AHMEDABAD: Ten years on, Abdul Sheikh can still hardly believe that the doctor who had performed an ultrasound scan on his pregnant wife turned out to be a ringleader in the orgy of violence that killed both the mother and her unborn child.
"I remember hearing the commotion and I rushed out to find Dr. Kodnani inciting a mob of thousands, screaming 'kill those bastards!'," said Sheikh, one of the witnesses whose testimony led last week to the jailing of 31 people for hunting down and slaughtering dozens of Muslims in 2002.
Among those convicted by the court was the gynaecologist, Maya Kodnani, a sitting lawmaker for the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the western state of Gujarat.
The eyewitness accounts of Kodnani handing out swords to Hindu thugs and urging them on to bloodshed are an embarrassment for India's main opposition party as elections loom in 2014, underlining its struggle to present itself as moderate and responsible rather than hardline and dangerous.
‘The party's core is radical," said political analyst Amulya Ganguli. "It is an albatross around its neck and it will continue to drag it down." That has been shown by the party's muted reaction to the verdict. Political commentators say the BJP's failure to condemn the actions of Kodnani and the others convicted is significant, a clear sign that it fears alienating its core support base.
Party officials have dodged questions about the political fallout from the case, limiting their comments to praise for Gujarat's criminal justice system.
The verdict is also a blow to the BJP's best hope for prime minister, Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat. Critics say he turned a blind eye to the 2002 religious riots in which up to 2,500 people were slain after suspected Muslims set fire to a train carrying Hindu pilgrims.
Modi says he has nothing to apologise for, but it was he who appointed Kodnani as state minister for women and child development in 2007, even though she had already been implicated in the carnage."It's hard to think of a more grotesque appointment, even harder to understand the sensibility that would vest someone who had conspired in the murder, amongst others, of a pregnant woman, with the responsibility for the welfare of women and children," columnist Mukul Kesavan wrote in the Times of India.
Hindu fanatics
These days there are no signs of the terror that gripped Naroda Patiya, a Muslim-dominated slum in the Gujarati city of Ahmedabad, on Feb. 28, 2002. Children play with goats and chickens in cobble-stoned alleys, while women bask in the sun on the porches of their tiny green, pink and blue houses.
Still, people cannot forget the thick smoke that engulfed their neighbourhood, the shattering of glass, the gunshots, and the 95 relatives and friends who were hacked, beaten or burnt to death in the highly organised attack, the worst incident of bloodletting during the riots.
School teacher Nazir Khan remembers hiding with his wife in an underground water tank for over four hours as the mob looted his home, smashed furniture and set his house ablaze.
"I could hear their muffled voices saying 'we must finish those leeches today', while we almost choked on the smoke," said Khan.
"I always thought these scenes happened in movies, but I was wrong. Each traumatic second of that day is etched in my mind." One of the most prominent figures in court was Babu Bajrangi, who was accused of disembowelling a pregnant woman with a sword. He was a leader of Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of a Hindu nationalist organisation affiliated with the BJP. Its extremist activities have sometimes embarrassed the party.
One of Bajrang Dal's goals is to build a temple on the site of a 16th-century mosque that was torn down by Hindu fanatics in 1992. The razing of the mosque in the northern town of Ayodhya sparked religious riots in which some 2,000 people were killed.
Although some BJP leaders were among the crowd of zealots in Ayodhya, after that incident the party sought to moderate its "Hindutva" (a word literally meaning 'Hindu-ness') philosophy, and, after removing the mosque-temple dispute from its manifesto, it won enough allies to form a coalition government and rule the country between 1998 and 2004.
The "acceptable face" of the BJP was Atal Behari Vajpayee, the prime minister whose image still appears on party banners.
Since then, the party has not produced a leader with both charisma and appeal that goes beyond urban middle class voters.
Modi viewed with suspicion
Modi, 61, certainly has ambition and personality. He is highly respected by prominent businessmen for his good governance of Gujarat since 2002, and the long economic boom there for which his liberalisation and investment drive is credited.
He is widely expected to win state assembly elections in Gujarat later this year, and opinion polls show that, if it were up to urban Indians, Modi would be the next prime minister -- not Rahul Gandhi, scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and presumed leader-in-waiting of the ruling Congress party.
Modi's problem is that he is viewed with suspicion by many voters, not least Muslims, who represent more than 13 percent of the electorate.
"Sure, no one denies that he's made our state prosper," said Saleem R. Sheikh, who lost his 27-year-old son in the Gujarat riots. "You have big companies here, big buildings, but can that overshadow what happened? Will that money bring my son back? Who are you trying to fool Mr. Modi?"
Last week's court ruling, which highlighted the political affiliation of the main culprits in the Gujarat killing spree, could make it more difficult for the BJP to win the support of parties it would need to form a coalition government in 2014.
Some of those politicians already have serious doubts about the idea of a Prime Minister Modi.
Even foreign governments are wary. Modi has been denied a visa to the United States and in recent years many diplomats have gone out of their way to avoid meeting him.
"The verdict is a further blow to his prime ministerial ambitions," said Ganguli. "The dilemma for the BJP is that the only candidate they have is a hugely divisive figure."
COMMENTS (22)
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@amir omani: **thy left pak coz thy wer worried tht all hindus will accept islam ….as rinkle kumari fall in lov wd a muslim and accepted islam hpil..but ur media made it forceful
Man, go watch her video in youtube...her eyes filled with tears while she spoke...FACE is the index of MIND..no need to know who fell in love with whom...and there were machine guns fired in the air, after her nikka, for what joy?? she becoming a muslim or for one more succesfull conversion of minority.... i wish god to make pakistan 100% muslim country...let them enjoy their country for themselves....
@amir farooq: go get educate yourself....during partion muslim population was 10% in india..now it is some where b/w 10-13%...look at the hindu population in pakistan, it was 10% during partion, and now ....shame its 1.87%...which country deserves title RIOTISTAN?? grow up... there's reservation for minority in indian education system and employment...haj subsidy for indian muslim pilgrimages.. vice president is a muslim... some bad incidents happen, where muslims were targeted, but 'there is no smoke with out fire'.... but having said that whole 80% hindu popluation is not against them...GOD forbid if it was true, 13% muslims would have been wiped in no time...Never never, it should happen.... and am sorry for our fellow indian muslims, culprits from both sides have been punished...some assh*s who escaped, will be punised by 'ALLAH/RAM'.. INDIA is still and will remain SECULAR country.....
@amir omani: "@gp65: i agree not in gujrat but in ASAM UP u will naver leave muslims hpily"
In Assam, it is not a religious issue. It is an issue of local tribals Bodos vs. illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. Incidentally, Bodos are not Hindus, they are animists. A total 78 people - which includes Bodos and Bangladeshis have died. While law and order can and should be restored this says nothing about state discrimination towards its Muslim citizens since the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants are NOT Indian citizens.
In UP a total of 7 people have died in a period of 75 days of which 4 are Muslim and 3 are Hindus. It started with the rape of a Hindu Dalit girl by a Muslim. In any event 7 people dying in 75 days would not even get reported in your media. IT is just that our media is hypersensitive and follows such stories - as it should. That is because we Indians do not approve and endorse violence against minorities even when each instance minority is the aggressor.
Shows why more Muslims want to stay in India than ask for asylum in Pakistan. Indian law treats all the same way.
@amir omani:
Amir - what is happening in ASSAM is that illegal migrants from Bangladesh who happen to be Muslims have taken over vast areas of land that belong to indigenous people. The local population is beginning to take up arms against these illegal settlers. It is no different from, say, the Afghans throwing out the Soviets from Afghanistan or the Vietnamese forcing the Americans to retreat.
And about Muslims being happy, tell me where they are happy.
@gp65: i agree not in gujrat but in ASAM UP
u will naver leave muslims hpily
Indian Muslims form 13% of electorate.....why don't they rise as political power???
@amir farooq: "this is the true face of india…the secular and so called democratic india"
YEs. This IS the face of secular India where even riot victims of minority community get justice in the courts. In your Pakistan, Shia Muslims can expect no justice though they are killed in target killing.
The Gujarat riots occurred more than 10 years back and 790 Muslims died in it. There have been no communal incients in Gujarat in the last 10 years. Now tell me how many Muslims were killed in Karachi target killings in just last year - forget last 10 years? How many victims got justice? How many Shias have been identified and killed? How many victims got justice? This is the case where victims are Muslim? Now let's talk about Gojra victims? Did they get justice? What about Shahbaz Bhatti's killer? AmNy justice for his family? What about young Rimsha and Rinkle Kumari?
India is not perfect and individual acts of bigotry do occur. But when they do, the majority is not silent - unlike your supposedly silent majority which allows one injustice after another to occur with no respite for the victims and no consequences for the oppressors.
We should put Modi and Zaid Hamid into a single party.... They will form a 2 nation * 2 nation = a 4 nations theory.....
Enough is enough..we want modi...we want modi...we want modi....
this is the true face of india...the secular and so called democratic india wer muslims suffring fron 1947 either in gujrat assam mumbai manglore or any part of the roitistan
brovoo indians
@ChOOOOOOOOO: Sir you are going on the beaten path as was blamed by the Bajrangies,after a thorough investigation by the Gujarat police it was known beyond dought that it an inside job,the burning of the train at gourdhra,one does not know what axactly it will take to educate people to understand the well known facts!
@Khan No Modi killed million Muslims.Don't exaggerate the numbers to feed your ego. Modi will be PM, the circumstances the country is in right now.He is the best candidate who has a vision, clean from corruption scandals. Wait for 2014.
@casim Lol what trouble will it bring to India. Does Pakistan cut relations with India? Fine. We don't care. Its not just Indian people who want him to be PM, even China is in favor of him.Heck the American embassy papers which leaked by wikileaks says so. He is good for business and development.
@ChOOOOOOOOO: but how come court acquitted him & sentenced his cabinet members of that tenure? can they work without the blessings of the CM Modi during the Gujrat riots? @FU: Lets see what this so called sane Modi does if he becomes a PM :) it will bring more trouble to India actually, so yeah do vote him
Whom are you kidding? Congress will vanish once in for all in 2014. BJP will come to power whether Muslims in India like it or not.
@ChOOOOOOOOOR: Modi kill more than 4,000 muslims and became the Chief Minister, Now How many muslims he should kill to become a Prim Minister ????????????
Good verdict. The culprits must be punished irrespective of their party affiliation.
“The verdict is a further blow to his prime ministerial ambitions,”
That is what the media is saying. The ballot box will say something quite the opposite.