Almost six years after the deaths of over 3,000 Muslims in a genocidal operation by Hindu fundamentalists in the state of Gujarat that began on 28 February, 2002, new information has emerged about the incident that began it. At the end of October two major Indian television channels, seen around the world by cable and satellite, broadcast the findings of a six-month investigation by Tehelka, a weekly news magazine: journalists secretly recorded senior members of Hindu organisations speaking about their roles in the attacks, as well as the role of the state government of the time, led by chief minister Narendra Modi.
Despite its reputation as a model of democracy in the non-Western world, India is in fact a country with serious human-rights problems, with many of the victims being Muslim. K. C. SALEEM, a Crescent correspondent in India, reports on the problem of extra-judicial killings in India.
Democracy has almost always been a tool of tyranny, oppression and subjugation. The “world’s largest democracy”, India is no exception to this rule. There is one key strategy that is employed in every democratic process: ‘manufacturing consent’.
Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat, who is widely regarded as having instigated the anti-Muslim pogroms in April 2001 in which thousands of Muslims were killed and at least 150,000 driven from their homes and land, was rewarded last month with a massive victory in the state’s elections.
