17 years on, Gujarat massacre of Muslims still polarizes Indian politics – By Noemi Jabois
Shakeela Bano’s family was charred to death in front of her eyes by a blood-thirsty mob of Hindus during the infamous anti-Muslim 2002 Gujarat riots in the western state of India then governed by Narendra Modi, the country’s current Prime Minister…. Modi has largely been accused of not doing enough to stop the riots and save innocent lives….
Auto rickshaw driver Salim Mohammed Hussain Sheikh…. recalled, he was in a neighborhood mosque when a mob of 1,000 to 1,500 people with arms led by then Minister Kodnani ran the pogrom…. There was bloodshed and even “the police was also firing along with the mob,” said the man who lost his niece and children in the massacre.
Nazir Khan Pathan, a school teacher, recalled how men associated with the RSS and its affiliate Bajrang Dal, wearing their trademark shorts and saffron scarves on their head, came around and started riots. Some, he told EFE, were municipal council members and members of the legislative assembly who shouted to the mob, “go ahead, we are with you.” “The whole series of events was preplanned, and Modi had the biggest role in it,” he alleged.
