That photo is Ansari’s greatest scar: Family

Qutubuddin Ansari became known as the face of the Gujarat riots but now his family members just mouth one line: no comment. Not even the RSS weekly Panchjanya comments raising questions on the authenticity of the photograph where he stood with folded hands can provoke them into saying anything. ‘‘We’ve had our share of fame and we don’t want any no more, please. What has all this media attention got us? Taunts of ‘coward’ and ‘cry baby’ forced Qutubuddin to leave Ahmedabad. Now he is gone, why trouble us?’’ says Siraj Ansari, Qutubuddin’s elder brother.

‘‘The worst thing to happen to Qutubuddin was that photograph. He was not the only one who suffered but only he became a representative of the horror that was perpetrated post-Godhra,’’ says Siraj, who is a tailor like his brother.

Ask him about the doubts that Panchjanya has raised about the photograph and Siraj retorts, ‘‘Main to kehta hoon, yahan kya, poore Gujarat main kuch nahi huva. (Nothing happened anywhere in the state, why just here). About 175 shops just outside our house were burnt.’’

‘‘We are tired of answering questions? The media keeps shooting questions at us. Why do we need to answer them? Is it not enough that Qutubuddin and his family have had to leave?’’ asks a neighbour.