Don't feel relieved, Bhatt tells Modi

Controversial Gujarat-cadre IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt on Wednesday accused Chief Minister Narendra Modi of having “orchestrated and facilitated” systematic targeting of innocent Muslims. He said it was his misfortune that he was serving with Mr. Modi as a police officer when the “dance of hatred was choreographed and perpetrated in different venues in the state in 2002.”

In an “open letter” to Mr. Modi in response to the Chief Minister's similar address to the “people of the State” on Tuesday, Mr. Bhatt cautioned Mr. Modi against feeling “relieved” over the Supreme Court's order on the Zakia Jafri petition. He said the “cleverly-worded” order actually takes the “perpetrators and facilitators of the 2002 carnage a step closer to their day of reckoning.”

Mr. Bhatt said Mr. Modi was misinterpreting the apex court's order to claim that the charges against him and the government were “false and unfounded.” The truth was that the order was a “major leap forward in delivering justice to the hapless victims of the 2002 Gujarat pogrom.”

“The false bravado comes across as a very smart attempt to mislead the gullible people of Gujarat and instil a false sense of confidence in the political rank and file,” but the people were certain to see a different picture when the actual import of the order start actually settling in and take judicial effect, he said.

As “one of the six crore Gujaratis” he felt “deeply pained and cheated” when “the likes of Mr. Modi consciously or inadvertently mislead the people for ulterior motives.”

He told Mr. Modi that the best way to spread “sadbhavana” to strengthen the peace and harmony in the “land of Mahatma” would be “to help the truth to come out and let the spirit of justice and goodwill to prevail.”

Mr. Bhatt said the State remained by and large peaceful not because of the administrative competence of Mr. Modi but because the rulers had realised that the “communal divide” in the State was complete and no further political benefits could be reaped from it.

“The polity of Gujarat has now crossed the stage where communal violence can accrue any electoral benefits to any political party, as the process of communal polarisation is very nearly complete. The experiments in the divisive politics of hatred have been very successful in the Gujarat Laboratory. The need to resort to any further communal violence in Gujarat is already passé.”