Guwahati: The BBC’s recent documentary, India: The Modi Question, which featured a long-lost report conducted by the UK government into the 2002 Gujarat violence is still a major topic of discussion. The Caravan Magazine has now obtained a copy of the report and has, for the first time, reproduced it in full.
According to the report, the violence was planned in advance by the Hindu nationalist organisation Vishva Hindu Parishad.
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It also states that the attack on the train at Godhra on 27 February provided the pretext, but that “if it had not occurred, another one would have been found.”
The report also cites evidence that rioters used “computerised lists” to target Muslim homes and businesses, and suggests that these lists were prepared in advance. It also indicts the Gujarat state government, stating “Chief Minister Narendra Modi is directly responsible.”
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The report states that the violence was accompanied in many areas by widespread and systemic rape of Muslim women, sometimes by police and that “police contacts accept that implicit state Government pressure inhibited their response.”
It is estimated that around 2000 people died in the violence.