By A Mirsab, TwoCircles.net,
Rana Ayyub, who last week self-published her book ‘Gujarat Files- An anatomy of cover up’ attacked the Indian media during the Ask Me Anything (AMA) interface at Reditt and expressed her shock over the silence of entire mainstream media on reporting about her disclosure.
AMA at Reddit allows all Reddit users to ask questions about any topic to a person. Many notable individuals have participated in the AMA including United States President Barack Obama.
Ayyub’s book is based upon sting operations that she performed in Gujarat investigating 2002 riots, fake encounter killings and the murder of Haren Pandya. The book, which has been widely praised all over, is number one on Amazon India’s Kindle section.
During the AMA, Ayyub was lauded by Reddit users for her book, who also asked her some critical questions. Replying to a question as to why Indian Media houses are not reporting about her book, she said, “Journalists are now a part of a corporate set up. Not a newsroom anymore”. She indicated that media houses in India have lost professionalism and worry more about their business.
“They are sick of wanting to report and yet being told not to. Got a job to protect”, She replied to one of the question.
She believes stories are being killed in India to benefit from corporates. “Example being stories on Goa mining, Adanis, and Essar (are) being killed”, Ayyub quoted some examples.
Ayyub was asked for her response to Shoma Chaudhary’s denial of allegation that Tahelka did not publish her sting because of political pressure, Ayyub replied, “Her defence is editorial decision. That the book is a bestseller and is being praised and lauded speaks for itself.”
However, she expressed her gratitude towards Tehelka for giving her a platform and an opportunity for investigations that she believed very few would have given her.
Reacting to Gulbarg society massacre judgment in which trial court convicted 24 and acquitted 36 accused, she said, “partial justice, too little too late”.
She was then countered with if her investigation is more credible than SIT, to which she ducked by simply saying, “Let the courts decide”. She said this because she has decided to submit copies of sting to court through investigation agencies if it approaches her.
One of the persons asked her a very risky question regarding role of Narendra Modi in Gujarat 2002 pogrom as to what role her investigation assigns to Modi. Ayyub bravely responded, “Mostly – Modi did not do all that he could to stop the riots’.
Ayyub accepted that she had tremendous pressure to not publish the sting although she collected courage to self publish it.
Read her entire AMA here