 "For close to a decade, as chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi exhibited a persecution complex")
GUJARAT FILES: ANATOMY OF A COVER UP
Author: Rana Ayyub
Publisher: Self-Published
Price: Rs 295
Pages: 204
Most newspapers and periodicals do not review self-published books as a matter of policy. That this rule has been waived for this one suggests two points: First, it underscores the obvious importance of the book and its subject. Second, the decision invalidates charges that the book is being ignored by the mainstream media out of fear of facing the ruling establishment’s wrath.
For close to a decade, as the chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi exhibited a persecution complex, constantly levelling charges that civil society and the mainstream English media were out to get him. During the parliamentary campaign, when this accusation against detractors occupied permanence in his speeches, it became evident that its use was a conscious ploy to maximise support in his core constituency. When writers, analysts and journalists make criticising Modi their USP, they fall prey, like him, to seeing a conspiracy where probably none exists. It also then becomes a similar “marketing” device. I use the word “marketing” not in a commercial sense but in general terms, to suggest that such positioning is aimed at securing pride of space at the opposite end of the political spectrum.
Before the release of this book, various reports appeared suggesting that it was self-published because mainstream publishers refused to touch it. On the face of it, this sounded genuine in an environment in which the regime has used strong-arm tactics to frown on, troll and even block critical voices. But it is not that disapproving voices have been completely blocked — either in the media or publishing industries. This view gets strengthened by the fact that several books critical of the Sangh Parivar and its worldview have appeared and continue to do so. The gulag of the mind may be an objective but is not yet reality. Conversations with significant people in publishing showed that the book was not turned down by anyone; rather, it was never offered after completion. One publisher even disclosed that a contract was sent to the author but that was the last he heard about the book and the author till reports of its publication and launch appeared.
Author: Rana Ayyub
Publisher: Self-Published
Price: Rs 295
Pages: 204
Most newspapers and periodicals do not review self-published books as a matter of policy. That this rule has been waived for this one suggests two points: First, it underscores the obvious importance of the book and its subject. Second, the decision invalidates charges that the book is being ignored by the mainstream media out of fear of facing the ruling establishment’s wrath.
For close to a decade, as the chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi exhibited a persecution complex, constantly levelling charges that civil society and the mainstream English media were out to get him. During the parliamentary campaign, when this accusation against detractors occupied permanence in his speeches, it became evident that its use was a conscious ploy to maximise support in his core constituency. When writers, analysts and journalists make criticising Modi their USP, they fall prey, like him, to seeing a conspiracy where probably none exists. It also then becomes a similar “marketing” device. I use the word “marketing” not in a commercial sense but in general terms, to suggest that such positioning is aimed at securing pride of space at the opposite end of the political spectrum.
Before the release of this book, various reports appeared suggesting that it was self-published because mainstream publishers refused to touch it. On the face of it, this sounded genuine in an environment in which the regime has used strong-arm tactics to frown on, troll and even block critical voices. But it is not that disapproving voices have been completely blocked — either in the media or publishing industries. This view gets strengthened by the fact that several books critical of the Sangh Parivar and its worldview have appeared and continue to do so. The gulag of the mind may be an objective but is not yet reality. Conversations with significant people in publishing showed that the book was not turned down by anyone; rather, it was never offered after completion. One publisher even disclosed that a contract was sent to the author but that was the last he heard about the book and the author till reports of its publication and launch appeared.
For close to a decade, as chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi exhibited a persecution complex
Despite this, the book is an important document — not as much for being a complete and rounded analysis or story but for providing important nuggets of information that enable further detailing of the Modi persona and the nature of the regime he ran in Gujarat. The book provides significant insights through disclosures made by retired and serving police officials in which they present their perspective on events in Gujarat during the 2002 riots and subsequent contentious developments: the repeated police encounters. These sting interviews, conducted by wearing a camera and microphone stitched into the author’s clothes, present a ringside perspective not just of events but also personalities — Modi, Amit Shah, Gordan Zadaphia and, of course, Maya Kodnani.
This book is not rich in analysis, though in its defence it must be said that it does not seek to be of such orientation. The focus is on a series of stings that the author conducted several years ago. The interviews were conducted when she was working for Tehelka and the then editors had approved the operation. The book probably suffers the same problem as the stories that were filed after the stings were conducted —lack of a narrative to string together the assortment of interviews. Without having seen the original story — which was not published — one can assume what Tehelka’s editors may have felt: that these are random pickings and lack coherence. The author accuses Tehelka of spiking the story because of fear of Modi, a charge refuted by Tarun Tejpal and Shoma Chaudhury in separate statements. If one has to pronounce judgement on the matter, it appears that reasons offered by the Tehelka editors have a ring of truth to them.
This book is completely based on findings of Maithili Tyagi — the pseudonym-cum-identity that the author assumed for the entire period she lived incognito in Gujarat. Because she shed that identity several years ago, there is no addition to what was judged incomplete by editors of the time. Self-publishing has its pitfalls, not the least the lack of an unsparing editor who forces writers to revisit manuscripts. Often, conversations with current and former officers meander into details that do not help provide either conclusive evidence to establish culpability of the political leadership or make any fresh disclosure.
Several interviews repeat the same information — that Modi personally took the decision to allow the bodies from the Godhra riots to be brought to Ahmedabad and then to the homes of the victims. Most interviewees also claim that the Vishwa Hindu Parishad bandh was allowed to go ahead with disastrous consequences. The interviews also endorse what is known about the political equations — Amit Shah was closest to Modi and that Zadaphia and Haren Pandya fell out with him. The latter’s assassination is described by Mumbai encounter specialist Daya Nayak as the “biggest political murder”.
Because the author is unable to construct a narrative to link different interviews, her account of how she went undercover, assumed the identity she did and the people who knew that the film maker with a phoren accent was a masquerade , become the story.
Going undercover and interviewing many who had been in the thick of gruesome extra-constitutional operations required bravado and this must be appreciated. By chronicling this journalistic escapade, the author has cocked a snook at the fabled intelligence network of Gujarat post-2002 and established its vulnerabilities beneath the brazen armoury. One can visualise how the “stung” people would have reacted once they read that the girl whom they trusted turned out to be a disguise. That this list included not just retired and serving officials but also the man at the top reveals the weakness of a megalomaniacal regime that falls prey to promise of space in a film or documentary. Besides what interviews reveal — several insights known for some years; for instance, Modi did not believe in written orders — the book is important because it provides further details regarding 2002 and events thereafter. That none of these will establish legal culpability is a different matter.
The reviewer is author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times (Tranquebar, 2013)
