Skip to main content

When Modi held a “midnight meeting” and told his top officials to lay off when rioting began…

By Manu Joseph*
This is the origin of the perception that on the night of February 27, 2002, Narendra Modi held a “midnight meeting” during which he told his top officials to lay off when rioting began…
In May, 2002, a few weeks after the burning of the train in Godhra, I was in the office of a human rights activist. There, by chance, I got to know that Haren Pandya, a minister in Modi’s cabinet, had deposed before a people’s tribunal, which included retired judges.
The minister had said that about twelve hours after the burning of the train, Modi held a meeting in his house. Some of the most senior bureaucrats and cops in the state were present at the meeting. Modi asked them, according to Pandya, to let Hindus vent their anger.
I went to meet Pandya and told him that I have stumbled on this sketchy story, did he have anything to say. He did not want the news of his deposition to be made public, so we had an arrangement. He would give me all the details of his deposition, more than what I know already, and I would conceal his name. (Weird arrangement because the moment the story was released everybody in Gujarat guessed it was Pandya because his dislike for Modi was widely known.)
Pandya told me he was not present at the meeting himself but he was briefed by more than one person who attended the meeting. And Pandya gave me the details of the meeting and a list of officials who were present. (Intelligence Bureau officers would tell me that on the morning of February 28 goons first created minor trouble just to check if the police did in fact look the other way. When that was confirmed the slaughter began, according to the IB officers.)
I tried to reach the officials mentioned by Pandya to confirm if they were present at the meeting but none would speak to me. The meeting did take place, it is what transpired at the meeting that is disputed.
I filed my story and thus came to the mainstream the theory that Modi had held a ‘midnight meeting’ during which he asked his top officials to fall in line. Pandya’s name was revealed by Outlook only after his murder.
An uncorrected sentence in my story suggested that the deposition of Pandya was a confirmation of a fact. His deposition was, in reality, an allegation. Some of the officials Pandya had claimed were present at the meeting, it turned out, were not. "Outlook" later ran a clarification.
In Pandya’s list though there was no mention of Sanjiv Bhatt, the police officer who would claim, many years later, that he was present at the infamous ‘midnight meeting’. I had not heard of him at the time in 2002 or in the months that followed when I tried to obtain eyewitness accounts of the meeting. In my view it is very highly unlikely that he was indeed present as he claims.
I remember calling the former DGP K Chakravarthy, who was among the officials present at the meeting. Pandya had told me that he was the only official who had protested. So I told him something about conscience but Chakravarthy chuckled and disconnected the phone. Several reporters have since tried to find out what exactly occurred during the meeting. There have been official probes, too, of course. I gather we don’t know yet. 
---
*Journalist, novelist. Author of "Serious Men" and "The Illicit Happiness of Other People". Source: https://www.facebook.com/manu.joseph.56614

Comments

TRENDING

Importance of Bangladesh for India amidst 'growing might' of China in South Asia

By Samara Ashrat*  The basic key factor behind the geopolitical importance of Bangladesh is its geographical location. The country shares land borders with Myanmar and India. Due to its geographical position, Bangladesh is a natural link between South Asia and Southeast Asia.  The country is also a vital geopolitical ally to India, in that it has the potential to facilitate greater integration between Northeast India and Mainland India. Not only that, due to its open access to the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh has become significant to both China and the US.

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.

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

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative 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".

'BBC film shows only tip of iceberg': Sanjiv Bhatt's daughter speaks at top US press club

By Our Representative   The United States' premier journalists' organisation, the National Press Club (NPC), has come down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for recent "attacks on journalists in India." Speaking at the screening of an episode of the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question,” banned in India, in the club premises, NPC President Eileen O’Reilly said, “Since Modi came to power we have watched with frustration and disappointment as his regime has suppressed the rights of its citizens to a free and independent news media."

Regional political dynamics 'leading to' institutional violence in SAARC University

By Sandeep Pandey*  South Asian University is a university set up in Delhi by member countries of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Maldives – which is open to students from all these countries. However, as SAARC is receiving little attention these days because of regional political dynamics, it appears as if SAU has lost significance too. Because of the hiatus in peace process between India and Pakistan, the Board of Governors of this University is dysfunctional.

Natural farming: Hamirpur leads the way to 'huge improvement' in nutrition, livelihood

By Bharat Dogra*  Santosh is a dedicated farmer who along with his wife Chunni Devi worked very hard in recent months to convert a small patch of unproductive land into a lush green, multi-layer vegetable garden. This has ensured year-round supply of organically grown vegetables to his family as well as fetched several thousand rupees in cash sales.

Over-stressed? As Naveen Patnaik turns frail, Odisha 'moves closer' to leadership crisis

By Sudhansu R Das  Not a single leader in Odisha is visible in the horizon who can replace Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. He has ruled Odisha for nearly two and half decades. His father, Biju Patnaik, had built Odisha; he was a daring pilot who saved the life of Indonesia’s Prime Minister Sjahrir and President Sukarno when the Dutch army blocked their exit.

Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Ban Ki-moon, others ask Bangladesh PM to 'protect' Yunus

Counterview Desk  A campaign has been launched to support Bangladesh-based economist, micro-finance guru and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, seeking signatures from citizens across the globe in order to “protect” his work, life and safety.

Electricity sharing opens up new window for India’s eastern neighbourhood engagement

By Sufian Asif* Today, challenges like climate change, pandemics, energy reliance, economic crisis, and many more are concerning us. No nation can overcome these obstacles without the assistance and collaboration of other nations. Most importantly, many of these problems have international repercussions. South Asia is facing much more difficulty when compared to other regions. In South Asia, we have some regional organizations, but they are ineffective.

'Vulgar display of wealth': Govt of India using G20 presidency for political, electoral gains

Counterview Desk  Seeking endorsement for a public statement on India's G20 Presidency, several people’s movements, trade unions and other civil society groups have come together to say that not only will G20 and its priorities “will worsen economic, social and climate crisis”, already, India’s presidency is being used “for vulgar display of pomp & for electoral gains.”