Narendra Modi’s willing Suspension of Disbelief

by Mustafa Khan

As of now, the evening of December 17, 2017, the virtual black out of the 2002 carnage in the Gujarat election campaign is causing dehydration in Modi. The ghost of Banquo has reappeared to claim him as victim. It is not 2002 when President Musharraf took the matter of mass murder to UNO because Modi had termed the September-December 2002 campaign as fight between Modi and Mian Musharraf. In the 2007 elections Modi used Sohrabuddin as the villain whose murder he not only justified but also garnered votes on account of it. His pet theory of the Islamic terrorism worked up the audience. The dejected hollow face of the PM mocks his cock a snook at leaders of the Congress and the minorities. It is shocking for we did stand in awe of our captain and trusted him to take the ship to its sure destination of development.

But to recall Shakespeare: There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face. The PM’s uninhibited surly and moron face while meeting Rahul Gandhi or Manmohan Singh on December 13, 2017 is a telltale of what would be his position if the fake encounter cases and the 2002 mass murder of Muslims and his role in it is revealed. There are other cases waiting for a fair trial like those of Haren Pandya, Sohrabuddin, Tulsiram Prajapati, etc. But the mother of them all is his turning the fire incident on Sabarmati Express train on February 27, 2002 into a terrorist attack without giving any proof. The Collector of Godhra, Jayanti Ravi, had called it an accident and not an attack or sabotage. She maintained it till the evening when Modi arrived and called it a terrorist attack. Maulana Umerji had told PM A.B. Vajpayee that it was Modi who was responsible for turning around the incident and what followed as a consequence. A year later Modi had the Maulana arrested. Umerji was named the principal accused and yet after almost a decade he was discharged. Nothing was found against him. It was Ms Ravi who did not allow Modi’s successor, Anandaben Patel, to do what Dr Maya Kodnani had done, let the mobs kill the Muslims in the area under her collectorate. Moreover Ms Ravi also had ordered the recording of the case of Bilkis Bano. In the case of Sohrabuddin, Amit Shah avoided appearance in court and the allegation that the sitting Bombay High Court Judge had offered Rs 1000 crores to NIA court Judge Loya to give favourable judgment and the sudden death of the trial judge makes the atmosphere murkier. As long as the duo, Modi and Shah, continue to rule there is fear and apprehension.

Incidentally, the Bombay High Court Justice Satyaranjan Dharmaadhikari and Justice Bharti Dangre have appealed to the citizens to help save the “largest democracy”, that is, India. Why should the HC want citizens to be “vigilant”? Is it because of the cases in which Modi and Shah are concerned? What will the Gujarat election result tomorrow bear on the judiciary?

Mustafa Khan, who resides in Malegaon (Maharashtra), has the following blog: http://commonalty.blogspot.com/