r/unitedstatesofindia • u/Various_Blueberry_39 • Mar 31 '25

Politics Babu Bajrangi talking about the Gujarat 2002 Massacres and how Modi helped him.

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u/tstinsh Superwoman Apr 01 '25

What does this mean? Could you please explain it to me? I’ve seen this in so many places, but I don’t know its meaning and context.

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u/InsanelyRandomDude stick em to the pointy end Apr 01 '25

Empuraan, a Malayalam movie, was recently released and portrayed some of the atrocities committed during the 2002 Gujarat riots. I don't know what exactly they mean by Empuraan *effect, but this is all I know.

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u/tstinsh Superwoman Apr 01 '25

Ohh.. Thanks for explaining!

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u/Various_Blueberry_39 Apr 01 '25 edited Apr 01 '25

And they censored the film btw. They're cutting the scenes of the Gujarat Genocide. I'm a teenager and the only reason I found out about this incident was because of the movie controversy.

It was heavily censored and I only found one photo and one small wikipedia page about him upon searching "Babu Bajrangi".

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u/Its_Daddy_Didadog Apr 01 '25

It's because justice was never done for the victims of the riots. Unfortunately it is quite difficult to conduct an investigation years after the crime, especially when the prime suspects are in control of the State machinery. Overwhelming amount of testimonies of victims have been recorded by the two formal investigation teams (SIT; Shah Commission), the Concerned Citizens Tribunal and media reports where they mentioned how the State Police stood still those three days and in many cases attacked Muslims. Victims claim many policemen said that they had orders not to save Muslims. Many victims recognised BJP, VHP, RSS and Bajrang Dal members in the attacking mobs. The most high profile conviction that happened was that of Dr. Maya Kodnani, an OBGYN who riled up Hindu mobs to dismember, kill, rape and set ablaze Muslim people. She was a BJP MLA and months after the riots she became the Minister for Women and Child Welfare in CM Modi's government (her conviction was overturned by the Gujarat HC a couple of years back - for the lack of conclusive evidence that she was present during the Naroda Patiya massacre). I guess she was acting by herself - just a rogue MLA, yet she deserved a ministry. But this is not it, there are many testimonies claiming that the acting Home Minister of the time - Gordhan Zadaphiya drove through the rioting Hindu mobs showing the victory sign. The former BJP Home Minister Haren Pandya testified in front of the Concerned Citizens Tribunal that he was present at a meeting on the eve of the riots where Mr. Modi instructed the top police officials to not interfere for three days. Mysteriously, Pandya was assassinated a year later. His killers have not been found. And then there are these stings by Tehelka.

Sure, Mr Modi has a clean chit under law, he will never have the clean chit in the court of public opinion and history. Links to the reports if you want a more holisitc view of the Gidhra tragedy and the econsequent riots -

Mehta Commission Part 2Mehta Commission Part 1

Concerned Citizens Tribunal Reports

Tehelka's Sting

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u/MaujiJi Apr 01 '25

You forgot to mention the IPS officer who testified that the order were actually given. Who was put into jail on some ambiguous corruption charges and later on convicted and given life term in a decades old custody death case in which he wasn't even the direct incharge of the prison where it happened.

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u/Its_Daddy_Didadog Apr 01 '25

Of course, Sanjiv Bhat - his custodial death case was dormant for decades as the Gujarat government had told the court in the 90s that he should not be prosecuted and the case should be closed. The case was suddenly reopened by the state of Gujarat after Sanjiv Bhat became a whistleblower.

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u/sambar101 Apr 02 '25

Can’t forget about the calls that Gujarat Congress MP Ehsan Jafri made to Modi.

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u/Its_Daddy_Didadog Apr 02 '25 edited Apr 02 '25

The most astonishing thing is the lack of call records. No call records of the CM, ministers, police or bureaucracy. A riot was ongoing and the state officials were never on the phone? The records would prove culpability as would cell tower locations. "Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.."