Vajpayee visits SE Asia under dark cloud

Activists burn an effigy representing Indian Home Minister L.K Advani and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- A few days before his departure for Southeast Asia, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee visited Gujarat, more than one month after riots broke out there.

"During my forthcoming visit to Southeast Asia I do not know what face I will show them after the shameful events in Gujarat," he told Muslim victims.

Vajpayee had to tread delicately in Gujarat.

He could not ignore the anger of Muslims in refugee camps carrying banners saying: "You have come to Gujarat very late, thousands of Muslims have already reached the graveyard," and he couldn't ignore the slogans calling for "Death to Narendra Modi" the Chief Minister of Gujarat.

Could Vajpayee ignore the report of India's National Human Rights Commission which had found that the Gujarat government had failed not just to prevent the violence but also to look after the victims?

In its report, the commission said that there had been "serious failures of intelligence and action" and these had resulted in "violation of the fundamental rights to life, liberty, equality and dignity."

The commission also pointed out that many of the camps to which people had fled to avoid violent attacks had not been visited by senior politicians or officials. The commission's report was backed up by the findings of a committee of senior journalists who visited the state.

Lack of action

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Vajpayee was well aware that Chief Minister Narendra Modi was a member of his own right wing Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and still enjoyed the support of the hardcore of the BJP.

They are already deeply dissatisfied with what they see as the Vajpayee government's failure to pursue their Hindu agenda.

Vajpayee also had to bear in mind that the riots were a response to an attack on Hindu activists traveling by train in which 58 people were burnt to death.

In the end, the prime minister indirectly criticized the Gujarat government, telling the Muslim refugees that he was not deceived by the spruced-up camp he was visiting, and demanding that the government and its officials "perform their duty" and undertake their responsibility.

A glum Narendra Modi took the criticism quietly.

But when the prime minister was asked whether the chief minister would go, he replied, "I don't think so".

Even Vajpayee's greatest critics do not deny that he was genuinely distressed by what he saw in Gujarat.

The Hindu, a national daily respected for its independence and balance, published an editorial on the eve of the prime minister's visit to Southeast Asia headlined: "Not enough Mr Prime Minister".

It said "there was little doubt about the sincerity and genuineness" of Vajpayee's words in Gujarat, but criticized lack of action, saying "Mr Vajpayee's failure to act decisively against the Modi regime is a major letdown of the nation and its cherished secular values".

Place in history

More than 800 people are believed to have been killed across Gujarat in a wave of revenge killings

The Indian prime minister has great dignity, a reputation for integrity, and an enviable ability to choose the right words for the moment, and it is not surprising that he was able to walk the tightrope during his visit to Gujarat.

But Vajpayee has not shown himself to be a decisive prime minister.

It can be argued that heading a coalition of disparate parties he is subject to so many pulls and pressures that he cannot do much more that keep the ship of state afloat.

But it is well known that Vajpayee does want to do more than that, that he wants his place in history. He hoped to leave a lasting legacy by being the prime minister who ended the hostility between India and Pakistan, which has existed ever since the two countries became independent.

That ambition was frustrated when the Pakistan army sent infiltrators across the line of control in Kashmir to occupy territory in the Kargil sector.

Now Vajpayee has another chance to go down in history, if he firmly disassociates himself from the section of his party supporting Modi while at the same time insisting that those responsible for riots, Muslims as well as Hindus, are tried and the police and officials found so woefully wanting are punished.

He would then be the first prime minister to make it clear that rioters will have to pay a price for breaking the law and police and officials will be dismissed for dereliction of duty.

Temple restoration

Amnesty International has pointed out in a report on the violence in Gujarat, "the expectation by the perpetrators and their accomplices not to be questioned on their role during the violence may have been one of the causes of the open, systematic and brutal nature of the violence in the Gujarat".

During his visit to Southeast Asia, Vajpayee is going to sign an agreement for Indian archaeologists to restore a Hindu temple in Cambodia.

If back at home he restores the rule of law Vajpayee will erase what he has admitted is a "blot" on India's reputation and will be able to hold his head high on his next foreign tour.