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00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
00:04, [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
00:31 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
00:38 My name is Alishan Jafri.
00:40 I am a journalist reporting on hate crimes and the rise
00:45 of extreme politics.
00:46 India is a state where calls for genocide against Muslims
00:55 are on the rise.
00:57 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
01:12 There is a very direct call to violence
01:15 to make India a Hindu nation.
01:19 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
01:28 The prime minister of this country
01:30 should have spoken against it, but he does not speak up.
01:36 [DRUM BEATING]
01:37 [CHANTING]
01:45 The man of the moment, prime minister of India.
01:50 He is the leader of the world's biggest democracy.
01:54 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
01:59 He came to power promising a new age of prosperity.
02:04 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
02:11 But his rule has been marred by religious turmoil.
02:14 There have been violent protests in opposition
02:17 to a new citizenship law, which many
02:18 see as discriminating against the nation's Muslim minority.
02:21 Many in India see this law as anti-Muslim.
02:25 Massive pelting, massive pelting as of now is going on.
02:30 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
02:34 This series tells the story of Narendra Modi's troubled
02:38 relationship with India's Muslims.
02:41 As a young child, Mr. Modi joined an organization
02:45 which believes that this is a country of the Hindus.
02:49 Could he have done more to prevent violence that
02:52 killed hundreds of Muslims?
02:55 We were hearing that those orders to let all this happen
02:59 were coming from the top.
03:01 It is obviously a stain on his reputation
03:03 as the way out of that.
03:05 I am not agree with your analysis.
03:07 I'm not agree with your information.
03:08 From where you have picked up this type of garbage,
03:10 I do not know.
03:13 He was cleared of criminal conspiracy, a finding upheld
03:17 by India's highest court.
03:20 Agenda was to destroy Narendra Modi politically.
03:24 The agenda was explicitly political.
03:26 But concerns will not go away.
03:29 Questions remained over Mr. Modi's head for a long time,
03:32 and they remain over him now.
03:34 Narendra Modi has promised to build a new India.
03:38 But what does that mean for the millions of people who belong
03:42 to its largest minority?
03:44 This regime wants to disenfranchise the Muslims
03:48 and make India a Hindu nation.
03:52 [CHANTING]
03:55 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:59 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:02 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:06 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:22 My name is Imran Dawood.
04:31 I live in Yorkshire.
04:33 My grandparents are from India, so is my father.
04:38 It was very exciting hearing the stories from family members
04:42 of what India was about.
04:43 So it was a great opportunity to do a trip at the age of 18.
04:47 With me was my two uncles, Sakeel and Saeed Dawood,
04:52 and my next door neighbor, Mohammad, as well.
04:55 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:58 We were on our way back from the Taj Mahal.
05:10 It was a long journey.
05:12 When we actually entered the state,
05:14 I remember the driver saying literally, we're home now,
05:17 boys, we're home.
05:20 And then we get to a roadblock.
05:23 There's cars being stopped by people chanting Hindu chants.
05:29 They were like vetting them.
05:32 It was very common for people to decorate their cars' windscreens
05:36 with Arabic literature.
05:38 So straight away, they'd say the owner is a Muslim.
05:42 The car in front gets through, and then it's our turn.
05:47 The mob surrounded us, waving their weapons.
05:51 Suddenly, we have an attack.
05:55 We're just literally getting out of the car
05:56 and running for our lives.
06:00 The first person that their mob attacked and tortured
06:06 was the driver.
06:09 Then I see Mohammad Aswad getting blows to his head.
06:14 One of the people in the mob, and having a knife in his hand,
06:18 saying to us, pull your pants down.
06:20 We want to see if you've been circumcised.
06:24 And literally feeling--
06:26 feeling-- feeling, am I going to live?
06:36 I got stabbed.
06:43 And then police vehicle pulls up.
06:46 And then as I get in, I remember Mohammad unconscious.
06:52 And this is before me blacking out.
06:59 This is the last thing I see.
07:01 I do not know what happened to my uncles.
07:08 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:11 It is fresh in my mind like it happened yesterday.
07:27 But suddenly, 20 years on, and the things happen.
07:32 There's evidence out there of what has happened.
07:37 And clearly, these people are walking free.
07:39 It feels like there's no justice there.
07:42 57 people have died after a train carrying Hindu activists
07:55 was set alight by a group of Muslims.
07:57 Train was carrying thousands of Hindus who'd visited--
08:00 The wreckage is horrific, or the worst,
08:03 for being man-made and deliberate.
08:05 One of the worst acts of religious hatred
08:07 India's ever seen.
08:09 In some areas, the grief and anger here
08:12 have already erupted into violence.
08:14 That's alarming news in a state where racial hatred
08:18 is deeply ingrained.
08:20 Jill McGiver in BBC News, Godhra, Gujarat.
08:24 People were saying there'd been a group of people inside.
08:26 They were Hindu pilgrims, including women and children.
08:29 Somebody had either locked them in or kept them inside,
08:33 poured petrol in, and set fire to them.
08:35 And a lot of people had died.
08:37 It was horrific.
08:56 People were outraged.
08:58 The perception all over Gujarat, and in fact, all over India,
09:03 was that these Hindu pilgrims had been targeted
09:08 by the Muslim community.
09:11 The final death toll was 59.
09:15 The cause of the fire was disputed.
09:18 But at the time, Muslims were blamed.
09:22 This is in a state which has a particular history of tensions
09:27 between the Hindu majority and the Muslim minority community.
09:30 There have been a history of communal riots
09:32 and of very nasty violence between the communities.
09:34 And the concern was, something like this happens,
09:37 members of the Hindu community feel angered
09:40 that their people have been targeted.
09:41 There might be a big reaction to that.
09:45 The chief minister of Gujarat was Narendra Modi.
09:50 He was seen as a rising star, quite visionary,
09:52 the man who got things done.
09:55 Somebody who was very pro-Hindu, a very powerful,
09:59 influential figure.
10:02 Yesterday, 58 people were killed in Godhra,
10:06 in the railway station,
10:08 together with Narendra Modi.
10:14 We can never forgive such a thing.
10:17 We can never do good to the society.
10:20 I can understand your feelings, but I pray to God,
10:24 that today is a time of peace.
10:26 There is no need for restraint.
10:31 I got a call from a foreign diplomat.
10:34 She was a diplomat of one of the foreign Western nations.
10:37 So she asked me, "Have you heard what had happened in Godhra?
10:40 Do you think that this is going to escalate?"
10:42 I just used one word.
10:44 I said, "Hugely."
10:45 My producer started to get information
10:54 that something was happening nearby in Ahmedabad.
11:00 It was clear from our arrival that something
11:03 was very, very wrong.
11:06 As we were driving in, we were seeing plumes of thick black
11:09 smoke ahead of us in the centre of town.
11:12 There were no emergency services there.
11:14 There were no police.
11:16 My memories then are going into the centre of Ahmedabad.
11:19 There's a quite well-known square.
11:21 There's a big area.
11:22 There's an arch.
11:23 And it was mostly on fire.
11:26 [MUSIC PLAYING]
11:29 I remember a man who was a Hindu with his hands to his face,
11:42 watching his business.
11:43 It was a travel agent's, burning.
11:45 There were also other people informing me sometimes
11:51 that the areas that were being targeted belonged to Muslims.
11:56 This is exactly what the authorities
11:58 hoped would never happen.
11:59 The streets have become a battleground.
12:01 The grief and anger at yesterday's murders
12:04 has boiled over into violence, looting, and religious hatred.
12:08 There was this sense of absolute lawlessness.
12:13 It was a free-for-all.
12:16 I remember seeing the police here and there,
12:20 very, very disengaged.
12:23 I didn't see anybody, from what I remember,
12:26 trying to stop the setting fire to things and the looting.
12:30 [MUSIC PLAYING]
12:33 On the worst day of the violence,
12:38 when murder and looting were taking place
12:40 all across the city, we saw policemen just standing by,
12:44 watching what was happening, but doing
12:46 nothing to try to stop it.
12:49 One of my colleagues in the team was
12:51 having quite regular phone calls with a contact of his.
12:56 It was someone I understand who was high up in the police force.
12:59 And they were giving information to my colleague
13:01 that they'd been told, let it happen.
13:04 There will be a reaction to what happened in Ghotra.
13:07 Let it happen.
13:08 And we were hearing that those orders to let all this happen
13:12 were coming from the top.
13:14 [MUSIC PLAYING]
13:18 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
13:23 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
13:48 Did Mr. Modi do enough to stop the violence?
13:53 I think that that's something he has to answer for.
13:56 Depending on how you look at it, he oversaw mass violence
14:01 or was not able to stop it.
14:03 Questions remained over Mr. Modi's head for a long time.
14:06 And they remain over him now.
14:08 Did the police, under your command,
14:10 do enough to stop the riots?
14:12 Not only enough, but excellent work they have done.
14:15 Excellent work.
14:15 Excellent work they have done.
14:17 Within 72 hours, we were able to control such a violence.
14:21 More than 500 people dead, most of them innocent civilians.
14:24 And you're calling this excellent work?
14:27 I'm not happy what happened.
14:29 But what we have done, I'm happy.
14:33 Everyone we've spoken to have said that the police did
14:35 absolutely nothing.
14:37 This is absolutely false propaganda.
14:39 This is not the truth.
14:41 As questions grew around Mr. Modi's actions,
14:44 tension turned to his past.
14:46 RSS stands for Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh,
15:03 the Association of Indian Volunteers.
15:08 The RSS is a political organization.
15:14 It believes that this is a country of the Hindus.
15:17 The RSS was formed in 1925 to unite Hindu society
15:28 and spread Hindu culture.
15:30 But the Boy Scout image is deceptive.
15:33 Based on principles of discipline, patriotism,
15:35 and unquestioning obedience, the RSS
15:38 seeks to establish the superiority of Hindus
15:40 over all other races in India.
15:43 RSS took shape in the 1920s,
15:46 when in Europe we saw a movement
15:50 that will result in fascism in Italy, Nazism in Germany.
15:54 They liked the idea of the supremacy of the race theory
15:59 which was created by the European fascists,
16:01 and also the idea of creating a common enemy.
16:06 For the RSS, the enemy were the Muslims.
16:10 Today, RSS is not anti-Muslim, but definitely pro-Hindu,
16:15 and they believe in the glorious past of this country,
16:20 and they believe in the idea of national reconstruction.
16:23 The very core cultural values of this country,
16:28 now they are being called Hindu value system.
16:31 People can have any way of worship,
16:33 but if they believe in that value system,
16:35 they are being called Hindu.
16:37 They can have any way of worship,
16:39 but if they believe in that value system,
16:41 they are very much part of India.
16:44 (chanting)
16:46 RSS always recruits children, very young boys,
16:58 because they want to tell them who they are
17:02 when they are still malleable.
17:05 The identity of the youth is very important.
17:08 So Nandra Modi joined when he was very young.
17:11 After school, he would participate in the activities
17:16 of the young wing of the RSS.
17:20 That is how he got attracted.
17:21 Gradually, he has climbed all the ladder
17:26 of all the posts of responsibility,
17:29 and at a very young age, Modi is a product of the RSS.
17:33 What is important is politics, is lifestyle.
17:38 He made a mark for himself,
17:41 and so he was deputed to the Bharatiya Janata Party,
17:45 or the BJP, which is the political affiliated
17:48 organization of the RSS.
18:02 As time progressed,
18:04 stories began to emerge about what had happened
18:07 to some of the victims.
18:10 In this largely Muslim neighborhood,
18:12 more than a hundred people had sought shelter in a house
18:16 to escape a Hindu mob.
18:18 Imtiaz Pathan and his family were among them.
18:23 There was a lot of noise,
18:25 a lot of violence, a lot of violence.
18:27 We also tried to stop them.
18:30 There were two houses, three, four.
18:33 They started burning everything.
18:35 The entire society came here to seek shelter.
18:41 All the women were screaming, there was a lot of noise.
18:45 I was scared.
18:48 What was our fault?
18:52 What was our fault?
18:53 We are Muslims.
18:55 What was our fault?
18:57 We were born in a Muslim family.
19:01 The house belonged to a Muslim former Congress Party MP,
19:06 Ishan Jafri.
19:08 People were screaming,
19:11 "Find Jafri, kill Jafri, where is Jafri?"
19:16 There was an MP who thought
19:19 that there would be some shelter, and the police would come.
19:21 There was a big table here,
19:25 and there were books on it.
19:26 And here was his landline number,
19:28 and his diary.
19:30 He was calling from here.
19:32 All the politicians,
19:36 the Congress leaders,
19:38 all the contacts here,
19:40 the Bajapak leaders,
19:41 the big police officers,
19:44 no help had come.
19:48 He called Narendra Modi.
19:52 I asked him, "What did he say?"
19:58 Jafri was very sad.
20:02 His face was so sad,
20:04 he was like a sad person.
20:06 I said, "Sir, Narendra Modi is calling,
20:09 and he is abusing you."
20:11 Jafri said, "No help is coming."
20:17 I thought it was the end.
20:20 It was over.
20:23 Jafri went to his kitchen,
20:28 and told the rioters,
20:31 "If you are satisfied with killing me,
20:35 then I am coming out.
20:37 You leave these women, children, and them."
20:45 We stopped Jafri a lot,
20:47 saying, "Don't go."
20:49 But Jafri didn't listen.
20:51 We beheaded him.
20:56 We separated him from everyone.
20:59 A judge later ruled that Mr. Jafri had
21:04 provoked the mob by firing his gun at it.
21:08 Imtiaz survived by hiding upstairs.
21:11 The violence only stopped
21:14 when the police eventually arrived.
21:17 They killed 69 people.
21:20 My mother and my grandfather were killed.
21:28 Ten members of my family were killed.
21:34 I believe that Narendra Modi is responsible for this.
21:40 If Narendra Modi wanted to,
21:44 there would have been no riots.
21:47 When a senior police officer arrived at the house that evening,
21:56 the victims' corpses were still smouldering.
22:00 There are allegations that police
22:06 could have done more in Ahmedabad today.
22:08 There is always scope for improvement, I concede.
22:11 There is always scope for improvement.
22:14 I'm sure we could have done better,
22:17 but I think I would take it as my inadequacy,
22:21 if that is to be said.
22:23 The killings would trigger a long legal battle
22:28 that made serious allegations about the police response
22:32 and Mr. Modi's role in the violence.
22:37 In 2009, Imtiaz gave evidence in court
22:41 about the alleged phone call between Mr. Modi and Mr. Jafri.
22:46 Mr. Modi denied receiving the call
22:49 and an inquiry said there was no evidence it was made.
22:53 Imtiaz later stood for election against Mr. Modi's political party.
23:00 In Britain, the government was alarmed by what had happened in Gujarat.
23:05 I was very worried about it.
23:08 I was taking a great deal of personal interest
23:11 because India is a really important country with whom we have relations.
23:15 We had to handle it very carefully.
23:18 What we did was to establish an inquiry
23:21 and to try and find out what was going on.
23:24 We were trying to find out what was going on
23:27 and what we did was to establish an inquiry
23:30 and have a team go to Gujarat and find out for themselves what had happened.
23:34 And they produced a very thorough report.
23:38 The report, sent as a diplomatic cable and marked "Restricted",
23:43 has never been published before.
23:45 Extent of violence much greater than reported.
23:50 Widespread and systematic rape of Muslim women.
23:55 Violence politically motivated.
23:58 Aim was to purge Muslims from Hindu areas.
24:02 Their systematic campaign of violence has all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing.
24:09 This former senior diplomat was one of the investigators.
24:15 He's speaking publicly for the first time about what the British inquiry found.
24:21 He's asked to remain anonymous.
24:25 At least 2,000 people were murdered during the violence.
24:28 The vast majority were Muslim.
24:30 We described it as a pogrom,
24:33 a deliberate and politically driven effort targeted at the Muslim community.
24:37 The violence was widely reported to have been organised
24:40 by an extremist Hindu nationalist group, the VHP,
24:44 who have a relationship with the RSS.
24:49 The VHP and its allies could not have inflicted so much damage
24:54 without the climate of impunity created by the state government.
24:58 Narendra Modi is directly responsible.
25:02 The report contained an extraordinary claim.
25:06 Reliable contacts have told us Narendra Modi met senior police officers
25:12 on the 27th of February and ordered them not to intervene in the rioting.
25:18 Police contacts deny this meeting happened.
25:21 There were pretty credible reports.
25:24 He had specifically instructed the police not to intervene.
25:27 The police contact who we talked to consistently denied that.
25:31 So we did have conflicting reports on what his direct role had been.
25:35 But we did feel it was clear there was a culture of impunity
25:39 that created the environment for the violence to take place.
25:42 That undoubtedly came from Modi.
25:47 While Modi remains in power, reconciliation will be impossible.
25:52 It was very shocking.
25:58 These were very serious claims that Chief Minister Modi
26:02 had played a pretty active part in pulling back the police
26:07 and in tacitly encouraging the Hindu extremists.
26:12 That was a particularly egregious example.
26:16 A political involvement really to prevent the police from doing their job
26:23 which was to protect both communities, the Hindu and the Muslims.
26:27 The options open to us were fairly limited.
26:33 We were never going to break diplomatic relations with India.
26:37 But it is obviously a stain on his reputation.
26:40 There's no way out of that.
26:42 Come on, come on, come on.
26:44 Come on, come on.
26:46 The European Union carried out an investigation at around the same time.
26:53 It reportedly found that ministers took active part in the violence
27:00 and senior police officers were instructed not to intervene in the rioting.
27:08 They looked upon this in terms of the suffering which had happened to the Muslim community.
27:14 And if you look at it in that way, you're certainly bound to come to this conclusion
27:19 that it was completely one-sided and that there was nothing done on the part of the administration
27:25 to seriously check this.
27:27 That it was a deliberate, pre-planned, motivated assault on Muslims by mobs
27:34 who were not restrained is, to my mind, an exaggeration.
27:39 It was unstoppable for anyone.
27:43 And as a chief minister, Modi did all the effort.
27:46 And after three days, he was able to stop with the help of police.
27:51 Modi definitely shows contrition.
27:54 He even puts in his resignation to the BJP, but the BJP rejects it.
27:58 It was quite a smart thing to do.
28:02 Because politically, if you offer the resignation at that particular juncture
28:06 and it is turned down, that's the end of your resignation drama.
28:10 My name is Cedric Prakash.
28:28 I'm a Jesuit priest.
28:31 My background has been on human rights, justice and peace.
28:36 In Gujarat, human rights workers set up a citizens' tribunal
28:42 headed by three retired judges to investigate the violence.
28:47 Father Cedric helped them.
28:50 We wanted people from the government, officials, to come and depose before the citizens' tribunal.
28:59 It was not easy. They were frightened.
29:01 Their careers were at stake.
29:03 On a flight to Delhi, I happened to be seated next to a minister of the Gujarat government.
29:14 He belonged to the BJP.
29:16 Harin Pandya was responsible for the home affairs of the state for several years.
29:23 He just very recently relinquished office when Modi took over as chief minister of the state.
29:29 He was telling me, "I know everything what was happening."
29:33 Then I said, "We have the citizens' tribunal. Would you?"
29:37 He said, "Of course I'll be willing."
29:39 He swore us to secrecy.
29:42 We tried to do everything possible in order to protect his identity.
29:47 Because he was a big catch.
29:50 The tribunal was examining Mr. Modi's role, including the directions he had given to the police.
29:56 I think Harin Pandya wanted to explain what had transpired on the 27th of February.
30:04 So he came to my office.
30:06 Mr. Pandya told the tribunal he had attended a late-night meeting with Mr. Modi and senior officials
30:14 and he claimed Mr. Modi said the police should not interfere with the Hindu reaction to what happened at Godhra.
30:22 Mr. Pandya was very clearly blaming Modi for the violence.
30:27 He felt he was responsible and he should be brought to book. That was clear.
30:31 This was the real first indication from within the government that there was actually a problem.
30:41 This was the real first indication from within the government that there was actually a decision taken.
30:46 He is indicating that the Chief Minister of the state was party to a decision
30:53 where the law and order agencies do not do their work, let Muslims be attacked.
30:59 Mr. Pandya wanted to remain anonymous.
31:03 But news about his evidence leaked out and he resigned from Mr. Modi's government.
31:09 Narendra Modi has said he gave categorical and clear-cut instructions
31:14 to maintain peace and communal harmony at any cost.
31:18 So was Harin Pandya lying?
31:21 Frankly, I don't know. I wasn't at the meeting, so I don't know exactly what it is.
31:26 But a Chief Minister of a state cannot give a blank cheque to people to run riot.
31:35 Last year, India's Supreme Court said Mr. Pandya's claim was false.
31:40 Its findings were based on an official inquiry which found Mr. Pandya was not at the meeting.
31:46 The inquiry heard that others who were there disputed his presence.
31:51 And records showed his government mobile was several miles away at the time.
31:56 But some questioned the inquiry's credibility and thoroughness.
32:02 For most politicians, allegations like this would be devastating.
32:07 But in the midst of all the criticism, Narendra Modi did something unexpected.
32:16 He called an election in Gujarat.
32:19 This election is all about one man.
32:26 Narendra Modi. To his supporters, he preaches an extreme form of Hindu nationalism,
32:32 offering hope and security against Muslim extremists.
32:36 We're just after the events of 9/11,
32:39 which in many ways has legitimised actions against Muslims across the globe.
32:43 This, at the very least, emboldens what the BJP are doing in Gujarat.
32:48 Mr. Modi realised that the BJP was not a party to the elections.
32:54 Mr. Modi realised that there was a very strong sentiment of Hindu victimhood.
33:00 And he decided to harness that electorally.
33:04 [Hindi film dialogue]
33:07 [Hindi film dialogue]
33:10 [Hindi film dialogue]
33:13 [Hindi film dialogue]
33:16 [Hindi film dialogue]
33:19 [Hindi film dialogue]
33:21 [Hindi film dialogue]
33:24 [Hindi film dialogue]
33:52 [Applause]
33:54 [Hindi film dialogue]
33:56 The violence against Muslims became part of the messaging that Narendra Modi used in the election campaign.
34:04 It is the violence and how he reacted to it that has constructed the persona of Narendra Modi.
34:11 [Hindi film dialogue]
34:13 [Laughs]
34:18 [Hindi film dialogue]
34:20 Narendra Modi doesn't tend to be very media friendly.
34:24 Do you follow what I say?
34:25 A little bit, yes.
34:26 So for him to agree to do a sit-down interview with us felt like a bit of a scoop.
34:30 [Laughs]
34:32 He struck me as a very charismatic, very powerful, quite menacing figure.
34:39 So you're now coming up to elections.
34:42 This seems to me to be a state in turmoil.
34:44 We're seeing repeated violence. We're seeing people living in fear.
34:48 What has gone wrong with this breakdown in law and order here?
34:51 I think you have to correct your information first.
34:55 The state is very, very peaceful.
34:58 So the Muslims who would say that they are still terrified,
35:02 they are still frightened to go back to their homes,
35:04 they still feel that the people who murdered their relatives have not been brought to justice,
35:08 what would you say to them?
35:10 I do not agree with your analysis.
35:12 I'm not agree with your information.
35:14 This is absolutely misguided information to you.
35:18 From where you have picked up this type of garbage, I do not know.
35:21 Some people have been accusing your government of not doing enough to stop this,
35:26 of not protecting Muslims even now.
35:29 These are also false propaganda made by our opponents.
35:34 And you are also a captive of this false propaganda.
35:38 Can you explain more? Who is perpetuating this false propaganda?
35:42 The information I'm reporting is taken from what I've seen with my own eyes.
35:46 Those who are our opponents.
35:48 And the independent reports that have already been published into what has happened.
35:52 They have no right to talk about the internal matter of any government.
35:56 I'm very, very clear in my mind.
35:58 If they have done, they have done wrong.
36:00 Some would say it is a human right.
36:02 I think it is a human right.
36:04 I'm very clear in my mind. If they have done, they have done wrong.
36:07 Some would say it is a human right.
36:09 Please, please don't try to preach us the human rights.
36:12 We know what the human rights are.
36:14 You Britishers should not preach us the human rights.
36:17 When you look back over the last month,
36:19 you've been the leader of this state through a very difficult period.
36:22 Do you think there's anything that you should have done differently?
36:25 Yes.
36:27 One area where I was very, very weak.
36:31 And that was how to handle the media.
36:33 [Chanting]
36:38 Ecstatic crowds of BJP supporters started to celebrate the election win
36:43 before it was official.
36:45 The architect of victory, Narendra Modi,
36:48 the controversial chief minister of Gujarat.
36:51 The more Mr. Modi was attacked, the stronger he became.
36:57 By simply saying that he was being targeted
37:00 only because he was standing up for the rights of Hindus.
37:03 A new repertoire had taken shape.
37:09 You polarise, you vote.
37:12 And you get the majority supporting you.
37:28 I just entered a taxi.
37:30 And suddenly I got a call from a journalist friend of mine.
37:34 And she said, "Do you know what has happened to Harin Pandya?"
37:39 She told me that he was killed.
37:45 He's found dead in a car under very suspicious circumstances.
37:54 The entry point of the bullet wound is at the groin.
37:58 There is no blood lying there where there should have been blood.
38:02 There is no way from the position he was in
38:05 that he could have been killed sitting in the car.
38:08 Evidence suggests he was killed elsewhere,
38:10 his body put in the car and placed there.
38:13 The death of Harin Pandya is a mystery.
38:20 A well-kept mystery, probably.
38:22 There is, to my knowledge, no serious investigation.
38:26 The murder of Harin Pandya remains one of the big mysteries, even today.
38:31 Mr Pandya was killed in a murder which has really not been answered yet.
38:36 Twelve men were jailed in connection with his murder.
38:40 But this verdict was overturned, the court blaming a botched investigation.
38:45 All accused in the Harin Pandya murder case have been acquitted.
38:49 Harin Pandya was the former Home Minister, you might remember, of Gujarat.
38:53 In 2019, India's Supreme Court upheld the original verdict.
38:58 But even some in Mr Modi's own party
39:01 have doubts about the investigation into Mr Pandya's death.
39:06 I knew him personally.
39:09 I think the killing of Mr Pandya was tragic and suspicious.
39:16 The circumstances explained to me don't make me believe in it.
39:20 I'd like to know who organised it so well.
39:25 It is not some just a stray killer or somebody taking revenge.
39:32 But it is well organised.
39:35 I don't think it has been properly investigated.
39:38 He was killed by terrorists who wanted to kill him
39:43 so that the blame could be apportioned to Narendra Modi.
39:46 The investigation was thorough.
39:48 It went into every stage of the Indian judicial process
39:52 and culminated in a Supreme Court judgement.
39:55 I think we should leave it at that.
39:57 In Yorkshire, the Dawood family were losing faith
40:12 that the police in Gujarat would catch the men
40:15 who killed Saeed, Shaquil and Mohammed.
40:18 There were some serious doubts arising
40:22 in terms of what the Indian police were doing
40:25 because on the one hand they were saying that they were doing everything,
40:28 on the other hand we were seeing no results whatsoever.
40:31 In respect to the investigation,
40:37 we had no confidence in the Indian police.
40:40 It turned out that the police hadn't even done basic investigations.
40:45 They hadn't gone to the scene of the crime.
40:48 Family members went to the crime scene themselves
40:52 and made a terrible discovery.
40:54 They found burnt remains, including bone fragments, bits of teeth.
41:01 It seemed from what everybody was indicating
41:04 that those remains were Saeed and Shaquil's.
41:10 The police seemed to be putting up a wall
41:13 and were completely disinterested in helping us get to the truth.
41:18 Then there was an unexpected development.
41:23 The controversial Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi,
41:26 has arrived in London on a short visit.
41:28 He presides over the state where as many as 2,000 people
41:31 were killed in communal rioting.
41:33 I thought this was a great opportunity for the family
41:36 and for the victims, for him to be arrested here in the UK.
41:40 The idea was that the family would go to court
41:44 and seek to prosecute Narendra Modi.
41:47 We had pages, hundreds of pages, of reports.
41:52 All of them were clear that this was a massacre.
41:58 Most importantly, that there was state collusion.
42:03 And so the chain of command went all the way to the Chief Minister.
42:08 Although the offence took place in India,
42:11 it could be prosecuted in this country.
42:14 An Indian diplomat said when news of the plan leaked, there was panic.
42:23 Mr Modi was reportedly urged to leave Britain on the next plane.
42:28 I argued in front of the judge for Narendra Modi's arrest.
42:33 The judge said, "I can see all the things that you put before me, Mr Khan,
42:37 "but really what I need is the witness statements."
42:40 The evidence that we would need to prosecute it
42:43 would have been somebody somewhere along the chain of command
42:47 saying, "Yes, there was an order not to take any action
42:51 "allowing this to happen."
42:53 Mr Khan says that the evidence that has emerged since then
42:57 even though it is fiercely contested,
43:00 has made him more convinced of the merits of his case.
43:04 Knowing what we now know and the information that we now have,
43:08 if we had had that at that time,
43:10 I'm pretty sure that the summons would have been issued for Modi's arrest.
43:14 We were bitterly disappointed the judge didn't issue the warrant,
43:20 but we understood this was going to be quite a long campaign
43:25 in terms of getting answers and getting justice
43:28 and holding people to account.
43:30 Western governments began to take action against Narendra Modi
43:45 over the Gujarat violence.
43:47 The UK imposed a diplomatic boycott and de facto travel ban.
43:53 There was essentially a travel ban imposed on Modi.
43:57 I would like to have seen much stronger action,
44:00 but I think we probably did end up doing as much as we could.
44:03 In 2005, the US government formally revoked a visa for Mr Modi
44:09 under a law that targets government officials
44:12 responsible for severe violations of religious freedom.
44:16 The US is saying, "This is not acceptable."
44:19 Mr Modi, would you like to speak to the BBC, Mr Modi?
44:23 Barred from entering the United States,
44:26 barred from entering the United Kingdom,
44:28 on the international stage, it makes him somewhat of a pariah.
44:32 [♪♪]
44:35 [♪♪]
44:40 [man speaking Hindi]
44:50 [♪♪]
44:53 In 2007, a reporter went undercover in Gujarat
45:06 to investigate what had happened during the violence.
45:09 Posing as a Hindu extremist,
45:12 he secretly filmed one of the killers boasting about the role he had played.
45:18 Babu Bajrangi was accused of leading a mob
45:21 that killed around a hundred people.
45:24 [man speaking Hindi]
45:28 Mr Bajrangi made an extraordinary claim about Narendra Modi.
45:48 He said that when he was arrested for murder,
45:50 several months after the massacre,
45:52 Mr Modi helped him get bail by changing the judge.
45:57 [man speaking Hindi]
46:00 Mr Bajrangi later claimed he was reading from a script
46:12 given to him by the reporter.
46:14 Though a judge ruled the veracity of the sting was not in dispute.
46:19 In 2012, Mr Bajrangi was jailed for murder.
46:24 And he wasn't the only one who made damaging claims about Mr Modi.
46:29 Harish Bhatt, a local BJP politician,
46:33 said he was at a political meeting addressed by Mr Modi
46:37 shortly after the train burning.
46:39 [man speaking Hindi]
46:43 [man speaking Hindi]
47:11 Mr Bhatt later said he told the reporter an imaginary story.
47:16 Mr Modi has said allegations against him in the recordings
47:20 are false and incorrect.
47:23 You often find that activists at the lower level
47:30 make claims which are, in hindsight, quite preposterous.
47:37 They exaggerate their own importance.
47:41 But pressure was now building
47:43 for a new investigation into the violence.
47:46 By the beginning of 2011,
47:56 Narendra Modi had run Gujarat for nearly a decade.
48:00 Despite the controversies,
48:05 some were now tipping him for an even bigger job.
48:09 India's next prime minister.
48:12 Modi started to think about national politics
48:16 very early on, projecting himself as a national leader.
48:20 [man speaking Hindi]
48:23 It was already clear that he was headed on a course
48:30 which would lead him to the national stage.
48:33 But Mr Modi had a problem.
48:37 [crowd shouting]
48:39 India's Supreme Court had ordered
48:44 a wide-ranging investigation into the Gujarat violence.
48:48 A special investigation team, or SIT,
48:52 was examining the Daud family murders
48:55 and allegations made by Ishan Jafri's widow
48:59 that Mr Modi was part of a criminal conspiracy
49:03 that led to the disorder and killings across the state.
49:07 Modi seems to be unstoppable,
49:11 but the ghosts of the past don't leave him alone.
49:14 Grilled for nine hours on the case in 2010,
49:17 the stain on his image remains.
49:19 The mandate was to look into the possibility
49:23 that there was a criminal conspiracy by the government,
49:26 led by Narendra Modi.
49:28 The criminal conspiracy is a particular term in law
49:31 which requires a very strong standard of evidence.
49:34 For the first time in the history of independent India,
49:36 a sitting chief minister, Narendra Modi,
49:38 has been questioned on the role of his government
49:41 in mass murders in connection with the post-Gudra riots in Gujarat.
49:45 I think Mr Modi definitely was very worried.
49:48 The special investigation team
49:50 was definitely a very serious threat to Mr Modi's political career.
49:54 An important witness was the former head of police intelligence
49:58 in Gujarat, R.B. Srikumar,
50:01 who'd made a string of claims about police and government failures.
50:06 He claimed that on the night of the Gudra train burning,
50:10 Mr Modi instructed officials to allow Hindus to give vent to their anger.
50:16 He claimed Gujarat's police chief had told him this,
50:20 though the chief denied it.
50:22 Without Srikumar, the case against the Narendra Modi government
50:27 would be much weaker,
50:28 simply because there would have been no information from inside the government
50:32 which would tell you what was happening.
50:34 In that sense, he was a central figure in this investigation.
50:37 Another senior police officer, Sanjeev Bhatt, gave evidence.
50:42 The ghost of the Gudra riots back to haunt Narendra Modi.
50:47 This time, it's senior police officer Sanjeev Bhatt
50:50 who alleges that Modi was complicit in the Gudra riots.
50:53 In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court,
50:55 Bhatt says that he was present at the crucial law and order meeting,
50:58 chaired by Modi.
50:59 I know my truth, I've stated my truth,
51:01 and I've said there are notes in an affidavit
51:04 submitted to the highest court of the land.
51:06 When he started opposing before the SIT,
51:09 my father stated that the control room contacted him,
51:13 saying that an unofficial meeting has been called at the chief minister's residence,
51:17 and that his presence was required.
51:20 He said that Narendra Modi ended up saying
51:24 that the emotions were running very high in the Hindus,
51:27 and it was imperative that the Hindus be allowed to vent their anger.
51:32 He said that Narendra Modi had directed the police force
51:37 to step down, look the other way.
51:40 Mr Modi and other officials at the meeting
51:43 said Mr Bhatt did not attend.
51:45 But an independent advisor to the Supreme Court
51:48 said there was enough evidence to consider prosecuting Mr Modi.
51:53 This is a prominent legal person
51:55 who has reached his own conclusions about what is there,
51:58 and I think some of those conclusions needed to be taken note of.
52:02 In major relief for Narendra Modi,
52:07 the Supreme Court-appointed riots panel
52:09 has found no evidence against the Gujarat chief minister.
52:12 The complainant, Zakia Jafri, had accused Modi
52:14 of ordering officials to give rioters a free hand,
52:17 the only complaint that named him.
52:20 After three years, the SIT ruled that Mr Modi would face no charges.
52:27 It said R.B. Srikumar's account was hearsay,
52:31 and Sanjeev Bhatt's account could not be relied on.
52:35 It said claims about the instructions Mr Modi had given
52:39 were not established.
52:41 So what next for Modi?
52:46 Legal experts say he has not got a clean sheet in the riots,
52:50 just that there is no evidence.
52:52 The ruling did not stop the debate over what had happened.
52:58 The special investigation team could not succeed
53:02 for many, many different reasons.
53:04 The investigation team had to rely somewhat on the Gujarat police.
53:09 Much of the investigation on the ground is done by police officers,
53:14 and among the people who stand indicted
53:17 are the Gujarat police force itself.
53:20 The SIT report is really very superficial.
53:25 It doesn't explain how this pogrom could take place.
53:31 So of course it underestimates, I mean,
53:34 it minimizes the role of the top leaders, the chain of command.
53:38 To establish criminal conspiracy in law is often very difficult,
53:43 just because they have arrived at the conclusion
53:46 there was no criminal conspiracy is not the same as saying
53:49 the conduct is above question, that there were not serious lapses.
53:53 That in no way takes away all the important questions
53:57 that still stand on the 2002 violence.
54:00 Yes, there were some people who said they were at a particular meeting
54:04 when others said they were not.
54:06 Agenda was to destroy Narendra Modi politically.
54:09 The agenda was explicitly political.
54:12 I don't think they were concerned about Muslim victims.
54:15 And these included a section of the media,
54:17 these included journalists, these included NGOs.
54:20 I think ultimately at the end of the day,
54:22 the SIT findings didn't implicate Mr. Modi.
54:26 The SIT gave a clean chit to Narendra Modi.
54:31 We have to have faith on our institution,
54:34 and we have to put a full stop on something,
54:36 and we have to move forward.
54:40 The verdict cleared the way for Mr. Modi to run for prime minister.
54:45 The travel bans were lifted.
54:47 Diplomatic relations with the West were restored.
54:52 I don't think that I had any doubt that Mr. Modi
54:56 is going to be the next prime minister.
54:58 Narendra Modi, India's next prime minister,
55:03 riding into Delhi in triumph
55:06 after he won an election landslide
55:09 with his promise that good days are coming for India.
55:12 Sanjeev Bhatt was jailed for life in 2019
55:30 over a death in custody case dating back 30 years.
55:34 His family insists he's innocent,
55:37 and many say his trial was unfair.
55:40 The government will try to do whatever they can
55:44 to ensure that my father's voice is not heard.
55:47 He is the sole surviving witness who can die Narendra Modi
55:53 with the carnage of 2002.
55:55 No one has ever been convicted for the Daud family murders.
56:05 I still feel very angry, very frustrated.
56:09 It feels like there's no justice there.
56:13 Ehsan Jafri's widow challenged the findings of the SIT in court.
56:22 In June 2022, India's Supreme Court upheld the findings,
56:28 saying there was no larger conspiracy.
56:32 It ruled the testimonies of Sanjeev Bhatt and R.B. Srikumar
56:36 were replete with falsehood
56:38 and said those involved in abuse of process
56:41 need to be in the dock.
56:43 Shortly after, Mr. Modi's closest political ally
56:47 spoke out about the case.
56:50 The court has made it clear
56:52 that the government has made a huge effort to stop the riots.
56:56 Mr. Modi has fought this long battle
57:00 with a lot of patience,
57:02 he has fought it with all his heart,
57:05 he has fought it with all his might,
57:08 and today, the truth has come out like the shining sun.
57:12 Mr. Modi has won and come out.
57:15 The police arrested Mr. Srikumar
57:18 and a high-profile human rights worker
57:21 who helped Mrs. Jafri bring the case.
57:24 Sanjeev Bhatt, already in prison,
57:27 was named in the police complaint too.
57:30 All three are accused of fabricating evidence.
57:34 20 years on, the Gujarat violence remains controversial.
57:41 None of the people arrested were sources for our report,
57:45 and the findings of our investigation still stand.
57:48 2,000 people were murdered in Gujarat in 2002
57:53 in a campaign of violence that was clearly well-organized.
57:58 That remains a fact.
58:00 Now Mr. Modi is in power,
58:02 it seems to me that history is being rewritten.
58:07 The Supreme Court gave a judgment
58:11 which actually brought the whole matter to a closure.
58:14 The closure was necessary.
58:17 The Supreme Court gave a judgment
58:19 which actually brought the whole matter to a closure.
58:22 The closure was necessary.
58:25 The End
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58:57 (music fades)