Godhra has shaken me to the core, says BJP's PM-nominee

Modi breaks silence on 2002 Gujarat riots

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Friday broke his silence over the 2002 communal riots in the state, saying he was “shaken to the core” by the violence.

“I was shaken to the core. ‘Grief’, ‘Sadness’, ‘Misery’, ‘Pain’, ‘Anguish’, ‘Agony’ — mere words could not capture the absolute emptiness one felt on witnessing such inhumanity,” Modi wrote in a 1,000-word blog post. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate said he felt “liberated and at peace” after Thursday’s judgment, which rejected a petition challenging the closure report of a Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team that had on February 8 last year absolved Modi of complicity in the conspiracy behind the carnage.

The petition was moved by Zakia Jafri, widow of former Congress Member of Parliament Ehsan Jafri, who was among the 69 people killed in the Gulbarg Housing Society massacre in 2002. Thursday also saw the Cabinet approving the setting up of an inquiry panel to probe incidents of physical and electronic surveillance in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi, allegedly by former minister of state for home in Gujarat, Amit Shah, an aide of Modi’s.

The previous occasion the Gujarat CM had referred to the 2002 riots was in an interview with Reuters in July. Modi had said: “... any person if we are driving a car, we are a driver, and someone else is driving a car and we’re sitting behind, even then if a puppy comes under the wheel, will it be painful or not? Of course it is. If I’m a chief minister or not, I’m a human being. If something bad happens anywhere, it is natural to be sad.”

The Congress refused to take any question on the issue. In the evening, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi ended his press conference, after a meeting of Congress CMs, without answering any question relating to Modi’s blog post. But, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari told a news channel the post was “pretentious”. “No expression of remorse changes the reality that thousands of people were massacred,” Tewari said.

It has been suggested to Modi several times that he should have apologised for the riots.

The latest blog post said: “However, as if all the suffering was not enough, I was also accused of the death and misery of my own loved ones, my Gujarati brothers and sisters. Can you imagine the inner turmoil and shock of being blamed for the very events that have shattered you!”

The BJP's prime ministerial candidate said he had been unfairly targeted. He said he was "blamed for the very events" which had left him "shattered". "For so many years, they incessantly kept up their attack, leaving no stone unturned. What pained even more was that in their overzealousness to hit at me for their narrow personal and political ends, they ended up maligning my entire state and country," Modi wrote, without clarifying who them was.

So far, Modi has refused to directly answer any questions relating to his role in the 2002 communal riots. He was the chief minister then. The incident is considered the single-biggest blot on Modi's career.

The riots were sparked by a fire on a train carrying Hindu pilgrims at Godhra in February. Within days, Muslims in Gujarat were attacked. The government later told Parliament that 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were killed, 223 were reported missing and 2,500 injured in the violence, which lasted weeks.

The incident was seen as the primary reason the United States was denying Modi a visa, apart from questioning his commitment to the principle of secularism.

On Friday, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley brought up the issue of the US denying a visa to Modi. He said it was his "personal advice" to Modi that he should not apply for a US visa. "The American stance on the issue has clearly been one determined by their kangaroo court. To proclaim Modi guilty even when there was no evidence against him despite investigations and re-investigation amounts to immature diplomacy," Jaitley added.

 

 Here's an excerpt of what he wrote. 

Dear sisters and brothers,

 

"The law of nature is that Truth alone triumphs - Satyameva Jayate. Our judiciary having spoken, I felt it important to share my inner thoughts and feelings with the nation at large.

 

The end brings back memories of the beginning. The devastating earthquake of 2001 had plunged Gujarat into the gloom of death, destruction and sheer helplessness. Hundreds of lives were lost. 

 

Lakhs were rendered homeless. Entire livelihoods were destroyed. In such traumatic times of unimaginable suffering, I was given the responsibility to soothe and rebuild. 

 

And we had whole heartedly plunged ourselves into the challenge at hand.

 

Within a mere five months however, the mindless violence of 2002 had dealt us another unexpected blow. Innocents were killed. Families rendered helpless. Property built through years of toil destroyed. Still struggling to get back on its feet from the natural devastation, this was a crippling blow to an already shattered and hurting Gujarat.

 

I was shaken to the core. 'Grief', 'Sadness', 'Misery', 'Pain', 'Anguish', 'Agony' - mere words could not capture the absolute emptiness one felt on witnessing such inhumanity."

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