Introduction
Before the 2004 elections the BJP ran the Shining India campaign,
which evaporated in the face of reality. Before the 2009 elections it
was the “iron strong man” campaign projecting Advani which also
failed. Now heading to the 2014 elections, the BJP is talking of ‘Vikas
Purush’ and policies of so called ‘Vibrant Gujarat’ under the leadership
of Narendra Modi, as the future model for India. Orchestrated media
shows and twitter campaigns, mobilised crowds, breathless
spokespersons heralding of Modi as saviour, are all part of the massive
public relations exercise which we are being subjected to.
A public relations firm called APCO Worldwide, has been especially
hired for a reported fee of 25,000 dollars a month, to project Modi as
the one-point solution to all the social ills and political maladies
afflicting India. On the board of directors of APCO are retired officers
of the Israeli diplomatic and security forces who have been hired in
different countries by various dictators trying to whitewash their
crimes. This company was known to play dirty tricks when it was
exposed as having set up front organizations to support the American
tobacco lobby to rubbish evidence that tobacco causes cancer. Today it
is here in India to promote the cancerous politics represented by the
communal agenda of the Modi-led BJP, in its most virulent avatar.
The first Himalayan blunder of such public relations exercises which
thoroughly exposed the Modi bandwagon for what it is, was the claim
that Modi had “saved” 15,000 Gujarati pilgrims by hiring 80 cars to
bring them down from the hills, during the terrible calamity which hit
the Kedarnath and Badrinath hill areas of Uttarakhand. People were
puzzled as to how such a claim could be made when it took the army
and defence forces ten days of constant helicopter sorties and
transport to rescue around 40,000 people. Analysts made calculations
with the number of pilgrims in each car, the number of kilometers to
be travelled and so on and came to the conclusion that it would take,
with non-stop driving without a second’s rest, 233 hours or almost ten
days to manage this feat which Modi’s PR team said was completed in
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one day! But it is not just the foolishness of the claim, it is the
desperation to use every opportunity even the most tragic plight of the
yatris, to score a goal for Modi. In the event, in the face of the
exposures, Modi had to backtrack and the President of the BJP Rajnath
Singh then denied that such a claim had ever been made in the first
place!
In fact all the Modi claims are filled with similar such falsehoods. But
the packaging of Modi is not just a PR exercise to promote the agenda
of an individual relentlessly pursuing his personal ambitions. It is an
exercise which is backed by corporates both domestic and foreign who
see in the Modi model an opportunity to fulfill their dreams of a
corporate led “reformed’ India. It has the backing of the RSS,
impatient of the restrictions put by NDA allies on its core Hindutva
agenda which it believes will be best safeguarded under the leadership
of Modi.
This booklet takes a hard look at the kind of governance and politics
Modi represents and blows the myth of the “able administrator” for
what it really is.
Modi’s role in the 2002 genocide
Volumes of material on the genocide in Gujarat bring out how
minorities were subjected to, the bloodshed, arson, rape and loot, and
how the law enforcement machinery of the Modi Government not only
permitted a free run for the most rabid organisations of Sangh Parivar
but actively connived with them in many places. For most people, the
Gujarat pogrom of 2002 has become synonymous with horrifying
images of charred bodies of Muslim men, women and children.
Major findings of various independent citizens’ groups that bring out
the details of the savagery are difficult to read beyond a few pages.
One team attempted to assess the impact of merciless violence on
children in Gujarat. In its report, the writer describes:--
“Eight-year-old Saddam described to this team how men
attacked and “….Then they stripped my mother naked….usko nanga
kar diya.” A nine-year-old volunteered to explain to another women’s
team what balatkar (rape) means. “Balatkar ka matlab jab aurat ko
nanga karte hain our phir use jala dete hain (Rape is when a woman is
stripped naked and then burnt). And then looks fixedly at the floor.”
The writer goes on to observe: “Only a child can tell it like it is. For
this is what happened again and again in Naroda Patia – women were
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stripped, raped and burnt. Burning has now become an essential part
of the meaning of rape”. (Page 117, Frontline, Jan. 3, 2003)
During the carnage, from the beginning, the complicity of the state
government was obvious. Narendra Modi reportedly gave instructions
to top officials not to take action against the rampaging mobs already
on the streets. Also, trained volunteers led these mobs and most of
them knew they had political patronage. Since there was systematic
erosion of the rule of law in maintaining state ‘neutrality’, the antiminority
bias had become part of the state policy. While Modi
propagated the fiction that the Godhra incident was a pre-planned act
by terrorists, his Home Minister Gordhan Zadaphiya saw the hand of
‘enemy country’ Pakistan in the whole episode. This laid the base for
the attack on Muslims, drawing an utterly perverse link between
international terrorism, Pakistan and every Muslim.
That the carnage, which has been termed an upsurge of Hindus by the
VHP and other RSS affiliates, was not spontaneous is also proved by
the fact that cranes, trucks and shovels were used extensively for the
whole operation. Also the extensive use of gas cylinders, availability of
lists of Muslim households and business enterprises in advance and the
import of trucks of swords and dangerous chemicals also point to the
fact of extensive planning which went into preparation of this pogrom.
And yet neither the Chief Minister, the State Government nor the State
agencies have been held accountable and punished. It is a matter of
shame that the then Central Government under Atal Behari Vajpayee
and all the allies at the time, kept silent while the great cover–up of
the responsibility of the State Government was done. L.K. Advani was
the prime mover as the country’s Home Minister in this cover up.
The culpability of the Chief Minister and others is thus the core issue in
bringing justice to the minorities in Gujarat to heal their wounds.
New Evidence
Now new and unambiguous evidence is available in the records of the
Special Investigation Team which pinpoints the role of Modi and top
Government officials. The SIT was set up by the Supreme Court in
April 2009 to reopen investigation into nine crucial cases including the
Gulbarg Society massacre. Former Congress MP and leader Ehasan
Jafri and 69 others were beaten and burnt alive in the Gulbarg Society
massacre case.
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The SIT in spite of all the evidence gave a clean chit to Modi. This was
in direct contrast to the report of the Amicus Curiae also appointed by
the Supreme Court who on the basis of the same evidence available to
the SIT, stated categorically that there was prima facie evidence to
warrant inclusion of Modi’s role in the violence. He in particular
mentioned the critical evidence of Sanjiv Bhatt then police officer who
had attended a meeting in which Modi had neutralized the police and
law enforcement agencies from taking action against the carnage. This
evidence had been brushed aside by the SIT.
On April 15, 2013, Ehasan Jafri’s courageous widow Mrs Zakia Ehsan
Jafri filed a protest petition against the SIT’s clean chit, in an
Ahmedabad court praying for the rejection in toto of the SIT’s final
report dated February 8, 2012, making a cogent case for the
chargesheeting of all 59 accused listed in her complaint dated June 8,
2006, beginning with Mr Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat and
including other top Gujarat Ministers and officials. The protest petition
goes into great detail, relying on documents from the investigation
papers, on how the administration and police were deliberately
paralysed and neutralised by the conspiracy hatched by Modi, the then
Gujarat DGP K Chakravarti, then Ahmedabad Police Commissioner P C
Pande, then additional chief secretary (Home) Ashok Narayan and
other key members of the bureaucracy and police who connived in the
conspiracy.
The protest petition that runs into 514 pages also has three volumes of
annexures and ten CDs. The Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) led by
Teesta Setalvad, with its entire legal team, assisted in this painstaking
exercise which is also coming under attack by the State Government in
many ways. The court accepted Ms. Jafri’s appeal to make all
documents available to her and therefore all those documents which
were kept secret by the SIT were brought into the public domain. They
are a damning indictment of the Modi model of governance.
Modi Model of Governance:
On the terrible day of February 27 2002 the Sabarmati Express
carrying karsevaks from Ayodhya was attacked just before the train
reached Godhra station in Gujarat. 58 people including women and
children were killed. It was a terrible and shocking crime.
Subsequently over 100 Muslims were arrested. 31 have been
convicted and the rest acquitted.
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However, as the evidence being argued before the Metropolitan
Magistrate in the Ahmedabad Court shows, the police were informing
the Chief Minister’s office from the beginning of February of the
communal mobilizations going on to take groups of karsevaks for the
Ayodhya Mahayagna for the building of the temple. These messages
are dated from between 7-2-2002 till the return of the karsevaks on
27-2-2002, but the Modi Government deliberately ignored these
messages. Communal and provocative anti-Muslim slogans were being
shouted all along the way to Ayodhya and back, again no action was
taken.
At the time of the horrific attack on the train, Narendra Modi was the
newly elected Chief Minister of Gujarat. Who were the people he was
in constant touch with on that day? The phone records quoted in
Zakia Jafri’s protest petition show that even before Modi contacted
officials, almost as soon as the information of the news reached him,
he spoke to Jaideep Patil, the General Secretary of the Vishwa Hindu
Parsihad who has been chargesheeted as a main accused in another
case of the killings of eleven Muslims. At that time reports were
reaching Modi’s office of the grossly provocative, communally rabid
and bloodthirsty slogans being raised by crowds being mobilized by the
VHP. It is known to any administrator in Gujarat that Godhra is a
highly communally sensitive place where there have been several riots
in the past but Modi refused to act on the stream of reports being sent
by field operatives of the State Bureau of Intelligence.
In the statement prepared by the Modi Government and read out in
the Assembly which was in session, the Home Minister deliberately
concealed the fact that both the District Magistrate of Godhra and the
officer in-charge had repeatedly reported the communal slogans being
shouted by the karsevaks.
But when Modi arrived in Godhra later that evening, he held a minicabinet
meeting which decided to hand over the bodies of the Godhra
victims to the same Jaideep Patel, the leader of precisely that
organization which had already started drumming up communal hatred
through slogans and speeches. Shockingly, this criminal was himself
present in the said meeting presided over by Modi, as testified by the
Godhra district magistrate Jayanthi Ravi.
Secondly while Modi himself was in Godhra, he permitted the
postmortem of the Sabarmati train victims to be performed in the
open on the railway platform in front of the growing frenzied crowds.
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This was an unprecedented action which stoked the flames of the
communal fire.
What was the result? The bodies were literally used to mobilize mobs
all over Gujarat and to start the communal genocide. In Ahmedabad
the motor cavalcade with the bodies was headed towards the Sola Civil
Hospital.
Even more damning, the Chief Minister held a meeting at his residence
later that night in which the then senior police officer has given
witness that the Chief Minister effectively neutralized any action the
police should have taken.
Was that good governance?
Ignoring the Warnings
Here are some of the chilling police messages which were ignored:
12:30 pm on February 27: An SIB officer through fax no 525
communicated to the headquarters that there were reports that some
dead bodies would be brought to Kalupur Station in Ahmedabad city.
“So communal violence will occur in the city of Ahmedabad; so take
preventive action.”
Another SIB message also warned about communal incidents if bodies
were brought to Ahmedabad. “Communal violence will occur in the
city. So take preventive action.” The same message said that
karsevaks had given explosive interviews to a TV station at Godhra
and threatened to unleash violence against the Muslims.
At 1.51 hours and again at 1.59 hours on February 28, there were
panic messages by wireless police vans positioned at Sola Hospital
demanding immediate protection by Special Reserve Police platoons
and the presence of DCP Zone 1.
A message at 11.55 am on February 28, 2002 said, “Sayyed Saheb,
the Protocol Officer had informed Sola-1 that riots have started at Sola
Civil Hospital at the High Court where the dead bodies were brought.”
Again, there was another message, with no indication of time, stating
that the officers and employees of the hospital had been surrounded
by a 500 strong mob and they could not come out.” The message also
made a demand for more security for the civil hospital at Sola.
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Another message (P 188, Annexure III, File XVIII) sent at 2038 hours
on February 27, 2002, mentioned the following: “Dilip Trivedi, the
general secretary of VHP, and joint secretary Dr Jaideep Patel and
Kaushik Mehta in a joint statement issued by them have declared that
innocent Ram Bhakts have been attacked and hence Gujarat Bandh
has been declared. They have also stated that the attack on the
Ramsevaks returning from Ayodhya was pre-planned by the Muslims.
Innocent ladies were molested and compartments were set on fire and
Ramsevaks were burnt alive.”
This joint statement issued by the three senior-most office bearers of
Gujarat VHP’s unit was clearly designed to stoke communal passion. A
reasonable response would have been an immediate government
clampdown on such public utterances and if required, putting all these
trouble makers under preventive detention. But no such action was
taken. The VHP called for a bandh on the February 28 and the BJP, the
ruling party, openly supported the bandh call. The state, instead of
clamping down on the bandh call, gave the VHP leaders and its cadres
a free reign and a license to kill.
In all this period not a single message from the Chief Minister
appealing for peace or warning against violence was given or aired. On
the contrary he along with fellow conspirators, namely top police and
Government officials, all named in the petition filed by Zakia Jafri,
ignited the flames that engulfed the State.
Recently BJP spokespersons have tried to counter the evidence by
saying that over 200 Hindus were killed in police firing which showed
that the Government under Modi had acted. What is the truth? The
Government itself informed the courts that 93 Muslims and 77 Hindus
were killed in police firing. Others were killed in clashes.
No Police Intervention
There was no police intervention to stop the already rampaging mobs.
The next morning Jafri’s house was surrounded. In spite of repeated
requests from him, no police force was sent.
In contrast to the refusal to send forces in spite of the repeated
messages from the police and SIB, the PCR records — which the SIT
was trying hard to conceal — also reveal that the Government had
enough forces to escort a VHP leader known for his inciting slogans,
Acharya Giriraj Kishore, from the airport to the Sola Civil Hospital to
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accompany the processionists, shouting filthy hate speeches and
murderous slogans. But they did not have enough forces to send to
Naroda Patiya where 96 persons were massacred in broad daylight
(chargesheet figures in the Naroda Patiya case, though more deaths
have been recorded) and 69 persons at Gulberg Society the same day
and around the same time aggressive processions were being allowed.
Modi, allowing and openly supporting the bandh and neutralising his
administration, decided to give the RSS-VHP-BD mobs a free run of
the Gujarat streets to massacre innocents.
These are only a few examples. But what they show is that either
there was gross dereliction of duty by Modi and his officers which
blows the myth of good governance or there was a deliberate plan, as
most people following the Gujarat developments believe, of a
coldblooded conspiracy to teach the ‘Muslims a lesson” the favourite
pastime of communal bigots spawned by the RSS and its front
organizations.
The Supreme Court in the Best Bakery case had rightly remarked,
“The modern day ‘Neros’ were looking elsewhere when Best
Bakery and innocent children and women were burning, and
were probably deliberating how the perpetrators of the crime
can be saved or protected.” It further observed, “the fanatics
who spread violence in the name of religion are worse than
terrorists and more dangerous than an alien enemy.”
Put Modi on Trial
In the light of this clear evidence, the CPI(M) has reiterated its
demand that Modi’s name be added to the chargesheet at present
before the court and that he should be tried for his leading role in the
conspiracy of the worst communal carnage this country has seen.
1984 and 2002
Defenders of the BJP and Narendra Modi cite the 1984 carnage against
the Sikh community led by Congress leaders following the
assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as a deflection from the
role of their leader. The BJP defence is that two wrongs make a right.
They say why target Modi when no action was taken against the killers
of Sikhs. It is true that shamefully the Congress and its Governments
all through these years have shielded the main Congress leaders
involved including Sajjan Kumar. The CPI(M) both inside and outside
Parliament has been unequivocal and unambiguous about demanding
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justice for the victims’ families and conviction of the leaders and
officials involved. The public apology of the Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh and his expressions of regret for the 1984 massacre would have
had more meaning if strong action had been taken against the top
leaders involved instead of giving them party tickets. Modi of course
has not expressed a word of regret leave alone an apology for the
2002 genocide. Even today he flaunts Ministers involved in the killings
as his closest aides. His close aide and former Minister Maya Kodnani
was given a ministerial berth after the carnage in spite of her role
(perhaps as a reward) in the killings in Naroda Patiya. It is only the
court which has brought justice by convicting her and giving a
sentence of life imprisonment.
The issues go beyond this or that political party, whether Congress or
BJP and their venal justifications for the mass killings of innocents
whether it be in 1984 or 2002. What is at stake is the secular
character of the Republic and the right of every Indian, irrespective of
religion, to live without the fear of violence and discrimination. But
even today Modi and the BJP have learnt no lessons.
Post-2002: Subversion of Justice
Since 2002, governments in Gujarat under Modi have taken a
minimalistic approach to rehabilitate the 70 odd colonies of
approximately 5,000 families of internally displaced. Some efforts were
made by a few organizations and Trusts who tried to put together the
facilities and provisions with great difficulty, against the odds posed by
the hostile State Government. A few state run refugee camps were
closed down soon under the pretext that State does not want to run
“child production factories,” the humiliating insinuation being was that
Muslims produce more children and are “a demographic threat to the
Hindu nation.”
Muslims have been pushed to the ghettoes which are poor in hygiene
and distant from any civic amenities. Many social facilities like
banking, schools, mobile-phone services are denied to them. Even the
minority scholarship scheme funded by the central Government has
been rejected by the Gujarat Government and not implemented
depriving thousands of Muslim students of its benefits. In fact the case
is presently before the Supreme Court. Whom can an ordinary Muslim
post 2002 turn to in Gujarat?
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The most shameful subversion of justice took place post 2002, with
the Modi Government straining every nerve to deny the victims justice
by subverting the investigation into cases, appointing public
prosecutors many of whom were known to be rabid supporters of the
communal genocide and pressurizing the judiciary. It is only the
Supreme Court of India which stepped in to prevent the total
subversion of justice though even such interventions, given the extent
of the crimes committed, have been inadequate.
4000 cases of violence against the minorities in Gujarat were closed by
the Modi Government. It was only on the intervention of the Supreme
Court that the police were forced to reopen at least half of them. In
the shocking Best Bakery case 14 people who had taken shelter in the
bakery were surrounded by a mob and were burnt to death. The Modi
Government pressurized the witnesses into changing their statements
and all the accused were acquitted. The Supreme Court had to
intervene and order a retrial with the Chief Justice saying he “had no
confidence” in the Gujarat Government. The case was retried and
some of the criminals were convicted while others escaped due to the
deliberate gaps in the investigation.
No one can move on from 2002 as is being advocated by Modi
supporters, as long as the guilty, including the Chief Minister are not
punished.
Terror in the name of Hindutva
Terrorists and their activities pose a grave threat to India and every
citizen of India must be mobilized against them and their backers.
Terrorist groups involved in such attacks must be identified and
punished regardless of the group they represent or the religion they
claim to defend. Although terror knows no religion it is true that
terrorist groups often act in the name of religion. It is also true that
Muslim fundamentalist groups in different countries have supported
and backed terrorist activities against innocent people. These terrorist
groups and their leaders have long had the support of the CIA and
other US State agencies and played a crucial role in the US fight
against what it saw as pro-Soviet regimes in different countries.
Democratic and secular minded citizens across the world, including in
Islamic countries have strongly condemned such terrorist groups.
After September 11, 2001 the United States of America led a global
campaign to defame Islam and to identify all Muslims as terrorists. In
India the BJP echoed this perverted understanding. The Pakistan
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planned attack in Mumbai on November 26, 2008 only strengthened
this campaign. But the utter hypocrisy of the BJP stand against terror
has been exemplified by its approach to the groups led by pracharaks
who swear by Hindutva.
The RSS hate agendas against Muslims in India taken to its extreme
forms by its front organizations like the VHP, Bajrang Dal ,Durga
Vahini etc. has also spawned terrorist groups swearing by Hindutva.
The bomb blasts in Mecca Masjid, Malegaon, Ajmer Sharif, Samjhauta
Express targeting Muslims have been organized and implemented by
these Hindutva terrorist groups. BJP leaders had defended them,
visited them in jails. Narendra Modi himself has never uttered a single
word against them although he does not tire of his propaganda
accusing the Central Government of running a “soft State” against
terrorists.
Innocent Muslims jailed
The double standards regarding the fight against terrorists is also
reflected in the arrest and victimization of Muslim youth because they
are Muslims. Whether in the Malegaon case or in the Mecca Masjid
case where Hindutva terrorist groups were involved in the bomb
attacks, or in other cases of terrorist attacks, in the first instance it is
Muslim youth who are arrested and jailed for, in some cases between
ten to fifteen years as undertrials and then finally acquitted by the
courts. In fact scores of such cases where Muslim youth were wrongly
arrested have come to light. While both the BJP and the Congress has
remained silent on this grave miscarriage of justice and the profiling
and the victimization of young people only because they are
Muslim,the CPI(M) has waged a campaign both inside and outside
Parliament for justice to these young victims, even taking their case
up to the President of India. Even though the Home Minister finally had
to make a statement on the floor of parliament that in such cases
compensation and rehabilitation would be done, this has not yet been
implemented. Thus innocent people suffer and their lives are
destroyed. (see annexure)
While the Congress is responsible for not taking a stand against such
wrongful victimization, the BJP goes much further. Not only do they
justify the arrests but defend encounter killings. The model for the
BJP, the Modi Government has gone out of its way in a shameless
defence of those in his administration who have shot people dead in
staged encounters.
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The Governance of Encounter Killings
There have been a large number of fake encounter killings under the
Modi Government in which a large number of the victims are Muslims.
Top police officers and aides of the Chief Minister including Amit Shah
a former Home Minister in his Government, are the main accused in
some of the cases. It is this Amit Shah, a criminal accused as a
conspirator, who is out on bail in a case of cold blooded murder, who
has been appointed by the BJP as the in-charge of UP.
A petition in the Supreme Court praying for an inquiry into 22 such
encounters was accepted by the Supreme Court in January 2012. It
ordered the Monitoring Authority led by a retired judge of the court
Justice H.S.Bedi to inquire into the encounters mentioned in the
petition. Justices Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai commented “ It has
happened more than two times in this court. the State initially stoutly
and vehemently denies it. When the matter is scratched even slightly
the fact comes to light and then the State Government admits it is a
fake encounter.”
The court was referring to the cases of Sohrabuddin and Tulsi Ram
Prajapati. Both of them along with Sohrabuddin’s wife Kausar Bi were
cold bloodedly shot dead by the Gujarat police led by the then top
officer, Vanzara and other senior police officers. Sohrabuddin was
reportedly eliminated because of his blackmailing and demands for
money from BJP funders in the marble trade. Others accused are Amit
Shah who reportedly tried to destroy the evidence and Rajasthan’s
former Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria.
The most shocking details are emerging in the ongoing case of the
brutal encounter killing of Ishrat Jahan and three others. The CBI
chargesheet squarely describes the killings as a fake enounter and clod
blooded murder of four persons including Ishrat Jahan who were
actually in their custody. The investigations point to a top level
conspiracy to project a so-called terrorist threat against Modi when the
police officers concerned knew it to be entirely false. Subsequently just
like in the Sohrabuddin case, the successor to Amit Shah in the Modi
Government, Praful Patel called a meeting to discuss ways to sabotage
the probe into the fake encounter. All this forms part of the record
being placed by the CBI in the court.
It is hardly surprising that there should be so many such killings
because the Chief Minister himself had in an election rally in 2007
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stated that Sohrabuddin “got what he deserved” —a clear message of
encouragement for illegal killings.
Encounter killings have become an acceptable form of Governance
under Modi.
Gujarat Model = Pro Corporate Model
The Gujarat Model of development has been cited by the BJP and its
supporters as an example for India. Gujarat is among the top six
States as far as State Domestic product is concerned. Gujarat is also
among the States which has attracted investment in the
manufacturing sector and has the highest share of GSDP in
manufacturing among all States in capital intensive sectors. But this is
far less than the tall claims of investments made after the “Vibrant
Gujarat” summits. Much of it is hot air. As analysed by a biographer of
Modi, only 3.2 per cent of the 2009 claims of investments has
materialized on the ground. Of the 2011 claim, a mere 0.5 per cent is
real.
In any case, how has high growth and increased corporate investment
translated for the poor in Gujarat, for the worker and peasant and the
common citizen?
Social Inequalities
There are higher malnutrition levels in Gujarat compared to other
States including Uttar Pradesh. Child malnutrition levels in Gujarat are
the same as in Chattisgarh and Orissa. A recent UNICEF report states
that “almost every second child in Gujarat is malnourished and three
of four are anemic. One mother in three in Gujarat struggles with
acute under-nutrition”. According to the Government of India’s
Children in India report (2012) infant mortality rates considered one of
the basic indicators for social advance, is high in Gujarat at 44 per
every 1000, giving it a low rank of 11 among States. The Chief
Minister’s insensitive statement that this is because women in Gujarat
diet, reflects contempt for the poor and the working classes in “Vibrant
Gujarat”.
While the vibrant Gujarat summit showcases infrastructural
development as being a priority, Gujarat has a very poor record in
infrastructure for the poor. The vast majority of the rural population is
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denied sanitation and water facilities with 67 per cent having no access
to toilets, only 16.7 per cent have safe drinking water.
In social terms the Gujarat model has been discriminatory against
dalits, adivasis and women. The adivasi areas for example have seen
no development with all social indicators showing the discrimination
against these sections. The recent Planning Commission review of
educational and health facilities shows up the failure of the Modi
Government on both these spheres. UNDP statistics show that Gujarat
ranks 18th when it comes to success in keeping children in school. The
Gujarat gross enrolment ratio in higher secondary schools was three
percentage points lower than the national average of 39.3 per cent
The Gujarat school drop out ratio for SC/ST of 57.9 per cent was much
higher than the national average of 49.3 per cent which in any case is
shamefully high.
The most shocking example of the skewed social approach in this
model of Governance is the high incidence of female feoticide and the
consequent continually poor sex ratios. Gujarat’s sex ratios worsened
in this decade from 921 in 2001 to 918 women for every 1000 men.
The child sex ratios (0-6 years) though slightly better than ten years
ago are still shocking at just 886 in 2011 according to the Census
2011.
Jobless Growth and Low Wages
In economic terms, just as at the all India level the Congress led UPA
Government has boasted of high growth rates as a measure of its
success, so also does the Modi led Gujarat Government. It is true that
Modi has pushed corporate reform policies much faster than UPA. In
spite of its urgent desire to do away with labour reform and labour
rights, the UPA can only do it incrementally while the Modi
Government with its outright majority has virtually banned all trade
union activity in its manufacturing special zone areas.
Inequality in Gujarat among the poor and the rich is therefore among
the highest in the country. According to Planning Commission, per
capita income of Gujarat in 2010-11 stands at 8th place among top
states. It can be said that the per capita has increased faster than in
any other state, but the inequalities have also increased. The NSS0
data provides the reality: In high growth Gujarat, the quality of
employment is mainly in the informal sector with 89 per cent men
workers and 98 per cent women workers in the unorganized sector
with no guaranteed minimum wage or protective legislation. As far as
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women are concerned the percentage is higher than two percentage
points compared to the all India figure which is 96 per cent of women
in the informal sector. Thus the vibrant Gujarat summits have not
changed the quality of employment and life for the state’s working
people. Moreover just as the UPA promotes pro-corporate jobloss
growth, so also in Gujarat, data shows that in the last decade
employment has dropped to almost zero in Gujarat.
As far as wage rates are concerned, Gujarat ranks low in the all India
index for 20 major States. For casual rural male workers it ranks 14th
who earned on an average just 69 rupees a day. For women it ranked
9th with rural casual women workers earning just 56 rupees on
average. For regular rural workers Gujarat had a low in the rankings at
17th position, (Rs. 152 for men) and 9th position for women (Rs. 108)
For urban casual workers, the State was in the 7th position with men
earning a wage of 108 rupees and it was in the 14th position for
women. For regular male workers in urban areas the position was even
worse at 18th (Rs. 205) and for women 13th (Rs. 182).
The BJP has boasted that in Gujarat there have been no suicide deaths
of farmers. According to RTI gleaned information shockingly between
August and December 2012, there were 40 farmer suicides. These
were in the main suicides by debt ridden farmers in the Saurashtra
region. The main thrust of Modi’s policies like the UPA is to encourage
corporate farming and cater to the big farmer lobby ignoring the
interests of small and marginal farmers.
Generosity for Corporates
But for corporates the Gujarat model is generosity personified. If
India’s top industrialists sing Modi’s praises it is not for nothing. Huge
tracts of land which should have been distributed to the landless, have
been given over to corporates at throw away prices — an example of
robbing the common people of Gujarat to help the corporates. This
includes forest land. But at the same time the Forest Rights Act is
blatantly violated. Gujarat has the worst record in implementation of
the Act. As many as 1.20 lakh claims of tribals for land pattas was
rejected arbitrarily by the Government. On May 3, the Gujarat High
Court accepted a petition and ordered that all these cases should be
reconsidered.
Currently there is a big kisan movement against the forcible
acquisition of 55,000 acres of land in the Bahucharaji area for the
16
Special Investment Region to help corporates get land at low prices. In
spite of opposition, Maruti Suzuki has already been given 750
hectares.
The compensation package is shamefully against the interests of the
farmers and people of the area and much worse than even that
suggested in the UPA government’s pending Land Acquisition and
Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill. For example there is no consent
taken from farmers, leave alone the 80 per cent consent required
under the proposed law. It may be recalled that in Singur there was
over 90 per cent consent for the project. Also there is no
compensation at all for tenants and agricultural workers, unlike the
packages suggested by the then Left Front Government in West
Bengal. In all these cases, for the Gujarat Government the issue of
consent or fair compensation does not at all arise. The land is acquired
forcibly for corporates.
Here are some examples:
According to the CAG, Modi’s Govt. has bestowed around Rs 1275
crore rupees in dubious ways to benefit the corporate sector for the
fiscal 2011-2012. The CAG report, which was recently submitted to the
state assembly, says the chief gainers of Modi’s generosity are the
Adani, Essar, Reliance, Larson & Toubro among others. It is the double
standards of the BJP that it has used its majority to virtually suppress
the report.
According to the CAG report, the Adani group violated the agreement
that was arrived at between the Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam and the
Adani Power Limited Company. The Adanis were required to pay Rs
240.08 crore as fine. However, the Adanis paid Rs 80.82 crore only
and were exempted from paying the rest about Rs 160 crore. This is
the same company which was given huge amount of land along the
coast at paltry rates ranging from Re. 1 to Rs. 32 a square metre when
the market rate was over Rs. 1,500 a square metre. The Adani group
got the land for industrial use and port development, but it sold/
leased out a significant portion of it to other corporate groups, flouting
norms. Leasing out or selling such acquired land is illegal according to
the purchase deed.
At Hajira, the Essar Steel Company encroached upon 7,24,687 square
metres of land, which was clearly an illegal act. But Modi’s generosity
gave that land to the Essar group at a special, concessional rate. The
state government lost Rs 238.50 crore.
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The Modi government allotted land to the Larsen & Toubro company
for a nuclear power plant, at a concessional rate, whereby the state
exchequer lost a sum of Rs 128.71 crore. As per the rules, it is the
evaluation committee of the Revenue Department of Gujarat that
should have estimated the value of this land but in actual practice the
valuation was done by the district level evaluation committee. The
company was, moreover, allotted some land in Baroda district,
whereby it benefited to the tune of Rs 79.77 lakh.
Similarly Nirma SEZ was allotted 268 hectares to build a cement plant
in Mahua. The Modi Government wrongly classified the acquired land
as “wasteland” when in fact it was being cultivated as also used as
gauchar (grazing) land. 15000 people were deprived of their
livelihoods.
The Tatas shifted their Nano project to Gujarat. 1100 acres were given
at a throwaway price of just 900 rupees a sq metre when the market
price was 10,000 rupees a sq metre. A huge loan at the rate of 0.01%
has been given from the State exchequer. In economic terms analysts
have calculated that each car rolling out from Tata factory will have
the subsidy of 60,000 rupees.
Modi claims that ‘good compensation’ has been given to the farmers
whose land is acquired for industrial purposes. The fact is that in
villages near the cities, where real estate prices have shot up, Modi
was forced to give the farmers a good deal. But Modi has used force
along with emergency powers of the state government to acquire land
in the hinterland and in coastal regions to develop big industrial
zones.The new industrial policy which was announced in 2003 without
any public consultation makes it easier for the government to change
the classification of land so that it can be acquired, and also gives
unprecedented authority to the District Collector to invoke emergency
powers.
This kind of industrial development also induces displacement with
women, dalits and Adivasis being the major victims of this
displacement. It causes joblessness, homelessness, deprivations,
marginalization and social fragmentation.
Cases of Corruption: The case of Geo Global
The BJP’s campaign against corruption rings hollow. Only recently a
senior Minister of the Modi Government, Babu Bokhiria was convicted
18
by a Porbandar court in the 54 crore illegal limestone mining case of
2006. But the “clean” Chief Minister Modi has retained him in the
Cabinet. When the BJP held up Parliament demanding the resignation
of Pawan Kumar Bansal because of the charges of corruption, its “most
popular” leader was extending patronage to a man convicted of
corruption.
But the hypocrisy does not end there.
The Chief Minister’s office itself has been involved in a number of
scams. The CAG made a damning indictment of an agreement reached
between a company called Geo Global and the State PSU GSPC.
Without any tenders the Geo Global, a dubious company registered in
the Barbados, a self confessed novice in gas exploration was given a
10 per cent share in an expansive gas field worth billions of dollars.
Within days of signing this agreement Geo Global transferred 50 per
cent of its shares to another shell company in Mauritius. As the CAG
report points out, this company had no expertise nor funds and in fact
the GSPC had to hire another expert at its own cost to do the work
Geo Global was supposed to have done. At the time of incorporation its
value was barely a cent for a single share. By 2008, within five years
after the agreement it went up to a high of 14.92 US dollars.
There are other examples of such scandals. The charge against the
UPA Government of allowing the loot and plunder of India’s natural
resources is equally valid for the BJP. They are two corrupted sides of
the same coin. This is a huge scandal but the Gujarat Government has
managed to keep it suppressed perhaps because the main opposition
in Gujarat, the Congress follows the same policies.
Need for An Alternative Policy Platform
The Gujarat model is little different in its basic framework from the
UPA Government’s commitment to neo-liberal policies. The only
difference is that with his brute majority Modi could do away with even
any pretense of social sector policies to promote inclusive growth.
The current political discussions in the mainstream media do not look
at policy alternatives but only leadership alternatives. In fact what the
country requires is a policy based alternative platform which puts
people before corporates and defends unequivocally the secular
principles of unity and defence of minority rights, without which India
can never be vibrant.
19
At the same time the UPA Government and the Congress in particular
has utterly failed to confront the communal agenda of the BJP and the
RSS spawned front organisations. Even today the legislation against
communalism is in cold storage. The CPI(M) and the Left parties had
suggested certain important amendments to the present draft. But in
the face of an offensive by the communal forces against any
legislation, the Congress leadership has refused to prioritise the
passage of the Bill thus betraying the promise it had made. In states
where the Congress is ruling like in Rajasthan and Maharashtra for
example, the Congress has refused to take action against those in the
administration and police forces who have connived in communal
attacks. Most importantly, it has done little to help the victims of
Gujarat, not even in the cases pending in the Supreme Court.
The thoroughly opportunist stand of the Congress leadership in
politically confronting the communal forces makes it clear that it
cannot be depended upon to take a sustained and strong stand against
communalism.
20
Annexure-I
Text of the Letter Addressed to the President of India
by Com. Prakash Karat
Regarding unlawful confinement of Muslim Youth
November 17, 2012
The President of India
Rashtrapati Bhawan
New Delhi
Dear Rashtrapati ji,
I write to draw your attention to the grave miscarriage of justice to
scores of Muslim youth who were and are being wrongly arrested and
charged in cases related to terror attacks in different parts of the
country. In some cases these young men have been incarcerated for
ten to fourteen years as undertrials and then finally acquitted by the
courts as being innocent. Several reliable groups of concerned citizens
and organizations who have collected the details of these cases, have
revealed how the court judgements themselves have strongly indicted
the investigation agencies for the biased mentality against the Muslim
youth and in several cases the manipulation and presentation of
concocted evidence against innocent young men. It would appear that
the investigation agencies are more driven by the requirement to show
“results” in their investigation rather than to ensure that it is the
actual culprits who are caught.
Muslim youth are the most vulnerable targets today. The draconian
provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act are used to deny
the normal processes of justice, while there is no time bound
procedure for the judicial processes. There is a growing feeling of fear
and apprehension on the one hand and anger on the other that
innocents are being implicated. Young lives have been destroyed,
families stricken, forced into social isolation, driven into debt to pay
the huge expenditures in legal fees—the terrible conditions caused by
State led injustice.
As an illustration, the cases of the four young men Md. Aamir from
Delhi, Syed Maqbool from Srinagar, Wasif Haider and Mumtaz Ahmed
from Uttar Pradesh are presented before you. They were arrested
arbitrarily when they were just eighteen or nineteen years of age,
implicated in dozens of cases, incarcerated for over ten years and each
one of them was, as held by the courts, innocent. They are today
21
without jobs, considered unemployable, with dark and uncertain
futures.
While no quarter can be given to any individual or group which is
responsible for dastardly terror attacks, the arrest of innocent Muslim
youth has reached serious dimensions which requires immediate
attention. It is a blot on the principles of secular democracy. At the
same time, the arrest of innocent people means that the actual culprits
go free. There are three aspects, which require to be looked at:
1. Compensation to and rehabilitation of the innocents. While in some
cases, with the intervention of the Minority Rights Commission and
other agencies, some monetary compensation may have been given in
a few cases, by and large most of the victims of State injustice are in
a terrible condition. It is essential to ensure justice by providing
compensation as well as the means towards a livelihood through
provision of employment or any other avenue suggested by the victim.
2. The provision of Special Courts with time bound procedures is
essential so as to end the sometimes deliberate prolonging of the
cases. All such cases should be settled in a year.
3. In cases where the Court has held that evidence has been
concocted or misrepresented by the investigating agencies to implicate
innocents, action must be taken against those responsible. This will act
as a deterrent in the deliberate implication of innocents.
We believe also that the draconian provisions in the UAPA must be
reconsidered. At the time of the passage of the Bill in Parliament the
CPI(M) had warned of the consequences of keeping such provisions on
the Statute book akin to TADA and POTA. Experience has shown the
legitimacy of the apprehensions expressed at that time.
We request you to take up these issues urgently with the Government
of India. We also enclose relevant information and documents with
further details.
With regards,
Yours sincerely,
Sd/-
Prakash Karat
(General Secretary)
22
Annexure-II
Examples of some of the cases of acquittal and discharge
of youth wrongfully charged and incarcerated
01. Mohd Marouf Qaamar (Delhi) ….Acquitted on 11.11.2008, Tis
Hazari Court Delhi
02. Tariq Ahmad Dar (Kashmir)
Discharge 2006 Case of Tis Hazari
Court, Delhi
03. Tasleem (Muradabad – UP)
Discharge – Release on 1998, Tis Hazari
Court No. 19, Delhi Case
04. Najeem (Muradabad – UP)
Discharge – Release on 1998, Tis Hazari
Court No. 19, Delhi Case
05. Shamim Akhtar (Kolkata)
Discharge – Release on 1998, Tis Hazari
Court No. 19, Delhi Case
06. Syed Maqbool Shah (Kashmir)
Acquitted on 08.04.2010, Patiala House
Court, New Delhi Case
07. Mohd Aamir Khan (Delhi) Acquitted - 17
Cases (Delhi & NCR), Release on:
09.01.2012
08. Haroon Rashid (Bihar) Acquitted
on Jan – 2010, Tis Hazari Court, Delhi
Case
09. Dilawar Khan (Orissa) Acquit on Jan –
2010, Tis Hazari Court, Delhi Case
10. Salman Khurshid Kori (Manipur)
Acquitted on 14.12.2011, Tis Hazari
Court, Delhi Case
11. Syed Mubarak (Sitapuri – UP)
Acquitted ………….Case of Bareli Dist
Court – UP
23
12. Abdul Mubeen (Sidhard Nagar) Acquitted
……Case of Agra Dist Court – UP
13. Ghulam Mohd (Kanpur) Acquitted on
12.08.2009, Case of Kanpur City – UP
14. Sajjad-ul-Thman, (Kishtuwar) Discharge
on 14.04.2011, Case of Lucknow – UP.
15. Mumtaz Ahmad (Sopur) Acquitted on
06.08.2003 Case of GRP – Kanpur, UP.
16. Faheem Ansari (Maharashtra) Acquitted
case of Mumbai, 26.11.2008, Session Court
& Supreme Court
17. Saba uddin (UP) Acquitted Case of
Mumbai, 26.11.2008, Session Court to
Supreme Court!
18. Jogeshvari Rly st Case 2 Persons
Acquitted Mumbai Maharashtra Case
19. Tilak Nagar Rly st Case 2 Persons
discharge & 2 Acquitted. Case of Mumbai,
Maharashtra
20. Ghaat – Kopar 2003 Case 9 Persons
Acquitted, Case of Mumbai, Maharashtra
21. Gateway of India Case 2 Persons
Acquitted, Case of Mumbai, Maharashtra
22. Rehmana Farooqui Acquitted by Delhi High
Court in 2007 in 2000 Red Fort Case.
July 2013
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