Consider this for the volatility of present times in Gujarat. On Wednesday, the Gujarat High Court lit into the Narendra Modi government, accusing it of “inaction and negligence” resulting in the destruction of over 500 Muslim places of worship during the 2002 post-Godhra pogrom. Rejecting the State government's portrayal of the violence as a “general reaction” to the February 27, 2002 Sabarmati Express carnage, a bench of Acting Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice J.B. Pardiwala ordered compensation to be paid for the defilement and destruction, noting that in the absence of police intelligence and “appropriate” preventive action, “anarchy” had reigned “unabated” in Gujarat. Twenty-four hours after the sledgehammer indictment came news of a different kind: Mr. Modi had been cleared of the charge of abetting the 2002 violence in a final report filed to the magisterial court by the Special Investigation Team probing Zakia Jafri's omnibus complaint against the Chief Minister and 61 others. Of course, with the SIT's report locked in the secret vaults of the magisterial court and amicus curiae Raju Ramachandran taking a contrarian view in the same case, it is clear that the last word on the question of criminality will not be said for some time.
Yet none of this could stop sections of the BJP from exulting over Mr. Modi's “victory” or his imminent promotion to Prime Minister of India. Mr. Modi himself tweeted: “The history of the world is the history of a few men who had faith in themselves…” Similar misplaced celebrations had marked the Supreme Court's September 12, 2011 order, directing the trial court to hear Ms Jafri's complaint. Mr. Modi had then tweeted, “God is great”, blithely obfuscating the truth that the apex court had in fact fast-tracked proceedings in the case. The Chief Minister's camp followers will do well to show some restraint, not least because his administration has come in for repeated censure by courts in the past year. The SIT's conclusions and reasoning will be publicly known and debated, including in these columns, once the magistrate concerned makes all relevant documents available to the petitioners. The court's own decision on the matter — whether to accept or reject the closure report – will doubtless be litigated by one side or the other. But whatever the final view taken by the courts on his individual legal culpability for the tragedy of Gujarat, Mr. Modi should know this much. The fact that he remained — at best — a mute spectator to the killing of hundreds of innocent citizens and did nothing to ensure justice for the victims afterwards is a moral and political badge of dishonour that will ensure the higher office his supporters seek for him remains out of reach.
Keywords: Post-Godhra riots, Godhra pogrom, Modi role, SIT probe, Ehsan Jafri killing, Gulberg Society massacre, Zakia Jafri plea
What a pity ! Are all these jut a show to save the guilty ? How the High Court and the S.I.T. have completely different conclusions, the people wonder. Anyway no guilty who abets killings and destruction of property is ever punished God, save the country
Why don't you guys understand that justice is the same for everyone.. He enjoys praises for his good deeds, so shall he suffer for his mistakes..
'The Hindu' is undoubtedly the best newspaper in India.But at the same
time the way it deals with the issue of Mr Modi is below it's own
standard.Why doesn't media accept the report of SIT prepared by ex-CBI
Director, know for his Integrity and Independence.It clearly shows the
biased minds.
People are no more illiterate to blindly follow what Media
shows/writes.
For all the cases ever happened we trust Our Judiciary,CBI then why
not in Case of Mr.Modi.
Media and few people don't understand the meaning of
secularism.Secularism to them is Targeting Hinduism without logic and
proof.
Hinduism stands for mutual respect and Tolerance and History is there
to prove this.
Such
one sided, personal-bashing, victimization-oriented articles by "The Hindu"
is not acceptable.If the
Supreme court appointed SIT does not find any evidence to prosecute
Mr.Modi I see no reason why the media need to give their own versions of
proof and justifications.Kindly do your own job properly and let them do
theirs.Better standards are expected from "The Hindu".
I am from a cummunal intensity area. At the ground zero I have seen the public disobedience to the administration everytime and people used to get so furious simply behaves like a blind.So if minorities want Modi himself stand between the rioters ? Its a RIOT. Even if after SIT report, minorities still see it a mistake of Modi than he never commit it for second time in his 10 years of rule.Brothers,thousands of innocent hindus have been killed in the last decade only due to this communal hatredness so called terrorism,still we forget everything everytime and move on and accept brotherhood.Few are after Modi only due to his pure personal religious acceptance and invincibility, unlike crooks so called secular politicians.So its time to forget everything and make vision for a prosperous India,which can only delivered by Mr Modi,the visionary.We are poor and unemployed so getting enough time to fight with religious beliefs,so atleast our coming generation will live with style for Modi.
Your editorial under headline 'A past that will not pass' is a well-
written one based on facts and reality. It is an open secret that the
Gujarat administration under the stewardship of Mr. Modi has remained
a mere spectator during post-Godhra carnage pogrom resulting in the
destruction of over 500 places of Muslim worship and loss of precious
lives for which the Gujarat High Court has indicted the state
government only on Wednesday, as reported. In fact, all of our
sensible countrymen and women must admit that whatever had happened
was a blot on our secular credentials. Now, comes the hullabaloo about
SIT final report exonerating Modi of abetting post-Godhra 2002
violence. Nothing unusual about it. We, hold our judiciary in high
esteem. It is the judiciary which will decide on the findings of the
report. Let us wait and watch.
Modi is an example of Indian political elite who must be considered null and void for political leadership of the subcontinent. He's a disaster for India. And more so because of the court order....
I think Arun Subbu is right. Modi's achievements have been overlooked and overshadowed by such blind people.
I don't know what to say about Khader Shaik and Shaik Zameer's comments - it shows their blind minority anger than anything else. Mr. Modi was investigated by an impartial SIT under the purview of the Supreme Court. What more do they want ? Khader's thought that Modi initiated the train burning is just so pathetic.
Modi may be the latest of the persons in power not doing the right thing in the heat of highly charged riots between communities, whoever the instigator was. It takes statesmanship to show right action even at the cost of personal popularity. I recall then PM Vajpayee's counsel at the time to Modi to follow Raj Dharma which was sadly not followed. Apart from Gandhi and Nehru, none of the leaders since Independence including Indira, Kamaraj, Rajiv and others followed this dictum when they faced similar challenges. The Hindu will do well to apply the same yardstick in its judgment on all transgressions to retain its credibility as an impartial and fair purveyor of events. And not rush to judgment based on bias ignoring the judiciary and the electorate who are the final arbiters.
What a blatant refusal to acknowledge the existence of God? Those who argued above that there is no evidence against Modi are either atheists are the ones who want to win their case only in this world. I am sure they wont agree that there is a Hereafter where not only the perpetrators of sin but also their supporters would be punished and that punishment would be everlasting and permanent. There were some police officials who attended the meeting with Modi in which he asked the administration to keep quiet while the carnage goes on. All skeletons would come out of the cupboards sooner or later like it happened on the death of YSR in Andhra Pradesh. Let Modi resign until some impartial and unbiased Investigating Agency gives its report with a clean chit. "As a Ceaser's wife, you should not only be chaste, but also be above suspicion". Mere suspicion is enough to blame public figures in a democracy! Or, God forbid, you don't even believe in Democracy?
All people who comment on the above editorial forget that ours is a Nation and a nation should do 3 things: 1. Security from External threat, 2. Security from internal threat, and 3. Development. Mr. Modi failed in the second thing either willfully or unwillingly and says he is developing his state. The first two things are more important things without which the third makes no meaning at all. He is a declared enemy of a section of people and caused Godhra in order to justify the carnage he ordered later and who are the investigating agencies? they are his henchmen and none else unless they are CBI and work under the orders of Supreme Court, THE TRUTH wont come out. Those who shamelessly commented above supporting such a person forget that the British people while leaving the country commented that "you cannot rule yourselves". This is exactly they have contemplated when they said. Until CBI proves it the Editorial is right.
modi has been proved innocent by the various investigating agencies.why is the media trying to focussing on proving him as bad?...and hindu is known to be a neutral paper and not judgemental
"The history of the world is the history of a few men who had faith in
themselves" - As if the commoners (people who are not famous) do not
count!
The Hindu cannot digest the fact that Modi is clean and the SIT just confirmed it. The observation by the Gujarat HC regarding religious structures makes sense - the police deployed for controlling the riots, how can they, at the same time, save the structures ? One can definitely bet that "Hindu" will continue their Modi-bashing, for some more time.
Arun Subbu
Chennai
We keep harping about a thing of the past.Law requires evidence,in whose
absence nothing can be done.Why don't we trust our investigative
institutions in this case, when we could do it in many more cases?
And is the powerful ever punished?
It is highly astonishing to see Mr.Modi , well known for his astute policy making , was haplessly incompetent in handling such a heated issue. The Godhra riots could have been curbed saving many lives , if not for his muteness .Holding the most prominent post, he is accountable for his inaction which is as good as conspiring it. Yet again proves BJP’s stance towards secularism.
A lot of people including me criticizes BJP for promoting their discrimination based on religion. This was an example of one such act. This may get them votes but it divides our country and falsify all our beliefs that India is a secular state.
Gujarat Police investigated Modi, A Police SIT by SC investigated Modi
followed by SIT and Nanavati Commission. None of them have managed to
prove that Modi conspired the riots or took no action. I think its
enough to clear his name.
Showing no remorse should not be seen as involvement in riots.
Congress took 20 years to apologize for 1984 and so far not a single
Congress leader has shown any sympathy to Godhra train burning
victims. Its just politics.
I wonder if you have overlooked the context of the Modi's tweet or chose not to look. The tweet “The history of the world is the history of a few men who had faith in themselves…” is a quote from the great Swami Vivekananda.
I follow Modi's tweets on twitter quite regularly. He has been tweeting quotes of Swami Vivekananda for about a month now. A respected newspaper should not make anything more out of the quotes than what is intended.
Hi Hindu Editor,
Please stop your anti propagation and crusade against Narendra
Modi..Please let him to think of reforming India, uplift Indian masses
and let him to bring his vision & dreams into action...
It's sheer national shame that Narendra Modi and his partymen have so
far got away since the Gujarat pogrom. And that he and his party
colleagues including those at the national level continue to pretend
to wash their hands off the massacre is a direct insult on the very
concept of natural justice.
But not everyone sees it in that light. Many see his as saviour of
Hindus. That is the level of hatred that exists between people of
different religions. Sad yet true
I can now understand your disappointment over the cleat chit given by Supreme Court appointed Special Investigation Team and the miserable failure of will full campaign rendered to fix Modi running for the past ten years by the biased medias, so called secular groups, dishonest politicians, police officers etc. You peoples are failed to see the gravity of the grievous Godhra Train carnage. I am also not justifying the post Godhra incidents. At the same time the way you people are projecting as if Modi is the only politician in the country has done all the wrong things. Compare to other worst riots happened in our country he has done the best possible way to curb the same.
It is an irony that when investigations prove there is no complicity in
the pogrom, we continue to harp on the hearsay versions and jump the
queue to pre-judge a person. It has become a fashion to bash Modi and
thus proclaim one's secular credentials.
I agree with your conclusion. Inept handling of Gujarat riots and failure to ensure justice for the victims is an indelible blot on Mr. Modi's political career and will continue haunt him in future too. Perhaps, he could be exonerated from the charge of criminal culpability, as Mr. Chidambaram has been in the 2G episode. However, the moral and political accountability issue still remains to be resolved. The matter is further complicated by Mr.Modi's steadfast disinclination even to display regret or remorse in any manner.Mr. Modi was or perhaps still is a Prime Ministerial material, judged by the remarkable economic prosperity and progress achieved during in his tenure as the Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat. Sadly, all this achievement is nullified by this one single episode
History has shown that 1984 Delhi riots and the carnage let out by IndiraCongres goons,and the remark by Rajiv That when a banyan tree is uprooted there will be damage to periphery had passed the memory of people.So is the case of National shame,under Emergency promulgated by Indira had passed.All scams from Mundra,Nagarwala,harshad mehta,bofors,CWG,Aadarsh,2G,S-band are passing.Why not Gujarat?
The SIT has investigated the matter and it has found Modi was not responsible for the riots that followed the delibrate and preplanned burning of railway coaches carrying some persons returning after a pilgrimage to Varanasi. The More than 60 persons were burnt to death and this dasterdly act triggered the Gujarat riots. The loss of life in the riots of innocent persons is certainly to be condemned. Your paper has focussed only on the riot victems. The persons who were burnt to death were also victims and your paper is silent on that issue. Why this double standard?
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