It is extremely puzzling why so many letter writers have heaped such accolades on the Hindu nationalist politician Narendra Modi of Gujarat in view of his active role in the massacre of 2,500 Muslims. An explosive expose in the Indian magazine Tehelka’s revealed that in 2002, Modi gave Hindu rightwing activists three days to attack Muslims with impunity. A reporter for Tehelka, Tarun Tejpal, infiltrated a right-wing Hindu organization for six months and gathered damning evidence that anti-Muslim violence, led by Modi, was highly organized and premeditated. The mainstream Indian media incorrectly reported that the attack on Muslims was a “spontaneous” reaction to an attack by Muslims on a train carrying rightwing Hindu activists when the train stopped in the town of the Godhra.
The evidence gathered by Tejpal included a spycam video footage of Hindu activists bragging about killing Muslims and directly implicating Modi and other high officials of the Gujarat government. Most troubling is Modi’s BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) party’s link to a network of right wing Hindu organizations. Haresh Bhatt, a BJP member of the Gujarat state assembly from Godhra confirmed that Narendra Modi gave Hindu rightwing activists three days to act with impunity to systematically slaughter Muslims. According to Tejpal, what happened in 2002 was probably the most outrageous planned act of religious violence aided and abetted by the state paralleling the slaughter of Sikhs in Delhi in 1984.
It is truly tragic that following this orgy of violence, there has been no effort to bring the guilty to justice and no statement of remorse from the guilty, in spite of Tejpal’s courageous efforts. Police collusion had been well established by the Tehelka investigation. One of the most grotesque incidents of the mayhem was revealed by Babu Patel, leader of the extreme militant youth wing Bajrang Dal, who boasted of slitting open the womb of a pregnant Muslim woman and pulling out the fetus. Subsequently, Patel was fully protected by the state and escaped imprisonment and the gallows for his hideous crime. Most of those arrested were released on bail. Such is the state of justice in India. It is unconscionable that the architect of the massacre, Narendra Modi, should now be re-elected as Chief Minister. According to the Indian media, a large number of NRI’s offered financial support to Modi’s re-election. Modi may have escaped justice but will surely pay the ultimate price when he departs from this world. All those who supported this monster to escape justice and re-elect him to high office should bow their heads in shame.
Related Links
Tehelka's Report: "The Truth in the Words of the Men Who Did It: Gujarat 2002"
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