Last week I had the privilege of releasing Madhu Kishwar’s book, Modi, Muslims and Media.
Kishwar has done a great service by informing the public about several facts that were concealed from them deliberately, in a conspiracy between Modi’s “super-secular” political opponents who fear him but control the mechanisms of government, certain sections of the media that have had a glorious time over the last decade obfuscating, distorting or concealing facts, for reasons that are not hard to fathom, and other divisive communal forces that seek to ensure that India remains the sick man of Asia forever.
One of the greatest successes of the UPA government has been its Goebbelsian demonisation of Modi. It has lasted for a decade, but it is clear that retribution is around the corner. Some of the greatest hired detractors like Teesta Setalvad are getting their just deserts. A large section of the public, especially the Muslim community, has also finally seen the travesty and the great game being played upon them by the Congress.
Kishwar gives a factual account of what really happened at Godhra on February 27, 2002, when the Sabramati Express, carrying karsevaks from Ayodhya to Ahmedabad, was stopped at a signal through repeated chain pulling by the conspirators. About 2,000 Muslims started stoning the train mercilessly and setting the coaches ablaze with petroleum and acid bombs. Compartment doors were locked from outside, and the karsevaks were trapped in the fire and smoke. Fifty-nine persons, including women and children in four coaches, were gruesomely burnt alive.
The false defence put forward by the criminals and aided and abetted by the Congress was that it was an accidental fire, caused by a stove or an electrical short circuit. An intelligent fire, certainly, singling out only karsevaks and their families as targets. And does India know who defended the accused Godhra train burners? It was the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee, and the Congress proxy NGO Jan Sangharsh Manch. The criminal conspiracy between the Godhra train attackers and the Congress, and their complete lack of sympathy for the Godhra victims, all Hindus, need no further explanation.
Kishwar informs us of Godhra’s long, troubled history of communal riots from 1925 till 1992, post-independence, all under Congress governments. India’s worst riots, post partition, happened in 1969 in Ahmedabad where 5,000 Muslims were killed, when Chief Minister Hitendrabhai Desai of the Congress was in power. Does anyone ask about what action was taken against the perpetrators and what chargesheets were filed? There is no documentation, no information about what happened to the 5,000 families.
Gujarat saw more communal riots in 1985, under Congress Chief Minister Madhavji Solanki, with curfew lasting over 200 days, then again in 1987 and 1990 under Congress Chief Ministers Amar Singh Chowdhery and Chimanbhai Patel. Let the people judge for themselves who the real “maut ka saudagar” is.
It was on October 7, 2001 that Modi became Chief Minister of Gujarat. His first great challenge was handling the rehabilitation of the survivors of the devastating Kutch earthquake of January 26, 2001, to which he gave the highest priority. A complete novice, Modi threw all his energy into this, visiting almost every village, including those inhabited only by Muslims, mourning and wiping the tears of the bereaved. He swore that he would convert the disaster into an opportunity, a word that he kept. Villages were resurrected, there came modernisation and economic resurgence, urban reconstruction and tourism, and Gujarat became a global role model for disaster management. Even his worst critic or hired political assassin cannot accuse Modi of inefficiency, communalism or corruption in the rehabilitation work under his leadership.
Modi’s earliest statements after becoming the Chief Minister are that of a statesman, revealing his sagacity, patriotism and secularism, without any trace of communalism. He speaks of the common cause of Gujaratis, the power of oneness, combating corruption, farmers’ concerns, border and maritime security, poverty reduction, rural uplift, and his objective “sabka saath, sabka vikaas”, which he sincerely tried to translate into action.
The Congress and its communal allies, who derive their political sustenance only by keeping the Hindu-Muslim divide alive for ever, cannot stomach that Modi has kept Gujarat riot-free for the last 12 years, something that never happened from 1925 for 75 years, with the worst and most bloody riots happening under Congress rule.
Even before that, the Congress felt severely jolted, at what Madhu calls “whirlwind Muslim support” for Modi for his first election from Rajkot in February 2002. Twenty-eight Muslim organisations declared support for him, prominent Muslim leaders and Muslim women campaigned for him, and in booths where 70 percent of the population was Muslims, he surged ahead. His subsequent election victories, despite BJP dissidents joining hands with the Congress, confirm without doubt that Modi’s government is completely inclusive, and Gujarat Muslims have not succumbed to the Congress’ lies and hate campaign.
There is also enough evidence, corroborated by Shri K P S Gill, that Modi took every necessary step to ensure taking control of the riot situation, indefinite curfew, shoot at sight orders, putting the entire 70,000 police force on public duty, deployment of the Rapid Action Force and CISF, request for additional companies of the CRPF, and army assistance on the first day. Both the Nanavati Commission and the Supreme Court-monitored SIT have found nothing against Modi, and have discarded the canards spread by his enemies.
I appeal to the Muslims of India not to become victims of the hate propaganda and falsehoods that are being tenaciously and relentlessly pursued by the Congress against Modi. Please understand that the Congress aims to permanently convert you as the “other”, so that you will always be on the fringes, and will always have to come begging to them for support. I have had access to vital papers pertaining to the sad Godhra episode, and I give a moral guarantee that there is not a single action or statement from Modi that suggests any communalism or hatred for Muslims that the Congress has accused him for the last 10 years, and have succeeded in making many people believe. Enquire from your brothers in Gujarat and find out for yourself regarding what Modi has done for the prosperity and uplift of the Muslim community. Give him a drop of affection and trust and judge for yourself the goodwill he has for your community.
Ram Jethmalani is a well-known lawyer and politician. He was a former Union Law Minister