In its original avatar as the Jana Sangh, the party had won
just three seats and 3.1 per cent of the vote in the1952 elections. Now it had
won 282 seats and 31 per cent of the national vote – astonishing figures when
you consider that the BJP’s catchment area of winnable seats was less than 350
eats.
The BJP, bolstered by unflinching corporate support, easily
outspent its rivals, but the more worrisome aspect is just the quantum of money
that is now needed by every member of Parliament to win an election. Because,
with every rupee donated, the IOUs need to be encashed post-election.
A candidate in Andhra Pradesh admitted to me that he needed
‘at least Rs 15 to 20 crore to just stay in the fight.’ …….
….1990 rath yatra ….Advani was the mascot, but the real
stars were the Hindutva demagogues Sadhvi Rithambara and Uma Bharati. I shall
never forget their speeches during the yatra, seeking Hindu mobilization and
loaded with hate and invective against the minorities.
In early conversations, I never heard Modi speak of his
caste background or his years in Vadnagar. He did speak, though, of his RSS
mentors with great fondness. ‘Lakshman Inamdar… is a Maharashtrian like you, he
guided me always….’
My verdict is that the Modi government was utterly
incompetent because it was aware that the Godhra violence could set of a cycle
of vengeance and yet did not do enough to stop it. In the places from where I reported
in Ahmedabad, I just did not see enough of a police presence to act as a
deterrent to the rioters. The violence only really began to ebb once the army
stepped in….
What is probably true is that in February 2002, the real
boss of Gujarat was not Modi but the VHP general secretary Praveen Togadia. If
there was a ringmaster for the 2002 riots it was Togadia ….several ministers
were beholden to him, and the street cadres were his loyalists. At the time,
maybe even Modi feared him.
…..On the streets, the VHP’s foot soldiers were most visible
and led the attacks against the minorities. In the Naroda Patiya massacre in
Ahmedabad in which ninety-seven people were killed, the list of those arrested
(and later convicted) included a roll call of prominent VHP members of the area
…..
In a television interview after his surprise defeat in the
2004 general elections, Vajpayee admitted that not removing Modi at the time
was a mistake.
….Modi used the Gaurav Yatra …. In every speech, he would
refer to ‘Miyan’ Musharraf …..the message was really aimed at local Muslim
groups…
The distinctly communal edge to the Gaurav Yatra surfaced in
its most vitriolic form during a rally in Becharji on 9 September. This is
where Modi referred to the riot relief camps as ‘baby-producing centres’ with
him infamous one-liner, ‘Hum paanch,
hamare pachhees’ …..The tone of Modi’s speeches was set by the fragility of
communal relations and the climate of fear and hate that had been sparked off
by the violence.
That verdict was delivered on 13 December 2002…. The BJP won
an impressive 126 seats …That evening at the BJP headquarters, Modi agreed to
do a ‘live’ interview with me. The mood amongst the cadres was not just jubilant
but vengeful too. ….Surrounded by his supporters, Modi was an intimidating
sight – steely eyes, a finger pointing at the camera, the face impassive. It
was one of the most difficult interviews I have ever done.
Yes, Gujarat has also seen more successful prosecution, but
many of these were achieved only because of the tireless work done by a Supreme
Court-supervised Special Investigating Team (SIT) and indomitable activists
like Setalvad, and not because of the Gujarat police. Honest police officers
who testified against the government were hounded. Lawyers who appeared for the
victims, like the late Mukul Sinha, were ostracized.
When Modi was re-elected Gujarat chief minister in 2002, he
gave [Amit] Shah multiple portfolios, including the crucial home portfolio. The
home ministry was critical because it gave Modi control over the police. In the
backdrop of the riots and charges of conspiracy being made against the chief
minister’s office, Modi needed someone in the home ministry who would be
totally faithful to him, Modi trusted very few individuals – Shah was the one
politician he felt a certain comfort factor with…..
It was during his tenure as home minister of Gujarat that [Amit]
Shah courted controversy. Between 2003 and 2007, there were a series of
encounter killings in Gujarat in which several young Muslims were killed. Shah claimed
they were ‘terrorists’, some of whom wanted to kill the chief minister… Human
rights activists argued that many of the encounters were ‘fake’….
In 2010, Shah was arrested by the CBI and accused of killing
a criminal, Sohrabuddin Sheikh, his wife Kauser Bi and their associate Tulsiram
Prajapati, in a staged encounter….Shah got bail three months after his arrest
but was told he would have to leave Gujarat for fear that he would influence
the investigation….
….did the political parties of UP, especially the BJP, stoke
the communal fires to derive political beneit? That BJP leaders were present at
a ‘maha’ panchayat where a call was made to avenge the killings and to demand
justice for Jat bahu-betis is
undeniable. That one of them, an MLA called Sangeet Som, put out a false video
on Facebook showing an alleged lynching of Hindu boys is also true. At a Modi
rally in Agra in November, the BJP leadership even felicitated its MLAs who had
been charged with inciting violence. Two of its leaders named in the riot FIRs
were given tickets, and one of them, Sanjeev Balyan, would eventually become a
Union Minister.
….it is a fact that local Muslim leaders from the Congress,
SP and BSP…were caught on tape delivering inflammatory speeches. …..the
collective bankruptcy of a political class that was seeking votes over dead
bodies.
Anna decided to go on another fast, this time calling for an
FIR to be registered against fifteen UPA ministers. On day nine of the fast, he
made a public appeal to Kejriwal to form a political party. Kejriwal, who had realized
that the politics of fasts and dharnas was subject to diminishing returns, was
excited at the prospect. Two days later, Anna backed out of the proposal,
leading to complete confusion in the ranks. ‘We had made all the plans and then
Anna ditched us,’ is how one Kejriwal aide described it.
….Gautambhai [Adani] had struck friendships with politicians
from different parties. He kept a steady equation with Congress leaders in Gujarat
and beyond ….Perhaps his closest friend in politics was NCP leader and UPA
minister, Sharad Pawar. …The two would often dine at each other’s houses….
Generally, parties like the Congress and the BJP have a ‘graded’
system – ‘winnable’ candidates are provided a sum of around Rs 2 crore from the
party funds, while the next category gets Rs 1 crore. The balance amount is
expected to be raised by the candidates, with Rs 5 to 10 crore being the
average cost for fighting an election (in states like Andhra and Maharashtra,
it can go up to rs 15 and 20 crore, but it is less in north and east India;
while urban seats are more expensive than rural ones).
Only a few business houses have set up official electoral
trusts to give money by cheque. Most of the election money is generated through
cash-rich businesses like real estate, liquor, stockbroking and mining.
At a rate of around Rs 8 to 10 crore per ‘winnable’
constituency plus other campaign expenses, the BJP had raised anywhere between
Rs 4000 to 5000 crore – at least that’s my hunch…. The Congress was probably a
few thousand crores behind in the race this time.
….NDTV is seen as occupying a politically left-liberal space….
Some of the most abusive Twitter activists
seemed to be linked to either pro-BJP websites or even individual party members…..The
campaign was much too organized for it not to have at least some level of
endorsement from the leadership. The ‘HDL’, or Hindu Defence League, on Twitter
was like a swarm of bees that would sting anyone who questioned their political
beliefs. This wasnt healthy debate – it was vile abuse being spewed under the c
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