Statement on the Gujarat Carnage 2002

The recent Tehelka expose of the “Gujarat riots” of 2002 demonstrate very starkly that these were neither “spontaneous” nor “riots”, but were in fact mass murder, loot and mayhem orchestrated and organised by the top echelons of the Gujarat units of the VHP, the Bajrang Dal, and the BJP with the full connivance and complicity of the Gujarat Government headed by Narendra Modi. The Tehelka tapes show senior functionaries of these organisations and of the government bragging and confessing to their having committed and participated in committing heinous crimes like brutal mass murder, rape, burning, looting etc. Many of them claim and boast about how Narendra Modi explicitly encouraged the carnage and told the killers and rioters that they were being given a free rein of three days. These people also claim how several senior police officials not only aided and abetted these killers by their actions and inaction but in many cases themselves participated in the carnage.

These senior functionaries who boast about having committed these crimes also claim how Modi provided shelter to these people and even got inconvenient judges changed to ensure that these mass murderers got out on bail. They also boast about having successfully subverted the integrity of the Nanavati Commission. In short, the tapes reveal a horrific state of affairs in Gujarat, which seems to have gone beyond the pale of the rule of law, and the most basic norms of humanity. That it has become a State where the government is not being carried on in accordance with the Constitution.

IT has become imperative that a special investigating team be immediately constituted to investigate the involvement of Narendra Modi and other senior functionaries in his government and the police in the killings, their abetment and the shelter and help given to the criminals. This SIT can be constituted by the Supreme Court and should be monitored on a regular basis and asked to complete their investigation within a few months. This would be one of the most important investigations ever undertaken in this country.

But most immediately, the persons shown on tape confessing to having committed crimes must be immediately arrested and those of them who are serving officials, must be placed under suspension. If the State Government shows any hesitation in doing this, that will only reinforce the overwhelming evidence of their complicity in the carnage.

The pending cases of Naroda Patia, Gulbarga Society etc. which have been stayed by the Supreme Court, pending hearing of the applications for their transfer outside Gujarat for the last four years, must be immediately taken up by the court, ordered to be expeditiously reinvestigated by an independent agency and cases tried expeditiously.

We therefore call upon the Central Government and the Supreme Court, whose duty it is to enforce the rule of law and protect the Constitution, to immediately take the above steps. We also call upon all right thinking people of Gujarat to come out in support of these demands. What is at stake is not merely the survival of constitutional values and the rule of law but the survival of civilisation itself in this country.

Signatories: S.P. Shukla (Former Finance Secretary, GOI); Muchkund Dubey (Former Foreign Secretary, GOI); Ramaswamy Iyer (Former Water Resources Secretary, GOI); E.A.S. Sarma (Former Power Secretary, GOI); B. George Verghese (Senior Journalist); Madhu Bhaduri (Former Ambassador, GOI); Medha Patkar (Social Activist); Aruna Roy (Social Activist, Former member, NAC, Magsaysay awardee); Arvind Kejriwal (RTI Activist, Magsaysay awardee); Sandeep Pande (Social Activist, Magsaysay awardee); Major Gen. S.G. Vombatkere (Retd., Mysore); Amit Bhaduri (Former Professor of Economics, JNU); Arun Kumar (Professor Economics, JNU); Shailesh Gandhi (Convenor, NCPRI); Vikram Lal (Director, Common Cause); Shabnam Hashmi (Social Activist, ANHAD); Dunu Roy (Social Activist and Director, Hazard Centre); Ravi Chopra (Director, People’s Science Institute); N. Bhaskar Rao (Director, Centre for Media Studies); Manoj Mitta (Journalist); Sandeep Dougal (Journalist); Smitu Kothari (Founder, Lokayan); Himanshu Thakkar (Centre for Water Policy); Nandini Oza (Social Activist, MP); Rohit Prajapati (Social Activist, Baroda); Trupti Shah (Social Activist, Baroda); S. Srinivasan (Baroda); Sanjay Kak (Filmmaker); Nikhil Dey (Social Activist); Kamini Jaiswal (Lawyer); Prashant Bhushan (Public Interest Lawyer).

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