My friend Jyothishi Maharaj sent me the following article by B.P.Singhal who is a retired DGP and a Member of the Rajya Sabha. The weblink he sent is no longer pointing out to this article which I believe was published in the Pioneer magazine.
The sting and the truth about Gujarat
By B. P. Singhal
Sunday, December 2, 2007
"It was a well planned 'genocide'", "it was a
'pogrom'", "it was state sponsored 'terrorism'",
is what they had said in screaming headlines
day-after-day in 2002 in Delhi based 'secular'
English dailies and the 'secular' electronic
media. So complete was the Goebbelsian propaganda
and so effective was the concealment of truth,
that even the Supreme Court lost its judicial
balance and without verifying what steps the
Government of Gujarat had taken, it went on to
write on page 72 of its judgement in the Best
Bakery Case that, "The modern day Neros were
looking elsewhere when Best Bakery and innocent
children and helpless women were burning
...........".
It was media power at its worst that caused this
unwarranted outburst from the Supreme Court. All
the Gujarat language dailies were giving truthful
accounts which were at complete variance with the
Delhi based media.
The Hindu, the leading-most South India daily
reported on March 1, 2002 : "The Chief Minister
Modi frantically asked for the Army units to be
called in." On March 2, 2002 The Hindu reported :
"Unlike February 28 when one community was
entirely at the receiving end, the minority
backlash on 1st March has further worsened the
situation .......... and the Army staged a flag
march in Ahmedabad on March 1, 2002 at 9.00 A.M."
It was therefore truly shocking that on 25.8.2007,
Aaj Tak harped on the same old refrain that "Modi
did not call the army until three days had
passed". Even more outrageous was their insistance
on this point. When Aaj Tak contacted me on phone
to get my response, I told the anchor that the
Godhra carnage took place on February 27, 2002,
that the Hindu backlash commenced on February 28th
and the Army was doing flag march on the forenoon
of March 1st ............ He cut me short by
saying that "this is exactly what we had said, no
action was taken by Modi on 29th, 30th and 31st
thus giving three clear days to the murderers
........" I had to cut him short by reminding him
that the date 28th was 28th of February, 2002 and
there was no 29th, 30th or 31st in that month. The
phono was of course disconnected. However, it has
to be said to the credit of Aaj Tak and Headlines
Today that they called me for a full length studio
debate from 9.15 P.M. 11.45 P.M. next day. But the
details of that debate shall have to wait. For the
present, however, it is imperative that certain
facts are stated to prevent perpetuation of the
lies propagated in 2002.
Fact 1: That 'shoot at sight orders' had been
given by the Government on 28th itself.
Being a former DGP and also a Member of Parliament
at that time, I was personally in touch with the
office of DGP Gujarat and the Commissioner of
Police, Ahmedabad. I was keen to tell them, (a) to
call in the Army at once and (b) to issue 'shoot
at sight' orders, to all officers of the rank of
Sub-Inspectors and above. It was very comforting
to learn that the Government of Gujarat had
already taken both those steps by 2.30 P.M. on
28th February itself. In fact the State Government
had also requested for Armed Police reinforcement
from neighbouring states, besides calling for the
Army.
Fact 2: On the 28th February itself 10 Hindus had
been shot dead and 16 had been wounded by police
bullets.
Fact 3: On the next day i.e., 1st March an
additional 24 Hindus were shot dead and 40 Hindus
wounded by police bullets.
Fact 4: In the entire period of riots total Hindu
casualties were 80 shot dead and 207 wounded by
police bullets alone. (But no Delhi-based media
showed any interest in giving coverage to these
casualties.)
Fact 5: The Muslim counter attack, which commenced
from March 1, 2002 was no less ferocious. In the
first three days alone, out of a total 611 deaths,
101 were caused by police firing. Of these, 61
were Hindus and 40 were Muslims.
Fact 6: As on 5th of March, as many as 40,000
Hindus had to be given shelter in Relief Camps.
(There was plenty of media coverage given to the
plight of Muslims in relief camps but no
Delhi-based media covered any Hindu relief camp.)
Fact 7: In answer to the Parliament questions, the
present Union Government gave the figures of
casualties during Post Godhra riots in 2002. There
were Muslims killed 790, Hindus killed 254,
wounded 2500, in all missing 223. Thus this shows
that based on Godhra riots one Hindu was killed
for every three Muslims killed as such it was a
riot and not a genocide or any pogrom.
Such heavy casualties in riot control are
unprecedented in the entire history of Indian
Police. The figures of casualties caused by Police
firing in the first three days alone indicate the
ferocity of Police action. (And the 'secular'
parties and their media cohorts even to this day
proclaim unabashedly that Modi ordered the Police
"to look the other way" to give a free hand to
murderers for three days). If they have any
respect for truth, they can cross-check the
casualties with the records of the concerned
hospitals. The Police is duty bound to carry the
dead or the wounded in Police firings to the
concerned Government hospitals.
With the Muslim counter attack commencing from 1st
March onwards till the riots were quelled
altogether, what took place in Gujarat was a
full-fledged Hindu-Muslim riot. It was no
genocide, or pogrom, or state terrorism against
the Muslims of Gujarat. "No modern day 'Nero' was
looking elsewhere". The modern day Chief Minister
was dealing with the situation as best as was
possible with the highly limited forces at his
command.
Because of the spontaneous conflagration at scores
and scores of locations, it is entirely possible
that the Police or Fire brigade may have failed to
reach a scene for hours, or, having been spread so
thin, the posse of Police that did reach the scene
was deterred from intervening by the sheer
ferocity of violence at that point in time. But to
say that Police was restrained as a measure of
Government policy is completely belied by the
sheer immensity of casualties caused by Police
firings.
The insane ferocity and brutality with which Ram
bhaktas including "innocent children and helpless
women" were roasted alive at Godhra set the
benchmark for the equally insane ferocity of the
Hindu backlash and the ferocity of the Hindu
backlash was followed by an equally insanely
ferocious counter attack by the Muslims.
The Delhi-based media made out as though the whole
of Gujarat was in flames. It concealed the fact
that out of 18,600 villages, 240 municipal towns
and 25 districts, the number of locations that
were affected by riots was just 60. Not a single
man-day was lost in the 200 odd industrial
townships by any industry in Gujarat because of
the riots. The examinations in schools, colleges
and universities were conducted as per schedule
during the period of riots.
Irrefutable confirmation that it was a communal
riot and not a genocide or pogrom came from the
verdicts of Courts in post-Godhra riots cases.
All the Goebbelsian propaganda had to bite the
dust when the BJP was not only returned to serve
Gujarat for a second term by an overwhelming
majority in the legislature, in the Post-Godhra-
Post-Gujarat elections, but also continued to win
the Corporation, the Municipal and the village
panchayat elections with overwhelming margins.
Tehelka and its sponsors have once again tried to
vitiate communal harmony not only of Gujarat but
of the entire country. People overwhelmingly
believe that the Tehelka "sting operation" was
sponsored by the Congress. If it is so, then, this
would be the third major attempt of the 'secular'
Congress to stoke the communal flames in the
country. The first major attempt was made through
the Sachar Commission who ordered a headcount of
Muslims in India's Defence Forces. Thanks to the
Army Chief who firmly put his foot down to prevent
the communal virus from infecting the Army. The
second attempt was made when the Government of
India filed the affidavit in the Supreme Court in
the Sethusamudram case wherein it questioned the
very existence of Sri Ram. Now by sponsoring
Tehelka "sting operation" it made a despicable
third attempt to communalise the Indian polity.
What Tehelka "sting operation" has done, clearly
attracts Section 153A of the IPC and if Congress
has not sponsored this "sting operation" then it
should not hesitate to prosecute Tehelka u/s 153A
IPC. As Tehelka as well as the T.V. channels who
aired those tapes are headquartered at Delhi, it
is the Delhi Police and consequently the
Government of India to take the legal action
against them u/s 153A IPC.
Nobody could have had any grouse if Tehelka and
the TV channels had passed on those tapes to the
Supreme Court, for suitable action, or even
telecasted the so-called confessions of VHP
activists or the BJP MLA for the information of
the people. And, if indeed, those confessions are
genuine and have any evidentiary value in them,
then the law must take its course against those
whose guilt is established. The real mischief that
attracts Section 153A IPC is the juxtaposition and
interspersion of rising flames and bellowing smoke
with the earlier recorded bytes of the Gujarat
riots, accompanied with crashing cymbals, beats of
drums, screaming voices and the highly provocative
comments of the 'anchors' of the channels that
aired those tapes.
There is a clear intention to inflame communal
passions through what all was telecast in the name
of Gujarat ka Sach and it would be dangerous for
the future of the country if such a nefarious act
goes unpunished by default of the UPA Government.
