2002 RIOTS SHOOK ME TO CORE: MODI
Saturday, 28 December 2013 | Nayan Dave | GANDHINAGAR
“I was accused of the death and misery of my own loved ones, my Gujarati brothers and sisters. Can you imagine the inner turmoil and shock of being blamed for the very events that have shattered you! Grief, Sadness, Misery, Pain, Anguish, Agony — mere words could not capture the absolute emptiness one felt on witnessing such inhumanity.”
With these words and more, for the first time Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Friday laid bare his innermost feelings on the infamous 2002 Gujarat riots and tried to heal the decade-old wound of the minority community against his Government and politics. Modi’s elaborate reaction came a day after a metropolitan court in Ahmedabad gave him clean chit in the Gulbarga Society carnage.
The Gujarat Chief Minister preferred social media platform over direct interaction with media to share his thoughts with the nation at large. “The judgement culminated a process of unprecedented scrutiny closely monitored by the highest court of the land, the Honourable Supreme Court of India. Gujarat’s 12 years of trial by the fire have finally drawn to an end. I feel liberated and at peace,” said Modi on his blog, maintaining that right from day one as the Gujarat CM his emphasis was always on development and unity with widely used concept of ‘My Five crore Gujarati brothers and sisters’.
Hitting back at his detractors, including rival political parties, Modi said that for so many years, they incessantly kept up their attack, leaving no stone unturned. “What pained even more was that in their overzealousness to hit at me for their narrow personal and political ends, they ended up maligning my entire State and country. This heartlessly kept reopening the wounds that we were sincerely trying to heal. It ironically also delayed the very justice that these people claimed to be fighting for. Maybe they did not realise how much suffering they were adding to an already pained people,” he said.
Modi said that when he took over as Gujarat CM, the State was passing through traumatic times, the devastating earthquake of 2001 had plunged Gujarat into the gloom of death, destruction and sheer helplessness.
“Within a mere five months, the mindless violence of 2002 had dealt us another unexpected blow. Innocents were killed. It was a crippling blow to an already shattered and hurting Gujarat. I was shaken to the core. ‘Grief’, ‘Sadness’, ‘Misery’, ‘Pain’, ‘Anguish’, ‘Agony’ — mere words could not capture the absolute emptiness one felt on witnessing such inhumanity,” he asserts, adding that burying the pain and agony he was personally wracked with, he single mindedly focused on the task of peace & justice as well as rehabilitation.
The Gujarat Chief Minister confessed that often he recollected wisdom in our scriptures during such challenging times. “I did exactly the same. Those seating in positions of power did not have the right to share their own pain and anguish. They had to suffer it in solitude. I pray to god that never again should such cruelly unfortunate days come in the lives of any other person, society, State or nation,” he said.
He confessed that on the day of the Godhra train burning itself he fervently urged people for peace and restraint to ensure lives of innocents were not put at risk. “I also reiterated the same during daily interactions with the media in those fateful days. These deep emotions reflected in Sadbhavana fasts too.”
Replying those who criticised his Government’s role during riots, Modi said that his Government had responded to the violence more swiftly and decisively than ever done before in any previous riots not only in Gujarat but in whole country.
Urging one and all to join hands in working towards harmony, Modi said, “I am deeply convinced that the future of any society, State or country lies in harmony. This is the only foundation on which progress and prosperity can be built.”
http://www.dailypioneer.com/todays-newspaper/2002-riots-shook-me-to-core-modi.html
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