Modi adopted use and abandon policy towards Gujarat's "lower caste" encounter cops: 'Gujarat Files' sting

"Gujarat Files" being launched at Conflictorium

By A Representative
Gujarat's top “encounter” cops never trusted their political leadership, especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his chief minister in the state, even though they had to “fall in line” of the system, and carried out the “fake encounters”, allegedly to “save the country”.
This is one of the several admissions made by one of the top "encounter" cops, who happens to be a Dalit, in the best-seller book “Gujarat Files” by journalist Rana Ayyub, launched on Sunday evening in Ahmedabad at Conflictorium, a unique museum of conflict resolution in the old city area.
Speaking in the presence of well-known human rights lawyer late Mukul Sinha's wife Nirjhari Sinha, who launched the book, and Janvikas chairperson Gagan Sethi, the main brain behind Conflictorium, Ayyub said, she has been "approached" to file a petition in court based on the "evidence" she has gathered in the book.
“Gujarat Files” is a compilation of undercover stings of Gujarat government bureaucrats and cops, carried out by Ayyub, posing as Maithili Tyagi, an independent documentary filmmaker attached with the American Film Institute Conservatory, in 2010.
An interesting episodes is about the top cop, involved in the encounter of Ishrat Jehan in 2004, telling the “film maker” that those in power thought that cops “are used to being bound to their word and ready to fulfill their requirements”, but politicians, including Modi, are interested in just making a political capital out the whole thing.
The top cop adds, “Every government servant, whatever he does, works for the government. And then both the society and the government don’t recognize you.” Especially quoting the case of DG Vanzara, who has been the most controversial of all the encounter cops, spending several years in jail, the top cop says, “What Vanzara has done, [but] nobody stood by him. ”
When asked whether he thought that all the “lower caste” cops involved in fake encounter – including he (GL Singhal), Vanzara, Rajkumar Pandian, NK Amin and JG Parmar, who worked “at the behest of the state” in whatever they did were a “use and abandon thing” for the ruling politicians, the top cop replies, “Oh yes, all of us. The government doesn’t think this.”
Answering another question, he says, “This has to be done to save the nation, to save the country.” At the same time, he adds, one has to do it because one is part of the system, and compromise with it: “System ke saath rehna hai to logon ko compromise karna padta hai.”

The top cop further says, “Whether it’s the Congress or the BJP, political parties are political parties. They will first see their benefit, under what circumstances they can extract something. In our case they are helping, but also trying to see what they will get or not get.”
Referring to Modi, the top cop says, “In 2007, just after the officers were arrested for the Sohrabuddin encounters, Sonia Gandhi was here and she called the officers Maut Ke Saudagar. After that Modi, went out shouting at every meeting ‘Maut ke saudagar (merchant of death)? Sohrabuddin kaun tha, usko maara toh achcha hua ke nahi hua (Who was Sohrabuddin, was it good or bad that he was killed)?’ And after that he got a thumping majority. See, he got what he wanted.”
The top cop underlines, Modi or other politicians do just one thing – just take political benefit, and that's all; this is what they did after “killing Muslims” during the riots, too, just as during the encounters: “Dekho inko sabka benefit lena hota hai, riots hue muslims ko maara, benefit liya, ispar bhi kiya.”
Especially suggesting that in all this Modi was the mastermind, the encounter cop says, “All the ministries that are there and the ministers...they are rubber stamps. All decisions are taken by the chief minister. Whatever decisions all the ministers make, they have to take his permission.”
Asked how did Modi manage to remain unscathed, the top cop says, this was because “he does not come in the picture directly. He gives orders to bureaucrats.” Worse, he adds, Modi did not even trust his home minister (HM) Amit Shah, who was arrested in the Ishrat Jehan case.
Asked whether Shah would ever “come back to the Home Department, the top cop replies in the negative, saying Modi was afraid of him, so popular he had become. “He won’t be able to, because CM ko usse dar lagta hai, kyunki woh home department mein bahut popular ho gaya tha. He (Shah) knows the weakness of the government, so the CM will not want any HM to know everything and be there. ”
Calling Modi an “opportunist” in this context, the top cop says, Modi was interested in only getting his work done: “Apna kaam nikaal liya, sab got his work done. ”
Suggesting the system did not support him also because he was a Dalit, he says, “I am Dalit but I can do everything like a Brahmin. I know my religion, much more than them, but people do not realize this. If I am born in a Dalit family, is it my fault?”, he asks, adding, “I have countered cases of terrorism for them... Yet... at times they will send me to do a job that can be done by constables.”

Comments

Academics urge Azim Premji University to drop FIR against Student Reading Circle

By A Representative A group of academics and civil society members has issued an open letter to the leadership of Azim Premji University expressing concern over the filing of a police complaint that led to an FIR against a student-run reading circle following a recent incident of violence on campus. The signatories state that they hold the university in high regard for its commitment to constitutional values, critical inquiry and ethical public engagement, and argue that it is precisely because of this reputation that the present development is troubling.

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

By Rajiv Shah This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

UAPA action against Telangana activist: Criminalising legitimate democratic activity?

By A Representative The National Investigation Agency's Hyderabad branch has issued notices to more than ten individuals in Telangana in connection with FIR No. RC-04/2025. Those served include activists, former student leaders, civil rights advocates, poets, writers, retired schoolteachers, and local leaders associated with the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Indian National Congress.

The ultimate all-time ODI XI: A personal selection of icons across eras

By Harsh Thakor* This is my all-time best XI chosen for ODI (One Day International) cricket: 1. Adam Gilchrist (W) – The absolute master blaster who could create the impact of exploding gunpowder with his electrifying strokeplay. No batsman was more intimidating in his era. Often his knocks decided the fate of games as though the result were premeditated. He escalated batting strike rates to surreal realms.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Aligning too closely with U.S., allies, India’s silence on IRIS Dena raises troubling questions

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* The reported sinking of the Iranian ship IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka raises troubling questions about international norms and the credibility of the so-called rule-based order. If indeed the vessel was attacked by the American Navy while returning from a joint exercise in Visakhapatnam, it would represent a serious breach of trust and a violation of the principles that govern such cooperative engagements. Warships participating in these exercises are generally not armed for combat; they are meant to symbolize solidarity and friendship. The incident, therefore, is not only shocking but also deeply ironic.

Asbestos contamination in children’s products highlights global oversight gaps

By A Representative A commentary published by the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) has drawn attention to the challenges governments face in responding effectively to global public-health risks. In an article written by Laurie Kazan-Allen and published on March 5, 2026, the author examines how the discovery of asbestos contamination in children’s play products has raised questions about regulatory oversight and international product safety. The article opens by reflecting on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that governments in several countries were slow to respond to early warning signs of the crisis. Referring to the experience of the United Kingdom, the author writes that delays in implementing protective measures contributed to “232,112 recorded deaths and over a million people suffering from long Covid.” The commentary uses this example to illustrate what it describes as the dangers of underestimating emerging threats. Attention then turns...

The kitchen as prison: A feminist elegy for domestic slavery

By Garima Srivastava* Kumar Ambuj stands as one of the most incisive voices in contemporary Hindi poetry. His work, stripped of ornamentation, speaks directly to the lived realities of India’s marginalized—women, the rural poor, and those crushed under invisible forms of violence. His celebrated poem “Women Who Cook” (Khānā Banātī Striyāṃ) is not merely about food preparation; it is a searing indictment of patriarchal domestic structures that reduce women’s existence to endless, unpaid labour.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Search This Blog