Gujarat earthquake
The biggest challenge which he had to face, when he took over as the Chief Minster, was the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the areas affected by the massive Gujarat Earthquake of January 2001. Bhuj was a city of rubble and thousands of people were living in temporary shelters without any basic infrastructure. In this critical situation, Modi is credited with starting immediate work to re-organize and stimulate the local economy. For Narendra Modi's outstanding contribution for disaster management and rehabilitation, on 16-10-2003 Gujarat govt got UN Sasakawa Certificate of Merit for outstanding work in the field of
Narendra Modi's 2002 campaign exploited anti-Muslim sentiment. According to the Economist, his audiences considered Muslims as "scheming" in their midst. According to the Center for Social Justice, Modi cast Muslims as "the villains".
In February 2002, a incident in which 58 Hindu pilgrim burnt alive in a conspiracy. Violence immediately broke out across the state claiming around 1,000 lives. Independent estimates by human rights groups and NGOs place the figure higher to around 2,000. The official estimate stated that 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were killed, 223 people were reported missing and 2,500 were injured. According to the Economist, the violence was organized by the supports of Modi's BJP. A Hindu nationalist said to that Modi given the mobs three days to carry out the attacks, during which they wouldn't be stopped by the police. The later compared Modi to Roman emperor who allowed his city to be burned), viewing that he "looked elsewhere" while innocents were killed.
Gordhan Zadaphia, former junior home minister, has accused Gujarat CM Narendra Modi of playing an active role in 2002 riots. He further states that it was Modi who kept in touch with senior police officials and bureaucrats during rioting. The former minister alleged that he was sidelined by Modi and was not called for official meetings which were conducted by Modi during the riots.
As an aftermath of the riots, there were calls for Modi to resign from his position as chief minister of Gujarat. The opposition parties stalled the national the issue. Even (DMK) and allies of the BJP, asked for Modi's resignation. Modi submitted his resignation to and recommended the dissolution of the 10th Gujarat Legislative Assembly. In the following state re-elections the BJP, led by Modi, won 127 seats in the 182-member assembly.
The United States revoked a visa for Modi the following year. He was cited for responsibility for "severe violations" of the Modi was sought after later by US diplomats owing to his fast rising stature in national politics, Mumbai consul generals had routinely sought meetings with Modi whenever they visited Ahmedabad, acording to leaked USA diplomatic cables. The Chief Minister also made three essential points: “the events of 2002 were an internal Gujarati matter and the U.S. had no right to interfere; the U.S. is itself guilty of horrific human rights violations (he specified Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and attacks on Sikhs in the U.S. after September 11) and thus has no moral basis to speak on such matters, and Muslims are demonstrably better off in Gujarat than in any other state in India. Modi also said that the Indian National Human Rights Commission was biased and its reports wildly inaccurate. More broadly, he claimed, the U.S. relied far too much on ‘a few fringe NGOs' that don't know the real picture and have an axe to grind and that Modi noted (accurately) that the culprits in the 1993 Mumbai bombings are only now being sentenced(after 15 years), so we should not have ‘unrealistic expectations. The diplomats from USA believed that Sinhji's(former Minister of Environment Yuraj Digvijay Sinhji) comments on Modi are indeed accurate: ironically the man most hold accountable for the communal violence of 2002 may now be the most ardent defender of communal harmony, at least on the surface. Another reason why Modi could face challenges in becoming a national leader: Modi's reputation for being completely incorruptible is accurate, and if he were to become a national leader he would crack down on corruption throughout including BJP.
In April 2009, appointed a special team of investigators to look into the role Modi had played in the alleged anti-Muslim conspiracy. The team was appointed in response to the complaint of Jakia Jafri, the widow of ex-Congress who was murdered in the riots. In December 2010, a Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) in its report to the Supreme Court seeking answers pertaining to the , submitted that they had found no evidence against Narendra Modi.
However in February 2011, the that a confidential report from the SIT indicted Modi on several counts of alleged complicity in the Gujarat riots of 2002. Other sources have noted that the the SIT report does not indict Modi for the riots due to lack of evidence. The too said the report did not find any Modi involvement in the violence, though it did accuse him of watering down the seriousness of the situation. According to the report not only found that Modi tried to water down the seriousness of the situation, but Modi also implicitly justified the killings of Muslims, and failed to condemn the attacks on them. The demanded an investigation into the publication of the report, claiming it politically motivated by the -dominated government. Italic text
Modi's 2007 election campaign was marked with some passionate speeches reflecting his vision for Gujarat and his aggressive leadership. One such speech was given at Magrol in response of Sonia Gandhi's speech calling him a "merchant of death", and referred to this speech the , a constitutional body governing election proceedings in India, cautioned Modi as it considered it as indulging in an activity which may aggravate existing differences between different communities.
No comments:
Post a Comment