The news-magazine Tehelka has done another spycam exposé, this time with conspirators involved in the Gujarat riots of 2002. The Tehelka website is full of very bold claims regarding the importance of the statements made in the video footage they’ve captured, and thus far they’ve put up three YouTube videos to back up the hype. One spycam interview, with Babu Bajrangi of the Bajrang Dal, is here:
It’s in Hindi (sorry, no subtitles; UPDATE: a close English transcript of the video is here). Much of what he says about his own role is fairly chilling. At the very least this particular guy should probably go to prison for a very long time (as of the present moment I do not know whether any charges have been filed against him … UPDATE: Babu Bajrangi has in fact done eight months in prison, and is now out on bail, according to Himal Southasian).
There are also interviews with Arvind Pandya here and Ramesh Dave here; I haven’t watched them yet, but I thought I would give the links for readers who may be interested. If anyone wants to translate telling lines or sections of the videos for the benefit of our non-Hindi speaking readers, I would be grateful.
Tehelka claims that its spycam videos prove definitively that Narendra Modi gave direct approval for the killings in 2002, but I’m not sure, yet, that they do that (my views may change as I dive further into this). The video I saw does seem to add to the argument, which has been made consistently by Modi critics since 2002, that the killings weren’t a random upwelling of popular rage, but rather akin to an organized pogrom.
It’s also worth noting that the timing of this exposé can fairly be said to be a bit questionable — state elections are coming up in Gujarat in the next few weeks. There Modi may be in trouble not with Congress or Left parties, but because of dissatisfaction within the Sangh Parivar; both the RSS and the VHP have expressed dissatisfaction with him, stating that they aren’t supporting him in these elections. In the end Modi may finally be defeated, not by Tehelka, but by the Hindu right itself.
Thanks amardeep for the links.
It is the dirty face of BJP, VHP, Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena. It should not be questioned whether it is funded or not. It is the truth. And let the whole world see the truth and let them spit on the face of dirty preparators of riots against helpless Muslims. I have strong belief that godhra train carnage is also prepared by them. Those who are supporting Modi and his government deeds are toads in the well which think they are strong, whole world is seeing and the powerful ones also. People should concentrate that killers are admitting themselves and providing every detail.
Guys, nothing will happen. In India, politicians have impunity to carry out mass murder. Has anyone from any party who participated in any religious or caste massacre ever been brought to justice? Anyone from Congress who organised the November 1984 horrors been held to account? Post Babri massacres in Bombay? Anyone? No, and they never will, because the pwerful in India are free to commit crimes against humanity and they will never, never, never meet justice. That’s just the way it is. That is India. The worlds largest democracy, don’t you know?
It wouldn’t surprise me if the popularity of Modi rises in some sections of the Gujarati diaspora too after these videos are seen, the type that cheered him in their thousands as a hero when he visited England. Sad but true.
I could read through the English transcripts on tehelka’s web site, but it is very hard to watch this video. At the core of (my) beliefs is the faith that humans are compassionate, rational, conscientous – and that despite superficial differences our core values remain the same and they transcend societal fissures. Where does this leave us today? no doubt there will be those who follow this post who will say, the people in the video are not one of us – but they are. Were I in Ahmedabad that day, born into that society and faith, would I do any different? Do we stand in judgement of individuals or of society here – and at what point does one slough off enough, before one realizes that one has hit bone.
Sayed Ahmed, please avoid overly emotional responses.
Plenty of people are likely to criticize me (and Tehelka) for posting this, so it’s important to assert only exactly what we know to be true. The deaths in the train at Godhra was determined to be an accident, and it’s enough to accept that without speculating about further conspiracies.
that was absolutely frightening.
i don’t know a whole lot about politics within the subcontinet itself, but i do know that my parents are bjp/vhp supporters, unfortunately. i never really knew what those parties stood for until i recently researched them. seeing this video made me cringe. i wonder what my parents would say about this guy?
I feel that Godwin’s law is going to come into play very soon into this thread
For those who cant follow hindi – here’s some selection when they were talking about dropping people in a well and burning them alive with tyres and petrol
“we got petrol free from the pumps” “didnt leave the women and kids. they shouldnt breed” “when they were dying they started clinging to each other”. “we didnt rape. if some girl was runnign and some guy took her away on the side, that’s something else”.
and this man has recently been to some prayer! judging by the sacred thread and the ’tilak’. I couldnt watch any further.
No, that was an accident. Train car just exploded due to all the hate that it was carrying.
Shocking!, very very chilling. Unfortunately, this will help Modi win the elections one more time. Tehelka should have released these videos after the elections.
I really must ask this question, but I don’t know the best way to word it. This Babu Bajrangi guy – are his claims true? I am unable to shake off this feeling that he is trying to present “What I wish I had done” as “What I did” to claim credit in the eyes of his peers. I don’t doubt that he has a huge amount of hatred seething away within him, and I don’t doubt that society as a whole is the worse off having him around. But I really must ask – did he really do it or is he only boasting that he did it?
Tehelka is once again making a fool of themselves, nobody believes them, this is no evidence against modi.
Syed, do not mess up your point by saying Godhra was started by Hindu parties. Let’s not whitewash all the trouble started by Muslim groups all over the subcontinent and neighboring countries.
But I will say that even some of my Hindu relatives have been downright ridiculous when saying “well who cries for the Hindus.”. And it gets worse. I have heard some Hindus even say “Serves them Right” even though the “them” refers to innocent Muslims who had NOTHING to do with the train burning. YOu know what? What happened to the Hindus in the train was bad. But what happened to innocent Muslims all over the state was even worse. You know why? 1) The informal sanctioning by the government of murder of Muslims. This is not a vigilante action. Vigilante action would be to find out who burned the train passengers and expose them to a mob. This is not even close. And when the government does it, you have done damage to Hindu-Muslim relations for a couple of generations in that state. The state just helped some fanatic muslim organization in recruiting new potential terrorists. 2) The betrayal factor by your own neighbors. I would be pissed if my family members were killed by a random mob. But can you imagine how much more devastating to the psyche and how your faith in humanity gets shattered when your own neighbors turn you over to a mob which kills even kids ruthlessly? That is the face of many Hindus in Gujarat. And for Hindu families in the US to invite that motherfucker Modi and not take him to task for his failure makes me want to kick their vegetarian asses. 3) The sheer numbers in the carnage. We are not talking about an immediate reaction where one muslim killed a hindu and and then his hindu friends relatiated in pure insane rage and killed the muslims around them. There had to be a lot of planned carnage over the next few days when people had time to reflect.
When I heard this Indian guy at a party say “serves them right” I was so fucking tempted to beat [him up. PLEASE KEEP IT CIVIL. -SM INTERN]. His kids were there. So I limited it to a lecture.
Tehelka should really release a line by line English transcript of these interviews for non-Hindi speakers
There are a lot of transcripts availalbe for non-Hindi speakers on the Tehelka website. It’s not just one guy they interviewed. But reading the whole thing may make you a little sick. NSFW in the worst way.
Pingpong, it’s a legitimate question. In my haste, I hadn’t bothered to Google Babu Bajrangi. It turns out he has been pretty open in confessing his involvement even before this:
One might dismiss Babu Bajrangi as a bombast when he claims proximity to the chief minister, or describes the beating of Muslim boys. But for a man of obvious stature in society he is also accused of burning Muslims alive. As the chief accused in the infamous Naroda Patiya case, one of the worst instances of brutality during the 2002 violence, he is alleged to have led the mob that killed 89 people in the area. It is a burden that rests lightly on Bajrangi’s shoulders. “People say I killed 123 people,†he says. Did you? Bajrangi laughs, “How does it matter? They were Muslims. They had to die. They are dead.†Evidence of Bajrangi’s complicity was so overwhelming that even a pliable state administration could not save him from an eight-month stint in prison. “They cannot reduce my hatred for Muslims with that, can they? While in jail, I demolished a small mosque that was located in there,†he says with a sly, childlike grin. (link)
So he has done some time in prison — just 8 months, and he’s now out on bail.
The way to really confirm that he’s not just a psychotic braggart is to look at the deaths documented in the area he’s talking about, Naroda Patiya, and see if the nature of the deaths that occurred there corroborate with what he says he did.
I sat through some more. “bahut mazaa aaya” – “I enjoyed it a lot” the guy says when talking about killing the Musalmaans. “Narendrabhai got me out of jail. the first judge said he should be hanged. we waited a bit. the second judge came in. he also said I should be hanged. we still waited. then narendrabhai set it up. he felt enough time had passed. the third judge, a guy called akshar mehta came in. he got me off. cleared out the jails” in reference to his imprisonment and his subsequent release. “it’s in my FIR. There was this pregnant woman. I ripped her open”, makes a slashing gesture with his arm, “and pulled it out” talking about the foetus.
I meant Gujarati Hindu families.
unfortunately if you believe (as this mass murderer does) that “we are at war” (of survival), against another group (defined qua group), you are likely to suppress any humanity that you may have. one is then unlikely to see individuals (similar to themselves), only groups that need to be fought and exterminated. this scares the crap out of me. this is also the mentality behind ethnic clensings and genocides. thankfully (and hopefully) there are more people in india who are not so far gone (as this specimen of inhumanity). also fortunately i know of plenty of civil society groups that regularly fight this madness.
Amardeep – thanks for your response. I’m searching Google for a few related keywords now.
I have just spent 15 minutes going through the work Tehelka has done and it is remarkable. Everyone with a conscience should read every single word of it, as I will when I get the time to sit down and read properly. It will be very painful reading for all Indians though, I warn you. And multiply what is catalogued here for every other similar bloobath unleashed by Indian politicians on innocent people in the last 25 years. And remember, not one single person responsible for these genocides has ever been brought to justice for their crimes.
Oh, I see !! It is the Gujarati Hindus who are beastly and evil.
India Shining.
OK, then. My bad. Let me be explicit. Any Gujarati Hindu family that condones what was done in Gujarat and does not feel repulsed by it.
Let’s not turn this into Gujarati bashing. It so happens that this occurred in Gujarat…but the sentiments are there under the surface throughout many regions of India. I don’t know if the signs were there in Gujarat before Godhra that something like that might happen…but I think it could happen in other areas of India too if circumstances dictate.
Modi has a lot of blood on his hands…he’s also developing that state economically like nobody’s business. It will probably surpass Punjab in terms of per capita income in a decade or two, to become the richest state.
Pravin, please keep it civil. That means no cursing (or at least less cursing!), don’t single out whole groups, and don’t engage in name-calling. I deleted a comment that crossed the line.
BTW, SM did cover the controversy over Modi’s visa denial. Do a search for Narendra Modi on the sidebar…
At least America has the integrity to ban the great leader from entering their territory. Modi was welcomed in London by thousands and thousands of British Gujaratis who garlanded him as their hero. The article I just linked to mentions that there was no Pinochet style arrest for him. I personally know that human rights activists are working on preparing cases for individuals involved in 1984 and Gujarat so that should these individuals ever enter the UK they may get a Pinochet style shock as they mingle in their soirees and during their shopping trips.
I’m not trying to praise Modi…he’s a murderer on a huge scale…just factually describing that he’s been good for business, and he’s popular…voting him out may not be easy.
Thanks for sharing..I’ve lost my appetite today Amardeep! Nothing new and stuff like this was known all along. So long as this tit-for-tat attitude continues, India will remain a shining example for the world!
Amardeep, I apologize. I got some unresolved anger over that incident where I heard this guy talk crap. There have been many riots in the country. But the Gujarati thing really struck a nerve in me after the Sikhs massacred in 1984. What really struck me about this is how many Gujarati Hindus in the U.S. don’t seem to be outraged. The fact that they can openly support Modi and his government after all this is mind boggling. That makes me generalise even if not all of them are bad. If something like this happened in my community, I would be embarassed as hell that it happened.
look i’m glad that that mass murderer modi did not get to enter this country; but lets not kid ourselves. this was not die to any “integrity” on the part of “america”. far worse war criminals and others who have committed crimes against humanity live here (and some may argue run this country). have you heard about people such as emmanuel constant, etc. (to keep to the most uncontroversial)? also another one (kissinger) is pretty successful, i hear (listen to the nixon tapes about his orders in vietnam and cambodia).
typo, i meant “due to”
Amardeep, I apologize. I got some unresolved anger over that incident where I heard this guy talk crap. There have been many riots in the country. But the Gujarati thing really struck a nerve in me after the Sikhs massacred in 1984. What really struck me about this is how many Gujarati Hindus in the U.S. don’t seem to be outraged. The fact that they can openly support Modi and his government after all this is mind boggling. That makes me generalise even if not all of them are bad. If something like this happened in my community, I would be embarassed as hell that it happened.
Fair enough. I’ve also encountered a fair number of folks in the U.S. (not just Gujaratis) who downplay the violence in 2002, saying it was “understandable.” It’s easy to do that when you’re at a distance.
sigh!
OK, fine, but at least America took a stance on this one issue. Credit where it’s due.
Sigh. It is true the U.S. is not consistent in who they admit into the country. But when you(not you personally) are a criminal visitor(and i do not mean that legally), you are not entitled to equal treatment. Consider yourself lucky if you get in. But someone’s luck doesnt translate to your right.
TO ALL THE MODI HATERS READ THIS
http://www.geocities.com/hsitah9/facts_speak_for_themselves.htm
pravin and suzy, i agree with both of you (in fact i personally singed petitions, among doing other things, opposing modi’s entrance). i just wanted to point out that one should not rely on government standards on these things.
Spent some time on Google searching for more that this Bajrangi has done. Among other things, I found this Frontline article. He apparently also runs a “bride retrieval service” to “rescue” Patel girls who marry outside their community. Free beatings included for the groom.
And the problem seems deeper than just him, judging by this article which managed to analyze the phone records of various cops & politicians.
“the goodwill of the majority is best safeguard of the minority.” – Sardar Vallabhai Patel — I doubt that the reactions to Godhra, generated any goodwill (the victims were blamed because they were Hindus returning from a pilgrimage in Ayodhya).
Hemant, read this.
I googled articles on this COUNCIL FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS AND HUMAN RIGHTS and i couldn’t get a real objective background. And it spends more time blaming who is responsible for the train. Most of us do not oppose going after any muslim troublemakers hard if there were any. Hell, I would be not lose any sleep over vigilante violence over them. In fact, I was telling my relatives that the Indian government should have quietly injected a slow poison or HIV strain into Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh when they traded him for the Indian Airlines hostages in Afghanistan. So I am not exactly a super pacifist.
The link I read casts some doubts on the objectivity of this council. You mean, they couldn’t get a single muslim or Christian to be on it?
“bride retrieval service”
Who made him the saviour??!!
sounds like a nutjob to me….
The press and lefties not allowing any of the people on the train to be victims only harden the view of conservative Hindus. These are people who were at the receiving ends of riots in the sixties and seventies where the Congress led vote-bank dependent government did not help them and only saw order when outside police forces from outside of the state helped them. Every additional person that says Godhra was an accident or done by the Hindus themselves as vote banker laloo yadav would lead you to believe, only hardens the views of the majority community which has historically felt victimized.
Does this makes the riots right? NO
But until people get the idea that being a religious Hindu = being a Hindu fascist out of their head, an idea that is pushed about by SA journalists and journalists of SA descent rather than non-desi journalists who report on the region more equitably, Modi, or the Hindu right will remain in power in Gujarat. Always. He is good economically and in the absence of a ruler who is not at the whims of a vote-bank, Gujarati Hindus will vote for someone who they believe will watch out for them.
Here’s the transcript of the Babu Bajrangi video…shocking to read….even more than listening to him… http://www.tehelka.com/story_main35.asp?filename=Ne031107After_killing.asp
Hemant, your facts are currently unavailable. Care to enlighten us?
29,
Just get some perspective for God sake. America has caused a masacre of more than half a million Iraqis and has caused 25% of the population to abandon their homeland and brought untold misery to those unfotunate who remain there. Yet this government was voted into power again. So from the same logic are all americans evil?? It is your tax dollars that is continuing the carnage there, yet in the burst of holier than thou emotion you didnt move out of the country, did you?? Do you have the courage to call Bush the same ??? and did you beat up some Americans who defended the Iraq war??? Heck, for all we know you might be voting these people in power.
It is easy to judge. My last comment on this subject BTW.
It is one thing to not condemn the riots, but to actually hail Modi and his cohorts as heroes? And all this bragging about how much money he is bringing in. Yet the state is so unsophisticated they could not find the real killers of the Hindus on the train right away. I do not like the Congress party. In fact, I do not support some of the pandering they do. If Hindus want to fight back, they should be demanding justice for the victims of the train instead of creating their own victims. It’s not like the BJP types are powerless. They are in control of the state. Mob violence is the last resort of the powerless. What excuse do the MOdis have? They are in charge. Did any of the Gujarati Hindus who wanted to bring Modi here at least administer tough love and say something along the lines of “Modi, you are great for us, but we will not be sending you US dollars until you clear the mess you oversaw? Or you should improve your police department with the money we are bringing in.” I doubt they would have offered any constructive criticism.
The press never said the train passengers deserved it. Besides, by the time all was said and done, the riots carnage was dwarfed by the damage in the riots. So you thikn the press is going to give equal time to the passengers? Did most of these Modi supporters immedeiately try to put their efforts in helping the passenger families or find the culprits instead of hunting down unrelated muslims?
RC, first I will never vote for the Iraqi war proponents. Also if India ever decides to bar Kissinger or Cheney from their country, they will have my support. Any other questions?
Amrita, thanks. I was finding other snippets of transcripts from Bajrangi, but not the section that’s featured in the video above. The Tehelka website is hard to navigate!
Sad.
Amitabh, your point would have been valid but for one tiny detail. Gujarat reelected Modi after all this, that means they fully supported what happened (at least a majority) or else did not care enough about something as horrendous as this to not vote for him. Of course, bashing every Gujarati for what happened irrespective of his or her involvement is wrong but what happened In Gujarat is utterly shameful and a big chunk of people in that state were a part of it.
I dont think there is any non-corrupt politician like Narendra Modi in india also proud to be hindu. All this secular bs has been fed by Congress Inc for 60 years which was nothing but vote bank politics.