Gujarat riots: Narendra Modi’s role is the larger issue

Internal security is all about justice. Justice in food distribution, justice in poverty alleviation, justice in the observation of rights, justice in law implementation are just some aspects that make citizens secure, and nations vibrant and healthy. Governance to be effective has to be just, without prejudice and discrimination.

Following the conviction of 31 people, the families of the 33 people who were burnt alive in the Sardarpura massacre in Gujarat in 2002 must be feeling a little more confident that justice is not dead in India. Despite the political system being compromised, they know that individuals and civil society are prepared to stand by them and knock at all available doors for justice. The tenacity of many of those working in Gujarat and outside in pursuing the cases of murder and rape is commendable and admirable, and as activist Teesta Setalvad said, the verdict has restored the faith of people in the judicial system. Though 31 were convicted, 42 have been acquitted. Even so the number of convicted is unprecedented.

Several cases are to come up before the courts, with the Supreme Court having monitored the process in part. It remains to be seen whether the Special Investigations Team will place before the courts evidence of political conspiracy at the highest level in Gujarat. But this is a good beginning, and optimism has returned to some extent among those who have been fighting not just the cases, but also powerful political leaders in their nearly decade-long struggle for justice.

Many battles would have been won, and major problems and issues averted, had the political class been sensitive to the need for dispensing justice. The alienation among Sikhs reached new levels after the 1984 massacre in Delhi when Congress leaders led the mobs that killed over 2,500 Sikhs. The subsequent years saw a running battle between the people and the Congress that kept trying to reinstate the tainted leaders, even as it denied justice to the victims. Similarly, Gujarat was a blow to secularism across India, with Muslims still not having reconciled to the open murder and rape of thousands in Gujarat by motivated mobs during BJP chief minister Narendra Modi’s rule. The state law and order forces disappeared from view and allowed the carnage to continue unabated.

In fact, the history of Independent India has been dotted with communal violence — Meerut, Malliana, Kanpur, Aligarh, Bhagalpur, Hubli, Bhopal — with the recommendations of enquiry committees/commissions remaining buried in the corridors of power. The reluctance of the political parties in power to dispense justice in such cases is amazing, more so as the wounds continue to fester in the absence of justice. Hundreds of thousands of families affected by communal and caste violence have given up hope, carrying anger and insecurity as part of their baggage.

Some are able to manage, but for many the injustice generates deep helplessness that is the root cause of many of the problems affecting states and communities. Significantly a direct Hindu-Muslim clash does not generate the same trauma if the state administration is perceived to be taking just and effective action. The problem really arises when the state joins the perpetrators, either during the attack by directing its police machinery to stay away, or after by blocking the wheels of justice through deliberately shoddy investigation. This generates deep insecurity that ghettoises castes and communities, and creates fissures that are not easily bridged.

Thus the special court verdict while welcome is clearly not enough. Gujarat Congress president Arjun Modvadiya has said that the ‘crocodiles’ had been acquitted and clearly not investigated. If he truly believes this, then the Congress should play a major role in exposing the facts and ensuring all comprehensive justice. There has been too much of rhetoric and little action, with the real work of approaching the courts  and fighting individual cases being left to civil society.

The larger issue remains Modi’s involvement in the 2002 violence. The SIT reportedly has found no involvement of Modi’s complicity in the violence, (there is no official word on this, only media leaks) although the chief minister has been named in the petition filed by Zakia Jafri, widow of the slain Congress leader Ahsan Jafri. A report has also been filed by senior advocate Raju Ramachandran authorised to tour Gujarat as an amicus curiae (friend of the court). However, the court has left it to the SIT to decide whether or not to take Ramachandran’s report on board. Again leaks suggest this report admits to grounds for further inquiry into Modi’s role during the violence. But again there is no official confirmation.

Senior police officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who is facing the state administration’s wrath for some frank talking, had filed an affidavit raising serious questions about the SIT’s probe. Privy to considerable information as a senior officer, he has deposed before various commissions of inquiry about Modi’s role in the violence. While he has just got bail after being arrested, his family remains fearful for his life. Important witnesses have died mysterious deaths in Gujarat, with no arrests of even possible assailants. Courageous officers like Bhatt need to be protected, and perhaps the UPA government at the Centre that does not hesitate to impose its writ on states in financial matters should ensure the security of Bhatt and all those seeking justice in Gujarat.

If the courts and the people succeed in ensuring justice it will go a long way in preventing such massacres in the future, and strengthen the foundation of secularism and democracy in India.

The author is a senior Delhi-based journalist