Two decades on, India still haunted
by Gujarat religious riots
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Twenty-two years ago, the Indian state of Gujarat erupted in violence. For several weeks from the end of February 2002, inter-communal violence led to the deaths of around 2,000 people, most of them Muslims. Entire neighbourhoods were burnt down and families massacred. This outpouring of hatred was sparked by a fire on a train on February 27, 2002 at Godhra station. Fifty-nine Hindu pilgrims were burnt alive and dozens of others seriously injured. Hindu fundamentalist organisations in the region immediately accused Muslim extremists of attacking the convoy. It was the start of the worst religious riots in India since independence in 1947. Two decades later, our team returned to Gujarat, which is still scarred by the tragedy.
In the state of Gujarat, located on India's western coast, the bloody episode of February 2002 remains etched in everyone's memories. So many questions remain unanswered. The country is divided between those who support the theory of a "Muslim conspiracy" and that of an internal fire on the train carrying Hindu pilgrims, which was the starting point of the riots. On the one hand, a commission appointed by the Gujarat High Court backs the criminal theory. On the other, another commission appointed by India's Supreme Court characterised the fire as an accident.
What about the violence? Was it premeditated by Hindu extremists? How was it possible for such an outpouring of hatred to go on for several weeks with impunity? Why didn't the police intervene to stop the violence? Here again, the justice system is divided. Several foreign countries – including the US and UK – are adamant that what happened in Gujarat was the early stages of "ethnic cleansing". One man, Narendra Modi, is at the heart of the controversy and the extent of his role in the violence is still being debated. The country's current prime minister was chief minister of the state of Gujarat at the time. Back in 2012, he was cleared of complicity in the riots by the Supreme Court. That ruling was upheld in 2022.
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