IANS
New Delhi, Oct 26: The Tehelka newsmagazine on Thursday released sensational footage made by an undercover journalist, in which leaders of Hindu groups alleged that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had sanctioned the communal violence of 2002.
Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal said the investigation was carried out over six months beginning May during which the journalist, Ashish Khetan, went around talking to Hindu activists with a hidden camera.
He said prominent representatives of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal admitted in their conversations that Modi sanctioned the killings in the wake of the February 27, 2002 train burning in Godhra in which 59 Hindu passengers were killed.
Replying to a query on Modi's alleged involvement in the violence, Tejpal told reporters in New Delhi: "There was a strong and tacit approval of what was happening. His sanction was there."
Reacting to the Tehelka revelations, Gujarat's ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) termed it as "a political stunt on the eve of Assembly elections in the State". The opposition Congress said there was nothing new in the findings but expressed concern that they could polarise the Hindus and Muslims ahead of the December polls.
The communal violence left more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, dead and thousands injured and homeless.
Tehelka's investigative report, telecast on private television channel Aaj Tak and to be published in the magazine on Friday, shows Haresh Bhatt, the BJP legislator from Godhra, saying that Modi had given rioters a free hand for three days.
"He had given us three days time... to do whatever we could. He said he would not give us time after that. He said this openly. After three days he asked (us) to stop and everything came to a halt," Bhatt, a senior VHP functionary then, was quoted as telling the Tehelka reporter.
An accused in the Naroda Patiya massacre — in which more than 80 people were killed on the outskirts of Ahmedabad — told the journalist that Modi had come to the locality and had thanked the rioters saying "Aap dhanya ho" (you have done a great job).
Describing the expose as the "most important story of our time", Tejpal said the investigation has brought out irrefutable evidence in several horrific incidents that have remained contested so far.
These include piercing out of a foetus from the womb of a woman with a sword and killing of Muslims hiding in a gutter.
Tejpal said that Tehelka also had a first-hand account from an accused in the Gulbarga Society massacre in Ahmedabad, explaining how former MP Ehsan Jaffri of the Congress was hacked limb-by-limb and burnt.
The expose also contains details based on the "confessions" of how dozens of Muslims hiding in a pit and clinging together in fear in Naroda Patiya were doused with kerosene and burnt alive.
Tejpal said: "For the first time, this investigation brings confirmation that the murder of Muslims was not a spontaneous swelling of anger but a planned genocide strategised and executed by top functionaries of the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), the VHP, the Bajrang Dal and State authorities, with the knowledge and sanction of Modi."
He claimed the investigation revealed that the train bogey burning incident at Godhra was the result of a spontaneous mob fury by some Muslims in that town and not a pre-planned conspiracy as held by the State government.
"Two BJP members, who claim to be eyewitnesses and have identified many of the 'accused', admit that they were not even at the Godhra station that day. They say the police filed statements on their behalf and they colluded to further the cause of Hindutva," said Tejpal in a statement.
The Tehelka footage also points to the manufacturing of bombs in factories owned by senior Bajrang Dal and VHP activists.
"Arms were smuggled from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Punjab and then distributed to execution squads led by MLAs and senior members of the Sangh Parivar," said Tejpal.
The expose also claims to reveal "the elaborate legal subversion" executed to save those accused for their role in the communal violence.
"There were the cool strategists - leaders, officials, ideologues. And there were the foot soldiers who actually raped, killed and looted. To help these foot soldiers escape the law, the strategists had constituted a panel of lawyers sympathetic to the 'Hindu cause'," said Tejpal.
He said two public prosecutors admitted to the Tehelka reporter how, contrary to their public office, they were secretly defending the "Hindu accused" and how they try and settle deals between the accused and the survivors.
Asked about the timing of the revelations before the Gujarat elections and whether they would lead to communal polarisation, Tejpal said: "We are not politicians. It has been a journalist's work and his duty was to bring forward the truth."
BJP dubs Tehelka probe a political stunt
IANS
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday described the Tehelka news magazine's undercover investigative report on the 2002 communal violence in Gujarat as a "political stunt", even as the Congress expressed concern over its timing ahead of State Assembly polls.
"It is a political stunt on the eve of elections," BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar said.
"This is a collusive sting at the behest of the Congress and the dissidents (in Gujarat BJP) and collusive sting cannot be regarded as investigative journalism," he said.
"Tehelka will be recognized as the CIA - which stands for 'Congress Investigative Agency'," he added.
Gujarat's opposition Congress, however, said there was nothing new in the newsmagazine's investigation.
"It's an old story, but it is still shocking to hear it from the individuals (who were involved in the violence)," said B K Hariprasad, Congress general secretary and in charge of the party affairs in the State.
He questioned the timing, saying the revelations could polarise the Hindus and Muslims ahead of the December 11 and December 16, 2007 polls.
Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal at a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday evening showed footage prepared by an undercover reporter in which several Hindu activists allege that Chief Minister Narendra Modi had sanctioned the violence that killed more than 1,000 people.
People will give fitting reply to Modi: Congress
PTI
New Delhi: Congress late Thursday said the Tehelka sting brought out the role of the BJP and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the post-Godhra riots and that people will give a befitting response by sending Modi to an 'appropriate place' instead of Gandhinagar.
Noting that the incidents were a 'blot' on Indian democracy as also humanity, party spokesperson Mohan Prakash said that the then Prime Minister, Home Minister and Home Ministry officials were 'equally guilty' along with Modi in the carnage.
He said the Supreme Court itself as in number of cases observed on the situation and hoped that instead of sending Modi to Gandhinagar in the coming polls, he would be sent to an 'appropriate place.'
Prakash expressed apprehension that the BJP would utilize the sting operation to rouse passions in the state with an eye on elections.
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CLICK HERE to read more about Tehelka and Tarun Tejpal's exclusive interview to Richie Lasrado / daijiworld.com