Justice, Mr CM

In acknowledging that his recent remarks against Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul were not quite cricket, Gujarat8217;s Ch...

In acknowledging that his recent remarks against Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul were not quite cricket, Gujarat8217;s Chief Minister Narendra Modi, in an interview with this newspaper8217;s editor for Walk the Talk on NDTV, has not just tried to cap a controversy. He has also admitted that, in the heat and frenzy of an election campaign, politicians do sometimes get carried away by their own rhetoric. Over the past two years, this tendency has been particularly marked in Modi8217;s case. He has sought to provoke even when there was no need to and has stretched the limits of logic almost habitually. In the case of the Gujarat riots 2002, for one, Modi made the cardinal mistake of equating Hindu anger after Godhra with the large-scale massacre of Muslims that followed. When the media demonised him, he responded by demonising the media. It won him an election but left him trapped by his own image, a hero thanks to sheer perversity.

In shouldering arms to the criticism of his attack on the Gandhis, Modi has indicated he wants 8212; to mix cricket metaphors 8212; to take fresh guard. If the chief minister of perhaps India8217;s most entrepreneurial state wants to get on with life and governance, bid a dignified retreat from the past, he would have to effect a closure of this whole, painful history. Yet closure in Gujarat will entail more than Modi correcting his steps in terms of his verbal excesses. It would mean delivering, in a comprehensive and convincing fashion, justice in the state and ensuring exemplary punishment to those responsible for the riots. Gujarat in the summer of 2002 was an emotional maelstrom. Following the Godhra outrage, for a substantial section of the state8217;s people, latent anti-Muslim prejudice translated into implicit support for violence. True, social antipathy 8212; even hatred 8212; cannot be effaced by administrative fiat. Yet even if every single Gujarati Hindu in 2002 despised his Muslim fellow citizen 8212; and certainly the polarisation was not absolute 8212; only a much smaller percentage carried thoughts into action, picked up weapons and actually killed or maimed someone. It is that second group that needs to be tried and sentenced, no questions asked.

The Modi government8217;s record in expediting a transparent trial of those suspected of such criminal action is the issue here. It has not been above board. There has been obfuscation before the courts and an often willful obstruction of justice. If Modi wants to move on, he has to establish that the days of playing half-cock are over. In doing so, it is not as if he will necessarily win over his opponents or sections of the media that have been critical of him. Ultimately, they don8217;t really matter. What does matter is that Gujarat8217;s residents 8212; Hindu and Muslim 8212; can go about their business with the trust that the system will uphold the law. The citizen is Modi8217;s only umpire.