Union Home Minister Amit Shah made a shocking statement today as he campaigned for his party BJP in the state, saying that his party brought “permanent peace” to the state through the Gujarat Riots in 2002 when rioters in Gujarat were taught such a lesson by the BJP in 2002 that they have not dared to raise their heads till now.<\/p>\n
Gujarat witnessed massive violence in 2002 in certain areas of the state after a train full of karsewaks was set on fire at the Godhra railway station in February of that year.<\/p>\n
“Communal riots were rampant in Gujarat when the Congress was in power. Tell me out loud whether it used to happen or not? Once in 2002, Narendra Modi made an effort and taught such a lesson (to the rioters) that no one has dared to raise their heads till now. The rioters went out of Gujarat. BJP has established peace in Gujarat,” Amit Shah said.<\/p>\n
He went on to accuse Congress saying, “In 2002, the Congress had made it a habit (to incite riots). That’s why the riots happened. The BJP government in Gujarat has established permanent peace in the state by taking strict action against the rioters,” he added.<\/p>\n
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra soon took to Twitter to slam the Union minister’s statement. “‘They Were Taught Lesson In 2002, Permanent Peace In Gujarat’: Amit Shah. This is the Home Minister of India. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten his not-so-little hand,” she wrote.<\/p>\n
Sanjay Jha, author, Congress supporter said, “So the Gujarat genocide of 2002 where over a 1000 people were massacred was \u201c teaching them a lesson\u201d, according to Amit Shah.\u00a0 Wow!!!! That\u2019s a massive public confession by the BJP of their culpability.”<\/p>\n
The BJP is aggressively campaigning in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state. The party has been in power in the state for nearly two decades now.<\/p>\n
Political opponents of the BJP – the AAP and the Congress – are looking to de-seat the saffron party and establish their government in the electorally crucial state ahead of the 2024 general elections.<\/p>\n
The 2002 Gujarat riots, also known as the 2002 Gujarat violence and the Gujarat pogrom, was a three-day period of inter-communal violence in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The burning of a train in Godhra on 27 February 2002, caused the deaths of 58 Hindu pilgrims karsevaks returning from Ayodhya.<\/p>\n
After this, reactions flared around the state.\u00a0 During the time of the horrific Gujarat Massacre in 2002, Narendra Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat.\u00a0 It is said that the police had orders to allow the Hindu mobs to attack the Muslims, kill them, and set their homes on fire.<\/p>\n
The pogrom went on for three days, uninterrupted with no help from the government and in fact, the police stood by and watched while the Hindutva mobs burned Muslim homes, stores, hotels, and restaurants. Muslims were burned to death during the raging massacre. It is estimated between 1000 to 2000 people were killed in Gujarat, with the vast majority being Muslims.<\/p>\n
Researchers have called it a one-sided systemic pogrom backed by the BJP.\u00a0 \u00a0Both Indian and International human rights groups say the Gujarat government was complicit and the massacre may have been premeditated and not spontaneous. Even the US government had banned Narendra Modi from entering the US at that time; however, all this changed once he became prime minister in 2014.<\/p>\n