're taking care of that https://t.co/RhOBbL1EAT
— Tathagata Roy (@tathagata2) September 4, 2017
And if his first tweet sounded ambiguous, he came up with the second post, conclusively proving his appreciation for the mass murders of Rohingyas, just because they are Muslims, a group of people Roy and his party have always had difficulty gelling with.
He wrote, “A bit of historic justice. Buddhist retribution for Hindu and Chakma genocide in East Bengal. The wheel grinds slowly but surely. Nice,what?”
A bit of historic justice. Buddhist retribution for Hindu and Chakma genocide in East Bengal. The wheel grinds slowly but surely. Nice,what? https://t.co/u3ICWXomVB
— Tathagata Roy (@tathagata2) September 4, 2017
While such tweets by a holder of a constitutional post will be unthinkable in any civilised democracy, Roy knows that India lost all its civility in May 2014, when it voted a person to be the country’s next prime minister, who was once accused of masterminding a Nazi-style holocaust in February 2002 during his time as the chief minister. The man, RK Raghavan, who gave him a clean-chit was rewarded last week, when he was appointed the next envoy to Cyprus.
Roy has been spewing venom against Muslims while rejoicing the genocide of a race because of their religious background. And yet, Modi has not felt the need to censure him let alone removing him to protect the sanctity of a constitutional post. This is largely because, many believe that Roy is essentially carrying forward Modi’s own legacy of secretly enjoying the bloodshed of thousands of Muslims in his state. Modi has till date not apologised or even expressed any remorse for what happened in 2002. And, Modi had handpicked Roy to be Tripura’s next governor. Now you join the dots.
Nobel laureate turned blood thirsty despot
Aung San Suu Kyi earned plaudits for her courage and fight for democracy when she remained steadfast even in the midst of brutal force applied against her by the Burmese Junta. She became the epitome of fight against injustice as the world recognised her struggle even when she remained confined to her house for 15 years.
It’s in this context that her fellow Nobel laureates have found her disdain to the plight of shocking human rights violations by her country’s army and Buddhist terrorists baffling. From Malala Yusufzai to Desmond Tutu, more than a dozen Nobel laureates have written to her making a passionate plea to stop the ongoing state sponsored genocide of Rohingya Muslims.
Unperturbed, Suu Kyi and Modi were sharing drinks last week when both met during the latter’s visit to Myanmar. The celebration by two leaders, who remained oblivious to the ongoing plight of a huge group of human population was ironic and even a tad inhuman. The joint statement issued by the two leaders had no mention of the mass migration (nearly half a million of them) of Rohingyas into Bangladesh and genocide of over 450 people.
No wonder when we asked our readers to write caption for the photo of Suu Kyi and Modi celebrating over a drink, the dominating theme of response was that both leaders had genocide in common. Modi was Gujarat’s chief minister, when more than 4,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in a religious pogrom in 2002. Although official figure puts the number of people killed at 1200.
A bystander role by UN
The United Nations Security Council’s role has been disappointing, to say the least. While it was nimble-footed in responding to the development in the Korean peninsula and even convened an emergency session to discuss the hydrogen bomb test by North Korea. But, the rampant executions of an entire ethnic group by Burmese soldiers and Buddhist terrorists, both enjoying the support of the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, has failed to evoke any reaction from this global body.
Hope the UNSC realises that time is fast running out for it to protect the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent people, being systematically and brutally killed in Myanmar. History has never been kind to those choosing to remain silent spectators in the midst of genocide of innocent population. One wonders what will it take for the UN to wake up and take notice of the goings on in Myanmar.
