Of Godhra and Gujarat
*** CAUTION: Long Post ***
This post comprises two separate articles from Shri Arvind Lavakare which I am reproducing in full below.
They are from 2004 and 2006 respectively and offer food for thought, especially in the context of the Tehelka sting operation (Read Offstumped’s�take on Tehelka and BarbarIndian’s posts on it here�and here).
In the first article, Shri Lavakare makes the following main points:
- To label the riots in Gujarat as “genocide” is wrong
- Friction between Hindus and Muslims is not new and is not a creation of the BJP/VHP/RSS (“there had been communal friction since at least the time of Aurangzeb’ who ruled India from 1658 till his death in 1707”)
- Muslims often have�difficulty in�integrating or assimilating with non-Muslim cultures – especially in countries where they are in a minority (he cites examples from the world over)
In the�second article, Shri Lavakare notes that�a large number of Hindus too suffered in the riots that followed the S-6 carnage.�
More importantly, he recalls the Justice Tewatia Report into the riots and suggests that the burning of carriage S-6 was deliberate and pre-planned by jehadi elements inspired and supported by Pakistan and their avowed aim was to create Hindu-Muslim communal conflagration in India.
Click below�for the full text of these articles:
By Arvind Lavakare, July 28, 2004
The latest UNDP report’s remark that India’s reputation as a model constitutional protector of the country’s remarkable cultural diversity has begun to fray because of the 2002 ‘genocide’ in Gujarat is outrageous ignorance and insolence of the report’s authors.
According to the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, ‘genocide’ refers to ‘acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.’ Note that little word ‘a’ in that definition.
When Nazi Germany extinguished six million of a single group called Jews, that was genocide.
When, in 1984, Congress party goons extinguished over 3,000 of a single group called Sikhs, that too was genocide.
In 1989-1990, when some Muslims in the Kashmir valley slaughtered some 10,000 Kashmiri Pandits, killed or raped their women in front of their eyes, and ultimately expelled some 350,000 Pandits from their homes, that was genocide of a religious group.
In Gujarat 2002, however, of the total deaths (as per the home ministry’s official annual report for 2002-2003, page 6), about a third were Hindus (including 59 charred in a train compartment) and 200 in all were killed in police firing. If, at one stage, 100,000 Muslims were struggling in relief camps, so were 40,000 Hindus. Thus, Gujarat 2002 was not genocide of one ethnic community as the UNDP report alleges.
Secondly, the authors of that report want us to believe that but for Gujarat 2002, the constitutional secularism of Indian democracy has by and large fulfilled its promise of all communities living in a paradise of religious pluralism. That’s a falsehood. The truth is documented in the book Riots & Wrongs (India First Foundation, New Delhi, 2004) written by R N P Singh, an ex-officer of India’s Intelligence Bureau who was honoured with the President’s Police Medal and Indian Police Medal.
Statistics cited by Singh show that communal violence in India occurred in each and every year from 1954 to 1985. The total number of communal incidents in those 31 years was 8,449 (an annual average of 273), the total number of persons killed in that period was 7,229 (an annual average of 233), and the number of persons injured in those incidents was 47,321 (an annual average of 1,526).
After 1985, communal riots have also occurred in every year from 1986 to 1995, and in 1997, 2002 (besides Gujarat), and 2003.
Today’s ‘secular’ journalists in denims and Lalu-like politicians in khadi are the fundamentalist secularists who believe that communal riots in India are caused by the RSS-VHP-BJP trinity. And pinko historians salivate in tracing Hindu-Muslim riots to British colonial scheming. But history again tells a different tale. In their 564-page narrative on India’s long road to independence, Anthony Read and Davis Fischer write, ‘The British may have utilized the division between Hindus and Muslims, but they certainly did not invent it: there had been communal friction since at least the time of Aurangzeb’ who ruled India from 1658 till his death in 1707. (The Proudest Day, PIMLICO, 1998, page 78).
However, the first reported Hindu-Muslim riot took place in 1713 AD — 212 years before the RSS was formed, 251 years before the VHP was founded, and 289 years before the Gujarat riots broke out after 59 Hindus were burnt to death in a train. Indeed, before the RSS was born in 1925, Singh’s book records the occurrence of some 150 Hindu-Muslim riots and, unbelievably, of four riots between Muslims and… Parsis!
If Golwalkar and his so-called Hindu fanatics were not yet on the scene, why had those pre-1925 riots happened? A glimpse of the truth can be had from those four Muslim-Parsi riots traced to Bombay by Singh’s book.
In 1850, a Parsi journalist published a photograph of Mohammad Paigambar in his newspaper. Muslims started assaulting all Parsis. In 1851, a magazine edited by a Parsi youth gave an account of the Prince of Arabia and an undiscovered villain posted a lithograph portrait of the Prophet on the entrance of a mosque. That was enough for Muslims to belabour Parsis.
In 1857, Muslims killed a Parsi high priest and a notorious Parsi character for his supposed insult to Islam and for receiving from the British what was deemed as only a mild punishment. The 1874 riots too originated because of a Parsi’s translation of an American writer’s article on the Prophet. (BTW, does all that tell us why India’s modern-day journalists do not touch Islam with a barbed pen?)
It was thus abundantly clear more than 150 years ago, if not more, that their religion, Islam, was the be-all and end-all of Muslims in India. Even Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi failed to alter that mindset. It was but a matter of time before Pakistan was carved out from British India with accompanying rivers of human blood and oceans of human tears. Not satisfied, the new Islamic country invaded the Kashmir valley to secure its possession on religious grounds.
Came the Constitution of India on January 26, 1950, founded on noble secular principles although its architect, Dr B R Ambedkar, was convinced about his thesis that Muslims cannot co-exist with non-Muslims (Thoughts on Pakistan, Thacker & Co, Bombay, 1946).
This thesis has been subsequently endorsed by several Muslims themselves. Thus, in The Telegraph, Calcutta, of April 29, 1986, Tara Ali Baig wrote that the problem with the Muslims is that they ‘insist on living lives by a fixed set of laws laid down for them in an Arab country long ago, which even today they consider inflexible, unalterable doctrine. This is the real root of the separate existence of Muslims in India. They do not know where to turn except to Mecca and the home of their religion.’ Muslim intellectuals in India like eminent jurist M C Chagla, ex-politician and scholar Dr Rafiq Zakaria, and senior journalist M J Akbar have shared this view.
The conflict of interest between Muslims and non-Muslims and, what’s more, between intra-Muslim sects themselves, has been substantiated outside India. The research findings of Jonathan Fox (published in his book Islam And The West) on the Cold War and post-Cold War activities of Islamic groups support Samuel Huntington’s thesis that ‘Islam is one of the greatest participants in civilizational conflicts’. As observed in the Journal of Peace Research (vol 38, no 4, 2001, Sage Publications, London), the Islamic civilization is conflicting with all other religions and not just the West.
By ignoring the fallout of the inherently inimical nature of Islam, the UNDP report errs further by believing that all over the world people can have multiple and complementary identities without creating a conflict between the assertion of ethnicity and the honouring of citizenship obligations.
Citing the factual situations in Lebanon, Cyprus, Israel, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Afghanistan, India, Russia and China, R N P Singh concludes, ‘Muslims, whether in minority or majority, are always in conflict with others on one cause or the other. They never agree to join the mainstream with the non-Muslim majority and always demand separate land, separate law, separate educational institutions, and separate concessions. Their usual approach is to launch jehad or holy war against non-Muslims.’
This reality is slowly but surely dawning on the advanced Western world where Muslim immigrants are swelling by the day. Unlike India’s ostrich-like media, leading newspapers abroad are beginning to look sharply at Islam’s tenets.
Take Britain, where Muslim immigrants are now in the third generation stage. According to a recent poll in that country, 13 percent of British Muslims ‘approved of a renewed terrorist assault, on the scale of the 9/11 outrage, on targets in America and Britain’. (India Link International magazine, London, June-July 2004 issue).
In that same publication are the views of Sarfraz Manzoor, the deputy commissioning editor at Channel 4, and of Lord Nazir Ahmed. Manzoor condemned ‘the alienated and angry young Muslims who, though born here, do not accept Britain as their homeland.’ Lord Nazir was critical of the imams in England who deliver fiery sermons and bemoaned, ‘Young Muslims who come under the influence and spell of such narrow-minded imams are filled with nothing but animosity and absurd notions about Britain and the British people.’
In the Netherlands, a recent survey of 813 Dutch adults by TNS NIPO pollsters for De Volkskrant newspaper found that 36 percent of the Dutch feel threatened by Muslims in the Netherlands and only 15 percent regard their culture positively.
In Italy, writer Stefania A, an Italian ex-Muslim woman, recently condemned the social, political, and religious attitude of Muslim immigrants to Italy, bemoaned their unwillingness to do anything to integrate themselves with Italians, and told them to leave if they were not satisfied with what Italy offered them.
There is also France where the head scarf for Muslim schoolgirls caused such a furore among the Muslim community and forced the government to be determined to ban its wearing.
Taking Europe as a whole, the increasing assertiveness of Muslims has resulted in some intellectuals predicting the continent’s name being changed in the near future to ‘Eurabia.’
Finally, the USA. More and more mainstream journalists are uncovering facts that will wean away the na�ve belief that Islam is a religion of peace. The latest is from Nicholas D Kristoff. Writing in The New York Times, he made the telling assessment, ‘We have quite properly linked the fundamentalist religious tracts of Islam with the intolerance they nurture.’ (Reproduced in The Asian Age, Mumbai, July 20, 2004.)
It’s a tragedy of our times then that the UNDP report’s authors chose to wear blinkers when it gushed about cultural diversity being compatible with integrated citizenship without taking the Islamic world into account.
By the way, how much does producing a UNDP report cost? What purpose does it, and other such UN reports, serve? Might it not be better for the world body to spend that money, howsoever small or big, on offering succour to the victims of such genocides as were perpetrated on the Sikhs in 1984 and the Kashmiri Pandits in 1989-1990?
*** END OF ARTICLE ***
The myth and truth of Godhra
By Arvind Lavakare, May 7th, 2006
Two recent �news briefs� in print are critical evidence of a reality that�s been totally ignored by our �liberals� who have, for four years running, gone on and on and on about the �genocide� of Muslims in Gujarat after the sudden inferno in the S-6 compartment of Sabarmati Express had consumed 58 Hindus, including 26 women and 12 children, returning home after performing kar seva at Ayodhya.
In its edition of March 19, 2006, The Sunday Express carried the following report from Ahmedabad:
�Post-Godhra riot case: 7 get lifer
The city sessions court on Friday convicted seven people in a post-Godhra riot case and sentenced them to life term for the murder of 35-year-old Mukesh Panchal, a resident of Lambha. He was attacked by the accused and went missing on November 7, 2003 from Shah-e-Alam Darwaza. His mutilated body was found near Chandoka Lake on November 11. One of the seven accused�Javed Shaukat Ali�meanwhile managed to give the cops a slip and fled from the court.�
In its edition of Wednesday, March 29, 2006 The Indian Express carried the following report, also datelined Ahmedabad:
�Nine get jail in post-Godhra riot case
The city sessions court on Tuesday convicted nine accused in a post-Godhra riot case. Additional Sessions Judge Sonia Gokani sentenced Mushtaq alias Kanio Ahmed Sheikh to 10 years in jail for murder and attempt to murder. Eight others were sentenced to 18 months in prison for unlawful assembly, possessing weapons and rioting.�
Out of the five convictions so far in l�affaire Godhra, the above two rip the blindfold on Godhra that the country was subjected to since March 2002.�
Those two convictions conclusively prove that even as some Hindus in Vadodra, Ahmedabad and a few other parts of Gujarat were provoked into insane killing, arson and loot by the S-6 carnage, the Muslims in that state were hardly the cattle hiding from the slaughter house that they have been made out by the �secularists� in and outside our national English media.�
Do you, for instance, recall reading about the mutilation of Mukesh Panchal�s cadaver in any of the English print media? Did you hear a sound byte about it on our TV?
Yes, despite all the media and the consequent political, propaganda about the �genocide� of Gujarat�s Muslims, the reality is that some of that community were also engaged in murder, rioting and unlawful assembly with arms in hand.
This trend was discernible to the objective person four years ago itself. Thus, in its issue of April 28, 2002, The Times of India reporter, Sanjay Pandey, told us that of the 726 people who had been killed by then in the post-Godhra riots, 168 were Hindus.
In its issue of June 24, 2002, India Today carried an article saying that the official figure of all people killed in Gujarat in the three months following the S-6 massacre was 800, of which a quarter were Hindus. The Union Home Ministry�s Annual Report 2002-03 said that about a third of the total dead in the Godhra riots were Hindus. It also said that, at one stage, 40,000 Hindus were in riot relief camps.
Since no �secularist� or �liberal� or �objective� person ever challenged the above sets of figures, some questions arise: Who killed 200-odd Hindus so early in those riots? Was it the police or the Hindus themselves? And what made those 40,000 Hindus rush to relief camps? Was it fear of Hindu mob violence, rape, arson and murder?
More proof of the blindfold on Godhra came in 2005, when the UPA coalition (comprising the �secular� friends of Muslims) made a statement in Parliament that 254 Hindus and 790 Muslims were killed in those riots.
But our national media simply refused to remove the blindfold on Godhra. Hence it was that the elites of our society continued to rant about the Gujarat �pogrom of genocide�; some cussed Indians even conspired to deny a US visa to the Chief Minister of one of the country�s fastest developing states.
Aiding and abetting that conspiracy were reports from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International et al. The National Human Rights Commission joined in; written lies by the likes of Arundhati Roy and fake e-mails added fuel to the fire. All of them went to town about the Gujarat �genocide� with blinkers on, a blindfold underneath. None wanted to touch upon the minority community�s role in that tragedy.
But the latest criminal conviction of 16 Muslims evokes the recall of the Justice Tewatia Report on the Godhra issue published on April 26, 2002 under the aegis of the Council For International Affairs And Human Rights, based in New Delhi.
It was a report based on a six-day field study of a team headed by Justice D.S. Tewatia, former Chief Justice, Calcutta High Court and Punjab and Haryana High Court. Its other members were Dr J.C. Batra, senior advocate, Supreme Court, Dr Krishan Singh, academician, Jawahar Lal Kaul, veteran journalist, and Prof. B. K. Kuthiala, Dean, Faculty of Media Studies, G.J. University, Hisar.
The five-man team visited three affected areas and relief camps in Ahmedabad, interacting freely with the public and members of both communities, and without government interference. In Godhra, five delegations from both communities and also of mixed composition presented their views and facts to the team. Similarly, free discussions with the public and affected communities were held in Vadodra at seven affected areas and five relief camps.
It collected information from the staff at the Godhra Railway Station, district administration, including the Collector and Police Commissioner, passengers traveling in Sabarmati Express on 27.02.02 in S-6 compartment as well as in other compartments, staff of the Fire Brigade, Godhra, reports in 22 newspapers and nine magazines (local, regional and Delhi) and views on media coverage articulated by some 500 persons including intellectuals like lawyers, doctors and businessmen. The site where the train was initially stopped and stoned was also visited. A high point was that 13 delegations consisting of 121 citizens met Justice Tewatia�s team and presented their viewpoints and information. The delegations ranged from the Association of Hoteliers to a group of Vanvasis and affected Muslim as well as Hindu women.
Based on the considerable oral, audio and visual evidence obtained from the above interactions, the Justice Tewatia team�s conclusions most relevant to the blindfold on Godhra were as follows:
1. Burning of 58 Hindu pilgrims on February 27, 2002 was an act carried out at the behest of then government of Pakistan which had planned to burn the entire Sabarmati Express carrying some 2000 passengers. The primary objective was to create Hindu-Muslim communal conflagration in India. The actual perpetrators were jehadi elements in the predominantly Muslim town of Godhra where
- a very high traffic of telephone calls was recorded between Godhra and Pakistan, especially Karachi, before the date of the carnage,
- an abnormally large number of passports were issued,
- there was a large number of persons without ration cards,
- a large number of unemployed Muslims had mobile phones,
- though there is no tradition of being a Muslim pilgrim center and the local Muslims are not affluent, three istema (religious gatherings) have been held and attended by large numbers of foreigners, and
- an Assistant Collector (a young Muslim from eastern UP) went on leave two days before the gory incident and did not return till the middle of March though the district of his posting was aflame with communal riots much earlier.
2.� The vacuum pipe between the Coaches No. S-6 and S-7 was cut thereby preventing any further movement of the train. Miscreants threw bricks and stones at the train as soon as it left Godhra railway station. The stoning intensified after it finally stopped about 700 metres from the station. The passengers of the train, particularly Coaches S-5, S-6 and S-7, were the main targets. Burning missiles and acid bulbs were thrown on and in the coaches. One such acid missile landed in Coach S-7 and a fire started which the passengers were able to extinguish. But the attack continued and more burning missiles were thrown into the Coach S-6.
3. In an effort to control the subsequent riots, the Gujarat government
- Publicly announced its decision to employ the Army on the evening of the day riots began on February 28 (Within less than 24 hours at least one brigade of Indian Army had air-landed at Ahmedabad),
- Made preventive arrests of over 33,000 people,
- Fired over 12,000 rounds of bullets,
- Fired over 15,000 rounds of tear gas shells.
4.� The involvement of Vanvasis in the post-Godhra riots added a new dimension to the communal violence. In rural areas the Vanvasis attacked the Muslim moneylenders, shopkeepers and the forest contractors. They used their traditional bow and arrows as also their implements used to cut trees and grass while attacking Muslims. They moved in groups and used coded signals for communication. Apparently, the accumulated anger of years of exploitation by Muslim moneylenders (interest of 50 per cent per annum), shopkeepers and forest contractors had become explosive after moneylenders sexually exploited their womenfolk.
5.� The media selected, distorted and added fiction to prove their respective points of view. The code of ethics prescribed by the Press Council of India was violated by the media with impunity. It so enraged the citizens that several concerned citizens in the disturbed areas suggested that peace could return to the state only if some of the TV channels were closed for some weeks. Even the Vanvasis complained that the media had no time to hear their agony and was spreading canards against the Hindus. Newspapers published in English from Delhi invariably editorialised the news. Direct and indirect comments in the news writing were so telling that the personal likes and dislikes of the news reporters were too obvious to be missed. They appeared to have assumed the role of crusaders against the State Government from day one. It coloured the entire operation of newsgathering, feature writing and editorials.
Conclusions 1 to 4 above are indicators as to why our national media, ever afraid to criticise the Muslim and ever ready to indulge in BJP/Hindu bashing, bypassed the Justice Tewatia Report, despite its high credentials and the fact that it was publicly released at a press conference in New Delhi.
After all, our �secular� national media simply could not have tolerated giving even a line to report�s conclusion #5 above.
Hence, they simply buried the whole report itself, put a blindfold on the country vision of it. After all, they had found their Hindu-bashing agenda in the post-Godhra riots and they were hell-bent in pushing it full steam, right up to the Supreme Court and beyond to the United Nations.
Will the criminal conviction of 16 by two separate sessions judges in Ahmedabad remove the blindfold on Godhra that the �monster media� put on the people of this country?�
*** END OF ARTICLE ***
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Those who have read this far may also want to read a separate post by Offstumped on media biaswhen reporting such inidents: “Justice Srikrishna Commission Report – Media Myths and Reality“.
Related Posts:
Join the discussion on Islam, Hindutva, Dr Zakir Naik,�Godhra�and
Perverse secularism and India�s�future
Finally, If you liked what you read, please consider subscribing to my feed (here or by Email)
Thanks Shantanu, for bringing this reports and articles to light for many readers of Satyameva-jayate.
I have not gone thoroughly, but I can conclude from whatever I read:
We as the nation of India cannot trust UPA ( Congress) at any cost. It is not just enough to tolerate this kind of Govt but shame for us to be ruled by them. I am not suggesting BJP or anything. But at least we cant take up UPA now.
Jai Hind
*** COMMENT EDITED by MODERATOR ***
UPA government is a olden days maharaja Jaychand and want to destory this country and Hindusim…
You have articulated nicley…
FYI.
Fans of Shri Narendra Modi website.
http://www.fansofnarendramodi.org/index.htm
A wonderful job done by some patriots. Shri Modi is the only leader in Bharat today, who can speak confidently, work in a determined manner, tirelessly and selflessly. People of Gujarat should be proud of him, and treat him as second Sardar Patel.
Pseudo-secular brigade’s only ideology: Hate Hindus, Hate BJP, Hate Modi.
For pseudo-seculars, killing of Hindus by JIhadis is secular. But if hindus retaliate and kill few JIhadis, then Hindus are fundamentalists.
The roasting of 59 Hindu pilgrimages inside the train, which comprise of childrens and womens never get mentioned in pseudosecular media, as nothing happened. But post-Godhara events are very dear to them, they never get tired of Modi-bashing, Gujarat-bashing, HIndu-bashing.
Had there been more Hindus get killed in post-Godhara Gujarat riot, these pseudo-seculars would have remain silent as they always remain slient on ethnic cleansing of half a million Hindus from the Kashmir Valley or killing of Hindus in Kerala, Asom, Manipur and numerous other places.
There is no sting operations by the pseudo-secular briagdes for massacres of Hindus in Godhara, Genocide on Hindus in Kashmir, in Kerala and many other places. There is no sting operations for Genocide on Sikhs in the heart of the nation’s capital by the Rajiv Gandhi Congress desperados.
All nationalists and patriots must unite to defeat these pseudo-secular brigades, as they are the real danger to the nation. They are destroying the nation’s fabrics.
*** COMMENT EDITED by MODERATOR ***
*** Ali: You are welcome to share your thoughts here but please be mindful of your language. Being rude and/or impolite does not help an argument ***
Islam is not religion of peace…I left Islam beacuse of its barbarism, intolerance and womanizers.
Every law in Islam is written around Arabia…
*** NOTE by MODERATOR ***
Have inserted the correct link in your earlier comment.
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I know I am going to be flamed when I say the following, but I think it needs to be said.
The above two articles quoted by you, Shantanu, are very misleading, to say the least. The point about the Gujarat riots is not how many muslims and how many hindus died, but the role of the state in the riots.
There is, I think, now enough evidence to indicate that the State was an active and passive participant in helping hindu mobs kill muslims. This is the crux of the matter and why the Gujarat riots are called a pogrom. Of course, if you choose to dispute this “fact”, that is another matter.
We pay taxes to the Government primarily for three things:
1. To enforce the law of the land and to protect us from those who seek to harm us
2. To protect our borders and to protect us from external enemies who seek to harm us
3. To provide the services of “commons”
Now, if the state fails in its fundamental duty and even participates actively in violating that duty, then there is a huge problem.
And, this is the key issue we need to address in the anti-sikh riots in Delhi, the hindu-muslim riots in Bombay in 1992 and the Gujarat riots in 2002.
Everything else is incidental.
Thanks.
Patriot: Thanks for your comment.
I hold no brief for the BJP, the VHP, the RSS or any other organisation or political party.
Like you, I am deeply interested in what actually happened.
In that spirit, may I request you to please provide a few link that conclusively establish that “the State was an active and passive participant in helping hindu mobs kill muslims”.
Satyameva Jayate.
@Patriot: If what you are saying is true, dont you think a central government that consists of parties who came to power solely to keep BJP out of power would have done something about it. They would love nothing more than to bring him down.
And the other thing is he got re-elected fair and square. It just beats me why gujaratis re-elect him while the rest of india sees him as some villain.
Shantanu, you said:
” In that spirit, may I request you to please provide a few link that conclusively establish that “the State was an active and passive participant in helping hindu mobs kill muslims”. ”
I would have thought that the recent Tehelka story gave you sufficient pointers as to what went on? If not, then give me a few days and I will certainly revert with more links on the complicity of the then modi government.
Prakash, you said:
” @Patriot: If what you are saying is true, dont you think a central government that consists of parties who came to power solely to keep BJP out of power would have done something about it. They would love nothing more than to bring him down. ”
Surely, surely, you are joking????? In 2002, the BJP was in power at the centre. Do you really, really expect them to dismiss their own government.
And, my belief is that the Gujarat killings played a role, small but significant, in BJP losing the national level elections. So, in my view, the party was punished by the nation. You may have different views on this, I don’t know.
And, BTW, I am a BJP supporter and believe that the national BJP government achieved more in their 5 years of power than the congress did in the previous 40 years. So, please do not take me for being a BJP-baiter. But, I can not condone what the BJP oversaw in Gujarat until, at the very least, they apologise for it. The Congress, on the other hand, are just scum …… for lots of reasons.
“And the other thing is he got re-elected fair and square. It just beats me why gujaratis re-elect him while the rest of india sees him as some villain.”
Yes, this surprises me, too and I have no explanations for it. I have asked a few of my Gujju friends and their only explanation is that Modi provides an efficient adminstration. So, maybe the majority hindus of Gujarat just prefer an efficient administrator even if he goes about doing other nasty stuff. (as long as it does not affect the majority, I guess)
And, you can say the same thing about Bengal. How is it that the CPM continues to win every 5 years, despite their completely dismal track record????? (I have some “facts” on this one).
@ Patriot: I said, “conclusively establish”.
I am not sure the Tehelka story does that. More curious is the lukewarm response of Congress to it. I wonder why.
Just to be perfectly clear, if it is established that the State was an active participant in the killings, then I agree with your view that the State not only failed in its fundamental duty to protect its citizens, it actively violated that duty – and no amount of condemnation will then be enough.
Look forward to some more information on this – the truth must be established.
I think all this fuss by NGO’s and some Muslims is to hide the real story of setting fire to S6 coach at Godhra station by fanatic muslims. What happened to the passengers of S6? Who was first to ignite the riots? Do anyone has answer to all this?
From when did media start palying the role of justice? Oh if it is than many have many more stories to come out as a sting.
Whatever it is called Tehelka or Congresska, first it must make a sting on roasting of 59 Hindu pilgrims (comprise of children and women) as chickens, showing the burning train coach surrounded by over 2000 Jihadi mobs. Who were the JIhadis, what role Congress pplayed must be brought out. Congress party is the Mother of all riots in India. 99.99% riots occured in the country under Congress and most of them are instigated by the Congress. Only after this, Tehelka or Congresska should move to post-Godhara riot stings.
What would have happned had 59 muslim pilgrims returning from Mecca were roasted like chickens by the 2000 Hindu mobs? Whole India would have burned, lakhs of Hindus would have get massacred by the Jihadis, hundfeds of Hindu mandirs would have get destroyed. And there would not have been any condemnation or reaction or sting operations by the Sickular brigades, as they shown it on Godhara Hindu roasting or ethnic cleansing of Hindus from Kashmir valley, killing of hindus in Kerala and so on.
By making sting on roasting of Hindus will not bring money and secular awards and rewards. Hindus can be killed, burned, roasted like chickens, humiliated, insulted, persecuted, and hindus must silently accept everything. And they must vote for Sickular brigades, else they are fundamentalists. Whatever happened in Gujarat after Godhara train burning are reactions of Hindus.
No self-respected Hindus will tolerate such barbaric event in their homeland. Hindus have suffered enough, even after partion of the nation, in every corner of the nation from Kashmir to Kerala, from Asom to Gujarat. Tit for tat must be the policy. As a victim of Jihadi instigated riots, I know it by heart how it feels. Hindu life are not like street dogs, and Jihadis life are not preceious Gems. 99.99% riots occur in the country where Jihadis are majority and start by the jihadis.
English language Sickular media, living in air-conditioned and secured places, made business of Hindu bashing, hindu insulting. Sickularism is the biggest enemy of Hindus and Bharat. Unless this Sicukarism go, hindu suffering will not go. Hindus must learn to live as men,as Khastriya, and not as cowards and slaves of Jihadis.
Please keep aside Gandhian cowardice and double-standards. Hindu killing is alright, it is secular; and muslim killing is shame, it is fundamentlaism. And please don’t fall into bully of Sickular boggy; it will ruin us.
Offstumped on some interesting things about Tehelka itself:
http://offstumped.nationalinterest.in/2007/10/26/the-tehelka-that-was-not/
Shantanu,
If you want “conclusive evidence” of state collusion, then I am afraid you will have to wait a long, long time …… I do not think that Modi is stupid, whatever else he may be, that he will leave a “smoking gun” around.
There can only be indicators and pointers to state collusion in this case and I think the ex-cronies of Modi say enough in the tapes to point the “needle of suspicion” at Modi. If you, like so many other hindutva-wadis, say that is not “conclusive” proof, fair enough, that is your prerogative.
I think Rohit says this very well at INI:
http://retributions.nationalinterest.in/why-modi-should-go/
As I mentioned in a previous post, I think the Nation delivered its verdict on the BJP, whether the hindutva-wadis accept it or not. And, Vajpayee himself said that Gujarat was a lapse of his “rajdharma”. Of course, there are plenty of hindutva-wadis around to denounce Vajpayee as too soft, so I guess that comment does not count.
And, my view on why the Congress is not blowing this up is that they know that they have a slim chance of winning Gujarat if they focus on governance, none if the BJP manages to make into an “us vs them” battle again. Realpolitik at play.
RE: Bharat,
Yeah, sure, great idea. Let us all descend to the level of animals.
I am sure you will find plenty of supporters for your idea.
And, for all of those who think that this Tehelka report helps the Congress in Gujarat, you need to really, really understand the politics of Gujarat.
The only gainer as a result of this report is Narendra Modi in Gujarat.
Though, longer term, I believe this sting has scuppered whatever chances Modi may have had of ever moving to the national stage.
One has to take steps against Jihadis, and Narendra modi is one of them. Today everywhere in India it is red alert due to diwali at all public places and markets. We cannot live in terror and those who are supporting terror will always speak against Narendra Modi? and muslims deaths.
Jai Hind
@ Patriot: I am not talking about the time when the riots happened. I am talking about the current government, Laloo? didnt he setup a panel to study it. What with all the NGOs petitioning for it?
@ Patriot: your ID word is only patriot, all else is fake. Why using a fake name, write your real name and show your manship (if you are). Your real identity is a BJP-hater (by default a hindu-hater, as most supporters of BJP are Hindus), another pseudo-secular under a mask.
For pseudo-seculars, Truth hurts. Its a fact that pseudo-seculars can’t tolerate truths and facts. Double standards are their way of living. They use their version of aggressive secular missionary tactics to intimidate others. If someone cowed down before their bully and follow their perverted secularism (Ram does not exist, all characters in Ramayan are fictious, and Ramayan is a fiction book; Gujarat riot is inhuman, but Godhara burning and Delhi Genocide are human, and list goes endless), then he/she is a secular. Else he/she is communal.
Pseudo-seculars can never become objective and independent thinkers and doers. What suits them is good, what does not suits them is bad, rotten.
You are ignored.
Bharat,
I don’t need you or anyone else to give me a certificate on my patriotism or otherwise. I am comfortable with what I am and I don’t need to pin labels on others to feel good about myself.
I guess that is the key difference between you and me.
As i said earlier, if you wish to descend to the level of animals to fight the jehadis, do so …….. you will find many supporters on this board.
And, BTW, all Modi lovers and supporters, WHAT has Modi actually DONE to bring the perpetrators of the S-6 carnage to JUSTICE????? After all, he has the full state machinery at his command …… so how come we are yet to see those animals on trial?
I think there is one extenuating circumstance regarding the Gujarat riots post-Godhra that the mass media tends to ignore, and I will come to that in a minute.
But, first consider the following:
Post the bomb blasts on Mumbai trains (which incidentally killed 5x the number of people in S-6), we did not take to the streets and slay every muslim that we could see.
Post the bomb blasts on the London Metro, the people of London also did not go on a killing frenzy.
Ditto for the Madrid train bomb blasts, where the number of dead was many times those killed in S-6. Incidentally, the bombers of Madrid were caught and tried and will now spend the rest of their lives in prison, never seeing the outside world ever again.
However, I think the difference was that in all the three above cases, the citizens knew that this was the work of external agents.
In the case of Godhra, it was evident that locals had torched the train. To that extent, the anger of the hindu community was/is understandable.
The reasons for Modi’s re-election do not simply lie on the Godhra riots.
In fact, there has been pretty much no disturbance in his second term at office. He was voted twice in India Today as the best chief minister in the country.
I believe Gujarat gets the largest FDI in the country. High rates of GDP growth. Corruption in the administration is supposed to very low. The rest of India may think of him as some monster.
Fortunately, the people in the state do not base their vote just on godhra but the overall performance of his government.
You must consider the fact that Gujarat was hit with a massive earthquake during his first term and the way the state has grown since then. He seems to be politically savvy and very shrewd in the way he pushes through his reforms.
He has had no trouble (if you compare with Nandigram etc) regarding acquiring land for SEZs. Personally, I think he is one of the best administrators in the country and India could use a few more.
I recently came across a slightly dated interview of Khushwant Singh…I particularly wanted to attract your attention towards sly comparison of 1984 with Godhra.
Khushwant writes: ” In 1984, when Hindu mobs went on a rampage against Sikhs in Delhi…”
That’s wrong, he should use the word Congress here. The only people who tried to save Sikh lives were RSS. Even Atal Bihari Vajpayee put his own life in danger in an attempt to save few Sikhs in one place.
Other things to be mentioned here are : Non of those who attacked the Sikhs were killed or even seriously hurt, while in Godhra episode a considerable number of Hindus were brutally killed too. And unlike 1984 where no cop was killed or even injured, in Godhra episode policemen did die while trying to save people.
* Original interview published in “The Week” (India)Apr 6, 2003 titled, “The menace of fascism” by Sachidananda Murthy.
From SC snaps at Teesta, won’t allow interference in riot cases:
The Supreme Court on Thursday came down heavily on social activist Teesta Setalvad for raising the issue of post-Godhra riots of Gujarat with foreign organisations saying that it can take care of the cases and no interference is required from overseas human rights groups. “We don’t appreciate that other organisations interfere in our functioning. We can take care of (them) ourselves and cannot get guided by others. It’s a direct interference in our functioning. We don’t appreciate it,” a special bench headed by Justice D K Jain said.
The court was anguished that the NGO, centre for Justice and Peace (CJP), headed by Setalvad approached Geneva-based Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights raising the issue of protection of witnesses in riots cases.
http://deshgujarat.com/2011/01/29/fearing-arrest-teesta-files-anticipatory-bail-in-godhra-court/
—Fearing her arrest, Mumbai based controversial NGO operator Teesta Setalvad has filed anticipatory bail plea in Gujarat’s Godhra court to save herself from arrest.
The application for the anticipatory bail was filed by Teesta’s counsel A A Hasan in a Godhra court on Thursday—.
http://deshgujarat.com/2011/01/31/teestas-bail-plea-hearing-on-10-february-in-godhra-court/
—Teesta is likely to be arrested in connection with exhumation of bodies of riot victims in Lunawada. The Pandharwada massacre took place during the 2002. The grave was dug up in December 2005 without legal procedure—-.
Narendra Modi did not stand by and allow the Gujarat riots to happen
(with article references)
Author: Nuc Dev
URL: http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110114150529AA5mSvr
1. The Congress Union Minister of State for Home, Shriprakash Jaiswal, in Parliament on 11 May 2005, said 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were killed in the riots. This is hardly consistent with a Muslim genocide.
2. The entire police force of 70,000 was deployed in Gujarat on 27 February itself in apprehension of riots. (The Hindustan Times Feb 28, 2002). Gujarat police fired more than 4,000 rounds in the first three days alone. Altogether the police arrested more than 27,000 people.
National Minorities Commission Chairman John Joseph noted, “As on April 6, 126 persons were killed in police firing, of which 77 were Hindus.” (The Telegraph, April 21, 2002.). This does not tally with the accusation of a deliberately inactive police force.
3. “Shoot-at-sight” orders had been given in Godhra on February 27 itself. (Times Of India, Feb 27, 2002). 827 preventive arrests were made on the evening of February 27 itself, on Chief Minister Narendra Modi”s order. The State Government deployed the Rapid Action Force in Ahmedabad and other sensitive areas and the Centre sent in CRPF personnel, on February 27 itself even before a single riot had taken place. (The Indian Express, Feb 28, 2002)
4. Narendra Modi, frantically called the Army units to Ahmedabad on February 28th (The Hindu, March 1, 2002). Army units started arriving in Ahmedabad on the night of February 28th. On 1st and 2nd March 2002, riots took place even in places where the Indian Army was present, i.e. Ahmedabad and Vadodara, and close to 100 people each were killed, despite the presence of the Indian Army.
5. Only 2 deaths were reported on 3rd March in the entire state, and the main violence ended on 3rd March 2002. After 3rd March 2002, riots took place almost entirely in those places where the Army was posted.
Subsequently there were 157 riots and all of them were started by Muslim groups (India Today, June 24, 2002).
6. As early as 5 March 2002, out of the 98 relief / refugee camps set up in the state, 85 were for the Muslims and 13 were for the Hindus. As on 17 March 2002, as per The Times of India, 10,000 Hindus were rendered homeless in Ahmedabad alone. As on 25 April 2002, out of the 1 lakh 40 thousand refugees, some 1 lakh were Muslims and 40 thousand were Hindus.
Again this is not consistent with the unilateral Muslim sufferings that have been portrayed.
7. India Today weekly in its issue dated 20 May 2002 clearly admits that, far from being anti-Muslim, the Gujarat police did not act speedily against Muslim fanatics and rioters, for fear of being called anti-Muslim by the biased and partisan media
As for the issue of deployment of army, this is what India Today reported on its 18 March 2002 issue.
FEB 27, 2002
8.03 AM: Incident at Godhra claims lives of 57 kar sevaks.
8.30 AM: Modi is informed of the carnage.
4.30 PM: Modi gives shoot-at-sight orders to the police.
10.30 PM: CM orders curfew in sensitive places and pre-emptive arrests.
FEB 28, 2002
8.00 AM: Special control room set up in CM”s house.
12.00 PM: Modi informally contacts Centre for calling in army.
4.00 PM: Modi requests army deployment following consultations with Advani.
7.00 PM: The Gujarat Government”s formal request for army deployment is received in Delhi.
11.30 PM: Airlifting of troops begins
MARCH 1, 2002
2.30 AM: A brigade reaches Ahmedabad.
9.00 AM: Discussions between representatives of the army and the state take place, followed by troop flag march in Ahmedabad.”
That the retaliation of the Godhra train carnage was overwhelming for the available resources at his disposal was obvious, but to blame the Chief Minister or his administration for that would be as unjustified as to blame the Prime Minister, Mr. Manmohan Singh, for the recent obvious sloppiness and intelligence failure that one saw during the recent Mumbai terrorist attack of Nov 2008. Yet that has been and is still being done in such vigor that even most Hindus feel that it is the truth and are probably shameful about Mr. Narendra Modi.
Contrast this with the largest riot that happened in recent times, the anti Sikh riot in Delhi in 1984, in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi”s assassination. In that incidence, officially 3,000 Sikhs were killed and may be 10,000 in actual number. Not a single Congressman was killed, not even one person was killed in police firing, and not even a single government relief camp was organized for the Sikhs in 1984.
Those who vilify Modi as a representative of Hindutva politicis of the BJP or RSS kind, fail to remember that Hindu – Muslim riots happened even before the RSS was founded in 1925 or the BJP in 1980. Hindus, known for their tolerance and faith in religious pluralism, are never known to be in conflict anywhere else in the world, but the same cannot be said of the followers of the Muslim religion, involved in religious (against Hindus, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, etc) and sectarian (Shia, Sunnis etc.)
To add to Krishen Kak’s comment, more details of the riots and government’s response can be found at http://www.gujaratriots.com
Placing this here for the record: Tewatia Report reveals truth of Godhra 2002 by Arvind Lavakare, 27 Mar 2014..
Concluding excerpt below:
…Following are some of the conclusions of the Justice Tewatia Report:
1. Preparations for enacting Godhra carnage were made in advance.
2. There were no quarrels or fights between Hindus and Muslim passengers on the train.
3. There were no quarrels or fights between the vendors and the Hindu pilgrims on the platform of Godhra Railway Station.
4. The intention of the mob was to put to death all the pilgrims travelling by the Sabarmati Express.
5. The fire-fighting system available in Godhra was weakened and its arrival at the place of incident willfully delayed by the mob with the open participation of a Congress Councillor, Haji Balal.
6. The demographic changes in Godhra in recent years have made it a centre for jihadi activities.
7. The Army was requisitioned and deployed in time.
8. The police was on many occasions overwhelmed by the rioting mobs that were massive and carried more lethal weapons than the police did.
9. Barring a few exceptions, the police was not found to be communally motivated.
10. By converting half-baked news stories into major headlines, print as well as electronic media widened the psychological hiatus between Muslims and Hindus.