People's Democracy

 "Modi Is The Chief Architect"

 Following are some excerpts from the Concerned Citizens Tribunal report which highlight the role played by Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi in the Gujarat genocide:

 "The tribunal received direct information through a testimony from a highly placed source (a minister) of a meeting where the CM, two or three senior cabinet colleagues, the CP of Ahmedabad, and an IG police of the state were present. This meeting took place on the late evening of February 27. The meeting had a singular purpose: the senior-most police officials were told that they should expect a 'Hindu reaction' after Godhra. They were also told that they should not do anything to contain this reaction."

The tribunal also has evidence on the second secret meeting, held in Lunawada village of Panchmahals district. "Shri Ashok Bhatt, the state health minister, was also intimated about the meeting. Transport minister Prabhatsinh Chauhan, who hails from Panchmahals, was also called to attend. Phone calls were made to invite 50 top people of the BJP, RSS, Bajrang Dal and VHP. The plan was to assemble them at someone's house in Lunawada. Fifty top people, the tribunal was told, met at this undisclosed destination and detailed plans were made on the use of kerosene and petrol for arson and other methods of killing."

About Modi's role: "Chief minister Narendra Modi is the chief author and architect of all that happened in Gujarat after the arson of February 27, 2002. It is amply clear from all the evidence placed before the tribunal that what began in Godhra could have, given the political will, been controlled promptly at Godhra itself. Instead, the state government under Shri Narendra Modi took an active part in leading and sponsoring the violence against minorities all over Gujarat. His words and actions throughout the developments in Gujarat show that he has been openly defying the Constitution and indulging in actions which are positively detrimental to the interests of the country."

"Shri Modi was the one who took Godhra to the rest of Gujarat. He was the one who directed the police and the administration not to act. He was the one who refused to help the likes of former MP Shri Ahsan Jafri, and the large number of people in Shri Jafri's home, who were all butchered later on. He refused shelter and succour to the victims of the carnage. He refused, and continues to refuse, basic human amenities and was using coercion and other tactics to wind up refugee relief camps."

Here are some of the findings which led the tribunal to conclude that the post-Godhra riots were state sponsored:

It was the CM who declared that the Godhra incident was pre-planned even before investigating agencies reached such a conclusion. Modi's cabinet colleagues, notably the minister of state for home, Gordhan Zadaphiya, reiterated repeatedly that a Pakistani hand was behind the Godhra actions.

It was Modi who decided that the charred bodies of the carnage victims be taken from Godhra to Ahmedabad in a cavalcade. As it headed there, senior members of his party and the Sangh parivar shouted slogans and incited mobs to retaliate.

From 8.30 am on February 27, just after the fire on the Sabarmati Express, until 7.30 pm that evening, repeated statements by the Godhra district collector, Jayanthi Ravi,  relayed on Doordarshan and Akashwani (radio), stated that the incident was not pre-planned and that it was an accident. But, at 7.30 pm, Modi came on television and put forward the ISI hand theory.