Gujarat leader Narendra Modi grilled for 10 hours at massacre inquiry

Narendra Modi, the chief minister of the state of Gujarat and one of the most controversial figures in Indian politics, has faced investigators to defend his actions during communal riots and massacres in his state eight years ago.

Modi, a rising star in the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), is accused of deliberately or negligently allowing rioters in Ahmedabad in February 2002 to murder more than a thousand people. The violence followed the deaths of dozens of Hindu extremist political activists in a fire on a train. Nearly 800 Muslims and more than 250 Hindus died in the ensuing breakdown of public order.

The unprecedented appearance of Modi before the inquiry in the state capital, Gandhinagar, on Saturday dominated headlines across India today.

Campaigners said however there was “one law” for those to blame for the riots and “no law for the victims”.

“We have been trying for eight years to get justice for the victims and have not yet succeeded. At the current moment I cannot be optimistic,” said Mukul Sinha, a lawyer and activist.

Campaigners were incensed that Modi joined the chief justice of India, KG Balakrishnan, at a ceremony at the Gujarat National Law University today.

The children of the former MP Ahsan Jafri, who was allegedly burned to death during the riots after making a series of calls to Modi pleading in vain for police to be sent to protect him against a mob, had appealed to Balakrishnan to withdraw .

Modi said his presence before the inquiry team was “the best answer” to his critics. “Under the Indian constitution, law is supreme … I am bound by the constitution and law,” he said.

In a letter to “my countrymen” published on his official website Modi accused “a nexus among the vested interests in spreading lies”. He wrote: “This machination has come unstuck and the people have seen through this charade.”

The inquiry, which questioned Modi for 10 hours, will submit a report to the supreme court, which could decide to list Modi as a defendant in one of many pending criminal cases linked to the riots.

Mahesh Jethmalani, Modi’s lawyer, said charges against his client were “absurd”.

“The idea that all the riots were premeditated is without any evidence whatsoever. It is 300 Hindus [on the train] who were attacked first,” Jethmalani said.

Modi, 59, has won successive elections to become the longest-serving chief minister of his state and is one of the BJP’s most successful politicians.

The reaction of his party colleagues has been restrained in recent days, however.

Having ridden to power in the 1990s on a wave of resurgent Hindu nationalism and middle-class expansion, the BJP, currently in opposition, did worse than expected in last year’s general election and is seeking to moderate its image. A report cited Modi’s high profile and status as a potential prime ministerial candidate as a factor in the defeat.

Nirmala Seetharaman, a BJP spokeswoman, denied suggestions that Modi’s appearance before the inquiry was an embarrassment for the party.