The label Post-Godhra Riots (PGR) is not new. It is seldom used but is more appropriate than the commonly used label Gujarat Riots (GR). Here are the reasons.

Thanks to the relentless propaganda (yes, propaganda, unconscionably biased, motivated propaganda) of Indian English Print Media (IEPM; not that TV channels are guiltless, I simply don’t have access to them in the USA) and the enormous reach of their counterparts in the west GR is associated with images of "barbaric" Hindus set on ethnic cleansing spree. The propaganda was so successful that even a lot of Hindus, I believe, after initially rejecting the propaganda, lost mental stamina, yielded to this onslaught and began to believe that Hindus overall, were to blame. So successful that the hundreds of deaths the Hindus suffered in the riots have been forgotten. So successful, even those second generation Indians in the USA who had genuine interest in Hindu dharma didn`t want to have anything to do with Hindus in India. The propaganda surely contributed to the fall of NDA government in the recent parliamentary elections. That to me is unacceptable. This situation needs to be dealt with. The need to throw the spotlight on the mischief of IEPM is evermore urgent.

The riots did not happen without provocation. In fact, the provocation was outrageous. Fifty-six Hindu men, women and children met their premature death in the most gruesome way. They were burnt to death by a mindlessly hateful mob on a train where the compartments were doused inside with inflammables and locked from outside to cause the maximum number of deaths.

The Hindus who died were not on a mission to kill Muslims. They were not armed. They did not get out of the train and they did not attack Muslims. The Muslims did not kill Hindus in self-defense. The Hindus who were killed were innocent civilians returning home from a pilgrimage. I read reports in our “esteemed “ IEPM that Hindus in the train taunted some of the Muslims in the train station. I don`t know if this is true or fabricated. It is possible that it happened. But since when did mass murder become justifiable in India for taunting? The bottom line, as I see it is, Godhra to Hindus was "have to respond to this" kind of provocation, "we just burnt your women and children to death, are you man enough to do any thing about it?" kind of provocation. If you identified yourself as Hindu, you were saddened and enraged by Godhra carnage. What happened subsequently was a consequence. This has to be emphasized - particularly to Muslims.

I don`t believe that the Muslim community in general likes the notion that there could be consequences to their actions. I think that there is widespread belief among them that they have a God-given right to do whatever they please with the others without being held accountable. Looking at events around the world, I conclude without reservation that Muslims are seriously deficient of the ability to introspect and self-analyze their individual selves as well as their communities. They are ever ready to blame everybody else for anything that they did. They simply don`t want to take responsibility for their actions. This kind of attitude is detrimental to the peaceful coexistence of various communities in a pluralistic country like India and should not be endorsed.

But the “respected” journalists of Indian English dailies did exactly the opposite. Of course, there were condemnations of the Godhra incident, but they were not the unreserved, forceful criticism that the crime deserved. By and large the coverage and op-eds were like this: A brief denunciation of Godhra, the mother of the riots, generally without naming the community that was responsible for it, and then a hurried shift to PGR, then a persistent dwelling on PGR till the end characterized by unsparing criticism of the Hindus. Not infrequently there were use of the choicest words like “Pogrom”, “Genocide”, “Ethnic Cleansing”, “Fascists”, “Hindu Talibans” all dripping with absolute “objectivity” and “professionalism”, to describe Hindus and their actions. Hindus must be the most stupid on earth. They wanted to get rid of all Muslims in India. They didn’t pack them all off to Pakistan in 1947. Then for over 50 years they allowed them to multiply in India, then waited for a Godhra and then killed reportedly a thousand Muslims from among 125 million Indian Muslims. What fools we Hindus are. Hitler, if he lived today, would be disgusted with us “Hindu Nazis”.

There is another side to this malicious bias of our “wonderful” IEPM. The bias didn`t just manifest itself as unbalanced focus on consequences only but also as exclusive focus on Hindu violence on Muslims and none or little on Muslim violence on Hindus. To me this means that IEPM in a chorus is telling the Hindus that their lives have no value, their blood is not as thick as Muslim's. This must be forcefully rejected.

Consider this hypothetical situation for a moment: Instead of Muslims burning Hindus to death, the Hindus killed 56 Muslims on the train and Muslims in retaliation killed a thousand Hindus. Where do you think the attention of the IEPM would be? No need to spell it out. It is obvious, isn’t it?

What was the message of all the “objective” coverage and analysis of the PGR? The message to Muslims was that Godhra was not an outrageous atrocity, Muslims were by and large mere victims of demonic Hindus, it would be justifiable if they waged jihad against Hindus and Indian government in revenge of PGR.

Hindus got the message that they should be ashamed for not showing the other cheek, for not being timid and meek.

The western press with its “much holier than thou, 3rd world heathens” attitude, uncritically and gleefully lapped up all the demonic portrayals of Hindus and the “Hindu fascist” BJP governments in the state and the center and transmitted them to the entire world. Imagine the pleasure of the Evangelical and fundamentalist Christians of USA who need no persuasion to attack Hindu dharma. The IEPM gave them all the ammunition they would have ever wanted to justify their conversion agenda. Isn’t it all the more urgent now to convert all these “Hindu heathens” to the “true” religion of Christianity? Isn’t it all the more easier now to raise funds to accelerate conversions in India? Imagine the pleasure of India haters in our neighborhood and elsewhere. Isn’t their hatred justified now? In my assessment, India’s reputation was sullied more by the excesses of the IEPM than by the incidents themselves? What a great service the IEPM has rendered to India.

If there is going to be any learning from Godhra, actions and consequences have to be linked. Directing the attention primarily to the consequences created a false impression that Godhra was not wrong or was only a minor transgression and only the response to that was wrong. That Muslims were only innocent victims of Hindu brutality. Calling the riots GR is motivated to keeping focus on the consequences but not the original action that caused it. That de-linking reinforces the Muslim tendency not to take responsibility, not to introspect, not to self-correct and to blame non-Muslims for everything.

If PGR is not to happen again, Godhra should not happen again. That link is important. So, let us call it PGR.

I must also point out that it is to the credit of Hindus that the violence was limited only to Gujarat and did not spread to the rest of India. This is not at all trivial. In fact, this is a very important dimension of the whole episode and must be appreciated by all reasonable people. Compare this with the behavior of Muslims. What happens in India has repercussions for Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Post 9/11 Christian fundamentalist leaders in US insult Islam and Mohammed and Hindus in central India become targets of angry Muslims. Caliphate in Turkey is abolished and Muslims in Kerala go on Hindu killing spree. Even in the USA, the “champion” of world human rights, another couple of 9/11 like events, I know as a man of color from Asia that I couldn’t take my safety for granted. So, IEPM, go easy on the Hindus.