Gujarat inquiry: Narendra Modi 'partisan' over riots

Mr Modi has denied any wrongdoing

A panel investigating the 2002 riots in the Indian state of Gujarat has criticised the "partisan" stance of Chief Minister Narendra Modi in handling the violence, reports say.

But it also said the probe had not uncovered any evidence against Mr Modi to "justify further action under the law".

Mr Modi rejects criticism that he did not do enough to prevent the violence.

More than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, died in the riots.

The violence erupted after 60 Hindus died in a train fire. The cause of the blaze was never clearly established.

Hindu groups allege the fire was started by Muslim protesters, but an earlier inquiry said the blaze was an accident.

The Supreme Court set up a panel to investigate the riots in 2008, after allegations that the Gujarat government was doing little to bring those responsible to justice.

Godhra riots: Special Investigation Team report slams Narendra Modi

Godhra riots: Special Investigation Team report slams Narendra मोदी

New Delhi, Feb 4 : Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's role during the 2002 Godhra riots has come under scathing attack in a report by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT).

Though the SIT report does not directly indict Modi for the riots due to lack of evidence, his role has been severely criticized for trying to downplay the seriousness of the incidents, reports said on Friday.

Modi's comment that 'every action has an equal and opposition reaction' on the Godhra riots has been particularly criticized in the report.

The report criticizes Modi's stance on various events and issues during the riots, including his reaction to killing of a large number of Muslims in Gulburg Society and Naroda Patiya, his comments post Godhra and his passive stand on the investigations and inciting the emotions of VHP workers.

"In spite of the fact that ghastly and violent attacks had taken place on Muslims... the reaction of the government was not the type that would have been expected by anyone," reports, quoting the SIT report, said.

Besides slamming him for appointing right wing supporters are public prosecutors in the riots cases, the chief minister is also blamed for destroying evidence that could have helped substantially in investigations.

Besides Modi, his ministerial colleagues Ashok Bhatt and IK Jadeja have also been named in the SIT report for being in touch with BJP and VHP leaders from police control rooms during the riots.

Fifty-eight people, mostly 'kar-sevaks', were burnt to death in the Sabarmati Express train near the Godhra railway station on February 27, 2002.

The incident sparked communal riots across the state, killing about 1000 people.

Panel slams Narendra Modi over Gujarat riots

NEW DELHI: A panel probing anti-Muslim riots in India’s Gujarat state in 2002 has criticised the partisan handling of the unrest by the state’s Hindu nationalist chief minister, Narendra Modi. The panel, set up by Supreme Court, concluded that Modi - a senior Hindu nationalist leader touted as a future prime minister - had sought to play down the seriousness of the violence that claimed 2,000 lives.

However, according to its report, the panel felt it had not uncovered enough material to justify criminal prosecution. The Gujarat riots were one of the bloodiest incidents of sectarian violence in India since independence in 1949. Mainly Hindu mobs rampaged through Muslim neighbourhoods for three days, hacking, burning, shooting and beating at least 2,000 Muslims to death.

The unrest was triggered by the death of 59 Hindu pilgrims in a train fire. The cause of the blaze was never clearly established. Modi, who has been the state’s chief minister since 2001, has long been accused by human rights groups of turning a blind eye to the violence, with some suggesting he actively encouraged it.

The findings of the panel only appear to substantiate some of the lesser allegations made against Modi and his government, and stop well short of confirming any criminal negligence. “In spite of the fact that ghastly and violent attacks had taken place on Muslims... the reaction of the government was not the type that would have been expected by anyone,” it said. “The chief minister had tried to water down the seriousness of the situation,” it said, while describing as “sweeping and offensive” Modi’s identification of a criminal tendency within Gujarat’s Muslim community.

“His implied justification of the killings of innocent members of the minority community, read together with an absence of a strong condemnation of the violence... suggest a partisan stance at a critical juncture,” the panel said. It also noted Modi’s “discriminatory attitude” in visiting the scene of the train fire, but not the riot-affected areas in Gujarat’s largest city, Ahmedabad.

Modi was personally summoned and quizzed in March last year by the panel which had been ordered to investigate more than 30 allegations made against members of the state government, including the chief minister.

“A few of these alone were in fact substantiated,” panel chairman R K Raghavan wrote in his concluding statement. Previous investigations into the riots commissioned by the Gujarat government have absolved the state police and government of any collusion in the violence. AFP

Gujarat to build 'Statue of Unity' in memory of sardar Patel: Narendra Modi

Gujarat to build 'Statue of Unity' in memory of sardar Patel: Narendra मोदी

Nagpur, Feb 4 : Chief Minister Narendra Modi announced that people of Gujarat will build the world's tallest statue, the 'Statue of Unity', in memory of Iron man Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel at Sardar Sarovar Project, on the lines of 'Statue of Liberty' at New York in United States

he was addressing the gathering of 'Swarnim Gujrat Mahotsav' here. Gujarat Tourism Corporation president Kamlesh Patel, Gujarati Samaj city president Jayprakash Parekh were present on the occasion.

Mr Modi said ''In United States, there is a huge Statue of Liberty'. On the same lines, we have decided to build statue of Sardar Patel in the Narmada river. It will be known as the 'Statue of Unity'.'' He said the stucture would not be built with the government money, but through contribution from people of Gujarat.

Sardar Patel does not being only of the Government, but he was a representative of entire Gujarat and India, he noted.

The Chief Minister further said the statue would be two times taller than Statue of Liberty and highest in the world.

He appealed to everyone to come forward for the development of Gujarat and participate in the state's growth story. It is a service to the nation and service for the nation, he added.

''In Gujarat, you will find development works everywhere. It's a symbol of our growth story,'' Mr Modi claimed.

Gujarat questions IPS officer for furnishing riots call data

AHMEDABAD: Following the Special Investigation Team's (SIT) report that indicted Gujarat's chief minister Narendra Modi for his alleged complicity in the 2002 riots, the state government has taken a senior IPS officer to task for sharing telephone records with various inquiry panels.

The Gujarat administration issued a show-cause notice to senior IPS officer, Rahul Sharma, asking him why he should not be charge-sheeted for handing over the telephone records concerning the 2002 riots to inquiry panels without obtaining due permission from the government.

The in-charge Director General of Police Chitranjan Singh confirmed the issuance of the show-cause notice and added that the government had granted 15-day time to Sharma to reply to the notice.

Sharma was posted in Ahmedabad during riots. He had asked private service providers like Celforce and AT&T to furnish details of calls made across the state during late February and early March of 2002. The CDs obtained by Sharma, however, went missing before it was brought on record by the investigating agency, the city crime branch that probed three major massacres of the city at Naroda Patia, Naroda Gam and Gulbarg Society.

When Sharma was called for deposition at the Nanavati-Shah commission, he submitted a copy of the CD to the inquiry panel. Later, he also submitted a copy of call records to the Banerjee committee, set up by former union railway minister, Laloo Prasad to probe the incident of fire in S-6 of Sabarmati Express at Godhra station on February 27, 2002. It was after killing of 59 passengers in this incident, violence spread across the state resulting in more than 1,100 deaths.

After the Supreme Court set up a special investigation team in 2008, Sharma was one of the key witnesses for the SIT to probe the larger conspiracy behind the riots. SIT also got telephone details from Sharma. He has been examined by one of the special courts set up to hear post-Godhra riots cases.

Following the recent SIT report, the Modi government questioned Sharma on why he furnished the data before the probe panels without consulting the government.

Interestingly, the Narendra Modi government has been questioning the authenticity of the call details provided by Sharma to different inquiry panels. When the chief minister was sought to be questioned in connection with the 2002 riots on basis of the call details, the government raised a question on veracity of the data claiming before the Godhra probe panel that the CD furnished by the senior cop was not verified by any authority.

Would you get a high when people

Would you get a high when people call you a fine actor?

It's always interesting to see a critic's point of view, acknowledge it, accept it, and try to improve in the next venture. But also, if one is a competent enough actor, one knows what he is doing is right or not. But then there are times when we cringe to do certain scenes as an actor. Coming out of an egg or riding a horse, for instance. We used to joke about it with Man [Manmohan Desai] and he used to scold us: "You have no idea what you are talking. Just do it."

My co-stars -- Shatru, Chintu, Shammi-ji, Vinod Khanna, Kader Khan -- and I used to say among ourselves, "Yaar, ye kya karwata hain yaar!"

Then we'd watch the movie in a theatre, see the overwhelming appreciation, and kick ourselves.

How challenging was Paa?

I don't know if I would be ready to do a Black or a Paa in the '70s and the '80s. The concept of Indian cinema is of the young man falling in love, having some problems, eventually winning her. Sometimes you are hesitant to take on something different.

When Balki came to me with the idea, I was surprised. I wondered how he'd transform me into a 13-year-old kid. Later, the film was going on a...I wouldn't say frivolous - a different tangent. Then I gave him a few ideas. I later learnt he discarded the first script. I didn't give him a script, just an aspect of it. Complete credit goes to him.

Once you accept a film, you go along with the director.

Which films are you doing now?

Started Rajkumar Santoshi's Power, Prakash Jha's Arakshan, Buddha.

Are you enjoying KBC?

Ya. With KBC, the family has come together. Earlier men used to watch sports, wives soaps and kids' cartoons.

KBC previously was looked upon as more sophisticated - perhaps too intelligent a game. Participants were more metro-centric, educated. That had its own charm. Now you have people from B, C, D centres making it. Huge demographic change has taken place in small-town India, whether it is because of the government's efforts in education or of other agencies. There are very interesting contestants.

Some of them say they haven't seen so many zeroes after a figure. Others want the village to be named after them some day. For them, even Rs. 10,000 is a big amount. Farmers commit suicide for want of less money than that. I help about 40 such families through an NGO. I know.

Who's best on small-screen: Salman, Hrithik, Akshay, Priyanka?

All of them are good. I'm glad they are on small screen now.

Are you still close to Amar Singh?

Oh ya ya, he is family.

Have you moved away from Mulayam Singh?

We are friends. I'm friends with Advani, Bal Thackeray, everybody.

You didn't try to bring Amar Singh and Mulayam together?

No, I don't interfere in their politics, they don't interfere in my films.

What surprised everybody was your friendship with Narendra Modi. People thought you were earlier almost obsessively anti-communal. But Modi has a communal image.

Is there some kind of a constitutional law that says that somebody has some political belief and therefore you can't be friends with him? Everybody has the freedom to be friends with anyone. You are talking about my role in promoting Gujarat, which is part of my country. Modi is a constitutionally elected chief minister of a state. Deny him that, and then talk to me.

Do you believe Narendra Modi is a secular man?

I would like to believe so. Why not? He just won an election, and the largest number of votes came from an area where he had a Muslim candidate. Once the country is constitutionally secular, why should you think otherwise? Even the BJP has Muslim leaders. We are one country. I'm promoting Gujarat. I'm not promoting Narendra Modi. If there were another CM, I'd still promote Gujarat. And I don't charge for promoting my country. There were accusations made that I am doing it to win a BJP ticket for my wife, and build a film city there. Doh mahine tak aap logo ne gaali diya humko. Hua kya usme?

The programme has done extremely well in Gujarat. Gir forest has got full bookings this year. Some other state governments had said negative, rude things about my involvement in Gujarat. After they saw the results, they said, "Hey."

So you are not wrong?

You tell me what am I doing wrong? If I want to promote a particular part of my country, is that wrong? Where are those who were accusing me of taking money, that I've taken Rs. 150 crore? I have documents to prove I have done it for free. I've done this for years. For Gwalior fort, Golconda fort, a fort in Tirupati, for Jallianwalla Bagh, for a Sikh museum. I am doing it for Akshardham. Just because I don't talk about these things, people say whatever they like. Do you know Gujarat has the largest number of heritage sites in the country? Every time a celebrity gets involved in something, people always find a way to criticise. Never a good word.

You didn't worry that your Muslim fan following would get upset?

Where are they upset? I'm not doing this to increase my fan base. My fans will go and see my films, and if they like it, they'll watch again. I don't think my fans are interested in who I'm associating with, or what I am politically. I am not communal. And I believe in the secular tenets of this country.

You'll come back to politics at some point?

Never. I don't know politics.

Last question, one that I asked you when we had first met: Are you going to recite your father's poems and release it on a CD?

Earlier I was hesitant. I thought perhaps interest towards poetry and literature has diminished or died.

But for my father's 100th anniversary, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in New York invited me to recite his poems. I was shocked that the 4,000-capacity theatre was full. In Pune, one lakh attended. Now, I've decided to do something bigger, tour and recite in 8 or 9 Indian cities. Two months ago, I recited it at the Théatre des Champs Elysées. A French person teaching Sanskrit in Paris translated the lines into subtitles.

So yes, I'll do it. I thought people were becoming more commercial, materialistic. But there is a certain hunger. I'll call some people over, like Piyush Pandey. I was talking to Aamir, he was very keen.

Your father's work still inspires you?

I have grown up in a literary environment. My father used to go for kavi sammelans. The family income was meagre: Rs. 1,200 or so a month. He would get Rs. 300-400 to attend a poetry event at night. He used to drive to nearby small towns - Ghaziabad, Meerut. And these events would go on through the night. He would come back at 5 or 6 in the morning, and I would open the door and ask him why do you do all this. He used to tell me: "Beta, paise badi mushkil se milte hain."

Then I joined the film industry. We all used to do two or three shifts. Work through the day and night, sleep in the car while travelling from one shoot to another. One day I got home at 6 am, and my father opened the door, and said: "Kya karte ho itna..."

I said: "Bapuji, paise badi mushkil se milte hain."

I was very surprised when I asked a KBC contestant the other day: "Kya kariengay itne paiso se?"

He said: "Saab, paise badi mushkil se milte hain," referring to the story I had once said.

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/i-would-like-to-believe-narendra-modi-is-secular-amitabh-bachchan-61292?cp

I would like to believe Narendra Modi is secular:

I would like to believe Narendra Modi is secular: Amitabh Bachchan

Mumbai: Amitabh Bachchan hits out at detractors in an interview, talks about Paa, his father, and how KBC is changing lives. Excerpts:

Being called one of India's finest actors or one of its biggest stars: what makes you happier?

[Laughs] Neither. I don't believe in either. All these accolades and epithets are generosity of the media. I am just happy to be doing work, and that there are a few people ready to take me in their movies. Because of these 41 years in the industry, I could work with different generations: from Khwaja Ahmed Abbas, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Manmohan Desai, Prakash Mehra, Salim-Javed, Ramesh Sippy, Yash Chopra to Tinu Anand and Mukul Anand to Adi Chopra and Karan Johar to Sujit Sarkar, Balki.

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/i-would-like-to-believe-narendra-modi-is-secular-amitabh-bachchan-61292?cp

Muslim clerics term Vastanvi's

Muslim clerics term Vastanvi's decision to quit as unfortunate

LUCKNOW: The decision by the newly-elected chief of Darul Uloom Deoband to resign, following protests over his remarks on Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, has been termed as "unfortunate" by some clerics, who expected him to make positive changes in the 200-year-old institution.

Maulana Gulam Mohammad Vastanvi, who hails from Surat in Gujarat and was elected VC on January 10, has been facing protests from students at the seminary after he had said that Muslims should forget the communal pogrom of 2002 and move on and that the community did not face discrimination in Modi's state.

Vastanvi felt the situation in the seminary was not conducive for him to continue as the vice-chancellor and decided to step down next month.

"It is most unfortunate that he was not allowed to work in the institution, which could have benefited with his resources and experience," the seminary's deputy head Maulana Abdul Khaliq Madrasi told PTI over phone.

"The statement for which Vastanvi is being attacked was not in praise of Modi but on the progress of Gujarat which is also being cited in newspapers and whatever he had said was not in the capacity as the head of the seminary but as the resident of Gujarat," he said.

Madrasi hinted that there is a faction in the seminary which did not want Vastanvi to continue.

Another member of Deoband's managing body, Maulana Abdul Qasim was of the view that the manner in which protests were held against Vastanvi was wrong.

"Had there been any problems with his working or his views, they should have been put before the meeting of Majlis-e-shoora," Qasim said, adding that though the decision to quit from the post is his personal one, it has "piqued serious minded people".

Qasim said, "He ought to have been given time to function and he should have been judged on it," adding Vastanvi was elected to the important post for bringing a positive and progressive change in the institution.

Meanwhile, a senior member of another seminary in Lucknow, while terming the resignation offer as unfortunate, said that it was probably an outcome of internal politics in Darul Uloom.

"Vastanvi's presence would have helped the seminary, which was being headed by 94-year-old Murghoobur Rehman in a traditional manner since the past several years," he said, requesting anonymity.

"The statement on Narendra Modi was blown out of proportion by some vested interests. Vastanvi, who also runs his madrasas, engineering and medical colleges in Maharashtra would have introduced modern outlook in the seminary," he said.

A senior member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and a senior counsel Zafaryab Jilani said that Vastavni should have apologised for the comments, bringing an end to the matter there and then.

"The problem continued as he insisted on it," Jilani added.