By Shafaque Alam
The Gujarat High Court, on February 8, while ordering compensation for over 500 religious structures in the state, rapped the Narendra Modi government for ‘inaction and negligence’ on its part during the 2002 Gujarat riots that led to large-scale destruction of religious structures.
In contrast, on February 10, the Special Investigation Team investigating into the matter, in a summary closure report, freed Modi of all charges in the 2002 violence saying there was no ‘prosecutable evidence’ against him. Both the verdicts are in contrast to each other as the earlier is holding the state government led by Narendra Modi accountable for unabated violence and later giving him a pat.
What is prosecutable evidence? Well, people think the killing of thousands of innocent people in the state is itself prosecutable evidence. Zakia Jafri and Sanjiv Bhatt’s confessions and Supreme Court and High Court’s repeated raps are mature enough to be ‘prosecutable evidence’. But these fall short to SIT’s parameters.
The exoneration of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi from the charges of engineering the riots has various social and political ramifications. This is a good news for Modi government but some people would hesitate to subscribe to the SIT report which says the violence was ‘a spontaneous reaction’ to the Godhara train burning.
‘Accused after accused testified to how the Gujarat Genocide would not have been possible had Modi not sent out clear directives to the administration to look the other way’ (Special Issue, Tehelka, Nov 3, 2007). The Apex Court has several times rapped Modi for his double standard approach. People in some quarters of civil society are cynical about the state government and the investigative agency for destroying and distorting the facts of violence.
The SIT’s closure report giving clean chit to Modi raises serious questions about the magnitude of violence and the state government’s complete silence to tackle the situation. Was it a deliberate act of violence to corner the Muslims in the state? The state government was alleged of not only giving impunity to the bloodthirsty mob but also sheltering them from the law after the riots.
State police sidelined thus giving rioters a free hand for three days. Prominent lawyers and senior police officers were kept in confidence. The question is: could this strategic management of violence have been possible without the nod of Modi and his strong leadership? RK Raghwan’s Honesty, who led the SIT, also needs to be investigated.
The graph of Modi’s political career has increased with the Gujarat violence. Now any development even against him goes in his favour, in terms of making him in news. During the last decade, Modi has been invariably rapped and criticized but these developments made him taller in the eyes of Hindutva fundamentalists.
The BJP is mooting to project Modi as an aspiring candidate for India’s prime minister’s post. The party may use SIT report as a certificate in washing away the scars of the violence and urge people to accept Modi as their leader.
However, the development shows that laws are only for a common man. They are useless and impotent against money and power! Let India decide what Modi deserves.