For the first time,
the investigation brings confirmation that the Gujarat murder of Muslims
was not a spontaneous swell of anger, but a planned genocide strategised
and executed by top functionaries of the RSS, the VHP, the Bajrang Dal
and the state authorities, with the knowledge and sanction of Chief
Minister Narendra Modi.
A BJP MLA is on
tape saying he was present in the meeting in which Chief Minister Narendra
Modi gave them three days time to do whatever they wanted. These are
his exact words, “He had given us three days time… to do
whatever we could. He said he would not give us time after that…
He said this openly. After three days, he asked to stop and everything
came to a halt…”
An accused in the
Naroda Patiya massacre – the biggest incident in 2002 in which
over 200 Muslims were killed – is similarly on camera saying Modi
came to Patya that evening and thanked them saying, “Aap dhanya
ho…”
A senior VHP functionary
who was on the Sabarmati Express said, “The Mulsims had played
a one-day match with us…. They have given us a target of 60….
We have to win this match at any cost, so don’t stop till you
have made 600 runs… Modi gave us a free run to do whatever we
wanted…. The police was with us…”
In other
incriminating disclosures, it appears that bombs were manufactured in
factories owned by senior Bajrang Dal and VHP activists. Arms were smuggled
from UP, MP, Bihar and Punjab and then distributed to execution squads
led by MLAs and senior members of the Sangh Parivar. Consignments of
arms were not just smuggled in once but “there were tens and tens
of them.”
Tehelka’s
undercover reporter Ashish Khetan met scores of conspirators and rioters
who gave first hand accounts of how they had personally killed Muslims.
A BJP MLA makes startling disclosures. Bombs – petrol bombs, pipe
bombs – were made in a fire cracker factory owned by him. He damns
himself further saying they even made rocket launchers which were then
used in the pogrom.
Several conspirators
mention several key meetings across the State that were held on the
evening of 27 February, 2002 itself. The strategy on how to hit back
and give a ‘befitting reply’ was devised on in these meetings,
barely a few hours after the burning of Coach S 6 of the Sabarmati Express
in Godhra.
The investigation
has graphic accounts from the conspirators and rioters on how the Police
colluded with them. How some dead bodies from Naroda Patiya were sent
to Ahmedabad by the Police Commissioner to lower Patiya’s death
count. How police officers opened fire on the Muslims.
The investigation
further reveals the elaborate legal subversion executed to save those
accused for their role in the genocide. There were the cool strategists
– leaders, officials, ideologues. And there were the foot soldiers,
who actually raped, killed and looted. To help these foot soldiers escape
the law, the strategists had constituted a panel of lawyers sympathetic
to the ‘Hindu cause’.
Two public prosecutors
admit on Tehelka’s tapes how, contrary to their public office,
they are secretly defending the ‘Hindu accused.’ How they
try and settle deals between the accused and the victim survivors.
The legal subversion
continues. A senior lawyer casts aspersions on the two member Nanavati-Shah
Commission, inquiring into the 2002 riots. “Shah is our man,’’
he says.
In another ground-breaking
part of the investigation, Tehelka exposes a trail of lies and coercion
that establishes that the fire in coach S 6 of the Sabarmati Express
was a case of spontaneous mob fury and not a premeditated conspiracy
as alleged by the state government to justify the carnage. Tehelka has
caught several key police witnesses admitting that they have given fake
testimonies against the religious and political leadership of Godhra
for various reasons.
For instance: A crucial police witness – a petrol pump employee
who said he had sold 140 litres of petrol to the accused on the evening
of the sabarmati incident – admits he and his colleague were both
paid Rs 50,000 each by Noel Parmar, the chief investigating officer
in the Godhra case. Two BJP members, who claim to be eyewitnesses and
have identified many of the accused, admit they were not even at Godhra
station that day. They say the police filed statements on their behalf
and they colluded to further the cause of Hindutva.
These are only some
of the devastating findings of Tehelka’s investigation. For full
details, read the latest issue of Tehelka – The Truth:
Gujarat 2002 -- a 108 page special issue that has the complete
transcripts and cast of characters exposed by the investigation. Available
on the stands from 26 October, 2007.
