Public
Statement On The Gujarat Carnage 2002
By Concerned Citizens
31 October, 2007
Countercurrents.org
The
recent Tehelka expose of the "Gujarat riots" of 2002, demonstrate
very starkly that these were neither "spontaneous" nor "riots",
but were in fact mass murder, loot and mayhem orchestrated and organized
by the top echelons of the Gujarat units of the VHP, the Bajrang Dal,
and the BJP with the full connivance and complicity of the Gujarat government
headed by Narendra Modi. The Tehelka tapes show senior functionaries
of these organizations and of the government bragging and confessing
to their having committed and participated in
committing heinous crimes like brutal mass murder, rape, burning, looting
etc. Many of them claim and boast about how Narendra Modi explicitly
encouraged the carnage and told the killers and rioters that they were
being given a free rein of three days. These people also claim how several
senior police officials not only aided and abetted these killers by
their actions and inaction but in many cases themselves participated
in the carnage.
These senior functionaries
who boast about having committed these crimes also claim how Modi provided
shelter to these people and even got inconvenient judges changed to
ensure that these mass murderers got out on bail. They also boast about
having successfully subverted the integrity of the Nanavati Commission.
In short, the tapes reveal a horrific state of affairs in Gujarat, which
seems to have gone beyond the pale of the rule of law, and the most
basic norms of humanity. That it has become a State where the government
is not being carried on in accordance with the Constitution.
It has become imperative
that a special investigating team
be immediately constituted to investigate the involvement of Narendra
Modi and other senior functionaries in his government and the police
in the killings, their abetment and the shelter and help given to the
criminals. This SIT can be constituted by the Supreme Court and should
be monitored on a regular basis and asked to compete their investigation
within a few months. This would be one of the most important investigations
ever undertaken in this country.
But most immediately, the
persons shown on tape confessing to having committed crimes must be
immediately arrested and those of them who are serving officials, must
be placed under suspension. If the State government shows any hesitation
in doing this, that will only reinforce the overwhelming evidence of
their complicity in the Carnage.
The pending cases of Naroda
Patia, Gulbarga society etc. which have been stayed by the Supreme Court,
pending hearing of the applications for their transfer outside Gujarat
for the last 4 years, must be immediately taken up by the court, ordered
to be expeditiously reinvestigated by an independent agency and cases
tried expeditiously.
We therefore call upon the
Central government and the Supreme Court, whose duty it is to enforce
the rule of law and protect the
Constitution, to immediately take the above steps. We also call upon
all right thinking people of Gujarat to come out in support of these
demands. What is at stake is not merely the survival of Constitutional
values and the rule of law but the survival of civilisation itself in
this country.
Signed by:
Admiral R.H.Tahiliani (Former Navy Chief, Chairman Transparency
International,India)
S.P. Shukla (Former Finance Secy, GOI)
Shanti Bhushan (Former Law Minister)
Muchkund Dubey (Former Foreign Secretary, GOI)
Ramaswamy Iyer (Former Water Resources Secy, GOI)
E.A.S. Sarma (Former Power Secretary, GOI)
B. George Verghese (Senior Journalist)
Madhu Bhaduri (Former Ambassador, GOI)
Medha Patkar (Social Activist)
Aruna Roy (Social Activist, Former member NAC)
Arundhati Roy (Writer, Social Activist)
Arvind Kejriwal (RTI Activist, Magsaysay awardee)
Sandeep Pande (Social Activist, Magsaysay awardee)
Major Gen. S.G. Vombatkere (Retd. Mysore)
Prof. Amit Bhaduri (Former Professor of Economics, JNU)
Prof. K.M.Shrimali (Department of History, Delhi University)
Arun Kumar (Professor Economics, JNU)
Prof. Girijesh Pant (School of International Studies, JNU)
Prof. Pramod Yadava (Professor, Dean, School of Life Sciences JNU)
Prof. Sujata Patel (Dept. of Sociology, University of Pune)
Prof. Achin Vinayak (Professor, Third World Academy)
Nasir Tayabji (Director, Centre for Jawaharlal Nehru Studies, Jamia
Milia Islamia)
Jean Dreze (Visiting Professor, Allahabad University)
Arshad Alam (Centre for Jawaharlal Nehru Studies, Jamia Milia Islamia)
Shailesh Gandhi (Convenor, NCPRI)
Vikram Lal (Director, Common Cause)
Shabnam Hashmi (Social Activist, ANHAD)
Dunu Roy (Social Activist and Director, Hazard Centre)
Ravi Chopra (Director, People's Science Institute)
N. Bhaskar Rao (Director, Centre for media studies)
Dr. Ajay Mehra (Director, Centre for public affairs)
Manoj Mitta (Journalist)
Sundeep Dougal (Journalist)
Ajit Bhattacharjee (Journalist)
Sudhirendra Sharma (Journalist)
Smitu Kothari (Dir. Centre for Intercultural Resources, Co-Founder Lokayan)
Himanshu Thakkar (Centre for Water Policy)
Nandini Oza (Social Activist, M.P.)
Ashish Kothari (Founder Member Kalpavriksh)
Vinod Raina (Founder Eklavya)
Rohit Prajapati (Social Activist, Baroda)
Trupti Shah (Social Activist, Baroda)
S. Srinivasan (Baroda)
Sanjay Kak (Filmmaker)
Arshad Amanullah (Documentary Filmmaker)
Nikhil Dey (Social Activist)
Ashok Rao (Secy. National Confederation of Officers Association)
Kamini Jaiswal (Lawyer)
Prashant Bhushan (Public
Interest Lawyer)
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