After PM Modi asked Twitterati to share selfies with their daughters to bolster the campaign against female infanticide, many on social media reacted enthusiastically. The hashtag was not only the top trend in India but also featured on the global trends. There were also some dissenting voices like those of actress Shruti Seth and activist Kavita Krishnan.
However, Ehsan Jafri's daughter gave a very poignant twist to the entire campaign. Nishrin Jafri Hussain shared a picture with her late father, along with a caption that was short, but hard hitting. It read: "SelfieWithDaughter: This one will haunt him for ever." Judging by the context, it's not very difficult to understand who the 'him' referred to by Nishrin is.
Ehsan Jafri was a former MP of the Congress party, who was brutally killed in the infamous Gulbarg society massacre in 2002 where 69 Muslims were killed by a riotous Hindu mob. This and other sporadic communal riots were in the aftermath of the Godhra train burning incident. Ehsan Jafri's widow Zakia Jafri said that the Gujarat police and the then CM Narendra Modi were complicit in the action by turning a blind eye to the riotous mob, which finally led to the death of the ex-MP. Later, the SIT probing the case gave a clean chit to Narendra Modi and the state government.
However, Nishrin Jafri Hussain's picture has certainly put a cold water to the entire #SelfieWithDaughter campaign. A chilling reminder of the past, it amply shows that Gujarat always remembers.
