‘Modi is in the dock’ announces the media gleefully

‘Modi is in the dock’
announces the media gleefully: But the media had put Modi in the dock long ago and the CBI was laboring for years to fix guilt on him. Towards this it looked that the CBI has only one State and one person to devote all its energies and its strategies-turning witnesses into approvers, suddenly reopening cases-grilling and recalling persons. Making it amply evident the motive and the goal towards which the CBI was working for. So actually it is no big news that ‘Modi is in the dock’.

Now that the former junior Minister for Home Zadaphia had told the Special Investigation Team(SIT) that the chief minister Modi was in complete control of the goings-on in the State after the Godhra train burning on Feb 27th 2002.It is relevant to note that Zadaphia also told the SIT that he had met Mukul Sinha-the advocate of the Jan Sangharsh Manch- who advised him that he could bring down the Modi government single handed! So that’s the motive to bring down the Modi government come what be. It is towards this that the CBI is laboring on. Modi for that matter was put on trial by the media much earlier and also found guilty by it. The Godhra riots is all due to Modi.

A cursory view of the whole system of governance will go to prove that there is a hierarchy and it is not always that the topmost person gives the order. Granted that Modi ordered the 59 charred bodies to be brought to Ahmedabad at that point of time is it a crime to view the 59 as martyrs-these were poor devotees whose only crime was that they happened to be kar sevaks .Should the families not get at least that consolation of giving these ‘forgotton 59’ a fitting last journey and last rites? So what was the alternative-to depose of these bodies in secret and allow the families to weep their eyes dry with absolutely no consolation from the government-This led to the riots is the conclusion and hence Modi is guilt of the riots. Result is that Modi must resign-his government must be pulled down. It is towards this that the CBI was huffing and puffing.

Let us hypothetically concede this. But then jurisprudence cannot be changed and twisted and justice cannot be one for Modi and another for others. Compare this to the 1984 riots in which at least 3000 minority people was massacred. Was there a government at N.Delhi when the massacre and the rapes were ongoing for two days? We do not need an empowered Go M to dig out records. It is obvious that Rajiv Gandhi  was at the helm of affairs and his government simply and callously watched the massacre of a minority community and even went to the extent of justifying it. Should not that government be put in the dock? The Congress which allowed such genocide is guilty and stands indicted. But the media suddenly looses its volume and there is stunning silence. Why?

In another heart rending case-13000 die and hundreds are still wheezing and breathless-others are crippled and handicapped. These are the poor victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy-the biggest global industrial disaster. But how coolly we view it-no sense of righteous anger at the way the government went about it. So after some hue and cry the case was reopened. Mind you the Congress which was in power at the Centre and the State has not been named and put in the dock. Arjun Singh breaks his silence and wheels into the Rajya Sabha to tell the House of elders and the nation how helpless he was and now how angry and outraged he is and how he is keen on bringing Warren Andherson to justice! Is that not adding insult to injury? A GoM is appointed  (this is the mantra to buy time and to negate justice) to look into the records which it naturally cannot find and no telephone transcript is found to nail Rajiv Gandhi. This is the result of the GoM’s findings-so RG is innocent of all the happenings. Is that not grave mis-governance and a violation of constitutional accountability? The solemn pledge taken at the time of assuming office to safeguard and act without fear or favor is thrown to the winds? So the man at the helm of affairs is soundly and innocently unaware of this global industrial disaster under his regime which took hundreds of lives and left lives broken permanently? Is it not a grave violation to allow a foreigner to safe transit-he was escorted by government officials and given even a government plane to Delhi from where he safely flies out of India as though after a picnic in this country. And poor Rajiv Gandhi is unaware of all this and hence proved innocent by his own party men. What a great travesty of justice. PV.Narasimha Roa becomes the scape goat. He does not belong to a dynastic ruling family and hence it is convenient in making him the culprit. But that does not absolve the Congress-it is part of its baggage. Again such a horrendous crime which shook the world we have to believe that  Rajiv Gandhi was unaware of Warren Andherson’s free and safe transit out of the country sounds ridiculous to say the least.

The media once again soft pedals the whole issue but for some noise of compensation. And justice in Bhopal gas tragedy still evades it because the Congress and Rajiv Gandhi are involved. It is unthinkable to put Rajiv Gandhi in the dock posthumously. Towards this Justice becomes the casualty. Is there a general Amnesty  or infallibility when it comes to the commissions and omissions of the Nehru-Gandhi family? These are not for narration as P.Chidambaram indulged in the Lok Sabha giving us the details of the time and date of the Bhopal gas tragedy sequence of events. But these are of the tragic loss of human lives-disposing them so casually as though it is of no consequence. The main thrust being that Rajiv Gandhi is innocent. Who then was at the helm of affairs? Was RG then a mere puppet-unaware of the happenings of such human catastrophe? Still the Congress cannot absolve itself as a party both at the Centre and the State it was in power. The baggage of the Congress party becomes heavier of lives lost, families broken and victims tales of woes. But they are all poor and are easily dispensable. Yet we are told that the cause of Food Security for the aam admis will be fought religiously by Mrs Sonia Gandhi-that’s her pet scheme. Crumbs for justice….

In both the cases Rajiv Gandhi was innocent asserts the Congress and the UPA2 government-then the same can be applied to Modi too. If there is no probe for those two cases to fix the culprits-where is the need for a CBI probe in the Gujarat/Godhra riots? We do not need a CBI to dig and dig and spent all its time and energies in this State chasing the wild goose. If in both those cases Rajiv Gandhi can be exonerated and proved to be innocent though in power- then why not apply the same yardstick to Modi? He is innocent of the Godhra riots. Things happened beyond his control-It was a natural backlash. He cannot be put in the dock and the CBI cannot be so outrageously used by the Centre to finish off Modi.

In the final analysis what is being put forth is that there should not be double standards-two yard sticks and Justice need be upheld irrespective of the party and the person. That is what our Constitution is all about and that is what this country stands for. Truth and Justice must be the hall marks of governance and let it not be felt and seen that injustice is being carried out in the name of Justice. The media has a great responsibility in this regard and must be the watchdog and not a partisan to petty party politics.

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