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Journalism of Courage
One of the Gujarat government8217;s explanations for the widespread nature of the 2002 post-Godhra riots was that it was a spontaneous expression of popular anger. Not only is this explanation an insult to the people of Gujarat 8212; since it made them out to be cold-blooded killers who thought little of going on an extended burning, raping and killing spree 8212; it has little bearing with reality. The fact is that this massacre was carefully and willfully choreographed by powerful actors with the support, tacit or otherwise, of the forces of law and order in the state. It has still not been clearly established who these people were 8212; even a year and a half after these gruesome events. This is because those in power in the state have followed up their unconscionable inaction when the state was burning with a cynical disregard for the ends of justice in the weeks and months that followed.
Instead of painstakingly sifting through the evidence to get at the truth, the attempt seems to have been to bury it. The very fact that the Gujarat government did not consider doing what this newspaper has done 8212; in its on-going investigation of the contents of two compact discs containing the cellphone calls made in Ahmedabad during the period of the greatest disturbances 8212; indicates its lackadaisical, if not obstructionist, approach in this matter. These CDs, remember, were available to the Gujarat police since April but obviously little use was found for them. State DGP, A.K. Bhargav, after dismissing them as being of 8220;little value8221;, had however to admit to The Sunday Express that 8220;they can be used to trace the movements of the accused8221;. So why was this crucial effort not made? Could it be that the Gujarat police was more keen to close the cases rather than get at the truth?
