Several bloggers continue to speak for those whose voices were silenced. Some would like to drown even that- silence, what Jo calls in one of the posts I linked to earlier, the louder silence from the graves. Mirza Faisal accuses them of seeking the refuge of the scoundrel. At this moment, as I write this post, someone from a local mosque has chosen to call to the faithful- and for the first time in a long time, I don’t find blared noise from a temple/mosque annoying.. eerie…b@#%* coincidence? The silence from the graves is indeed louder.

Mirza Faisal, in one of the best posts I’ve read on the issue, paints for us the many faces of the scoundrel:

So how can someone defend such a shameful phase? It is what I call the refuge of the scoundrel. The first was when the Prime Minister of India, in a dark moment, uttered ‘But who started it?’. The second is to put another unjust act that has continued for quite some time and link it with Gujarat and ask ‘Why do you not talk about the Kashmiri Pandits?’. The third is ‘Modi has won election and has been chosen as the leader by the Gujarati people’. The fourth is ‘Do you not see the economic development in the state?’. The fifth is ‘Why do you take out the dead issues? Look at the future’. The sixth is ‘Court of law does not work through regional papers’. It does everything but it just does not touch upon the basic point. The moral meta-narrative of the society. The Base. What about Justice?

Amrita Rajan recalls all the excuses:

Many Indians, far more than the one or two Mr. Modi mentions in his brief talk with Mr. Thapar, have long suspected him of the things he now stands charged of doing by his own party members. But his supporters have always chosen to shift the blame elsewhere. At various times they have said:

• There is no direct evidence to link Mr. Modi to the riots
• The riots were an outpouring of public sentiment after a train bogey carrying Hindu pilgrims was set on fire near the communally sensitive town of Godhra.
• Mr. Modi is an excellent economic administrator
• The BJP, under his leadership, has won other elections in the state since the riots, thus proving that the people of Gujarat were behind him
• Mr. Modi’s detractors are stooges of the Congress Party, commies, lefties and other “Macaulay’s children” not worthy of attention out to defame a hardworking official because he is a proud Hindu.

Abi compiles media reactions.

Rekha thinks bold and fearless Tehelka has royally screwed Narendra Modi.

Communalism Watch tracks news on the ‘blackout of tv channels’ issue.

Kay has some stinging comments to make on the current Union government, the judiciary and the media:

I write this piece more than 48 hours after the sting was telecast and details were made available on the net and to the media. But this much seems to be insufficient to stir up the executive or judiciary in this country. We have seen a determined Supreme Court making sure that unauthorised construction in the nation’s Capital were razed, even if it meant throwing several people out of jobs and creating a chaos when the demolitions were carried out. We have read about the Madras High Court that sat on a Sunday to give its verdict on whether a bandh called by the DMK was legitimate. But till the time I write this, no court in this country has found that there was sufficient material to take suo moto action against Narendra Modi and his gang when a clear case has been made out in the sting. And what is the Government of India – led by a party that was voted to power because it was the main force to oppose the BJP-led NDA that applauded when the riots took place – doing?

Animesh Pathak says: ‘See. And be afraid.’

The sceptics will ask - “Why now? Isn’t this a Congress ploy just before the elections?”. I say it very well can be, but does that change the gruesome nature of these crimes? [Also, Tarun slams the central govt for its spinelessness too, and I don't like the congress for what they did in the Delhi riots either.] And please do not give me the “muslims killed so many hindus in the medieval times, so what if we killed some now” line — last time I checked this was not the middle ages, and we had something called due process.

Shome’s India refuses to shine:

I don’t know what makes me more sick. The un-abashedness with which the accused talk of the murders they committed, the pride with which they talk of killing pregnant women to send a message to ‘them’, the helplessness you feel as you sit and watch murderers talk of their ‘seva’ to Hinduism, or the shame that you feel when you realize that these are elected representatives of the nation.

All the noise about India becoming a global power in the 21st century sounds untrue, pretentious and irritating. The only feelings I have is the 1980s sense of “Is desh ka kuch nahin ho sakta”.

Jawahara Saidullah is moved by Tarun Tejpal’s editorial on the sting:

There is nowhere in India that you can take your daughter if you wish to level her with the beast of Partition, the beast of the 1984 Sikh riots, the beast of a hundred communal and caste massacres, or the beast of Gujarat 2002. Because we do not remember, we repeat; because we do not look the evil in the eye, it dogs us all the time.

Anahita Sarabhai wants you to endorse a Statement addressed to the President because it’s Time to Stand Up and Shout for Justice:

It has been proved beyond doubt by the Tehelka investigations into the 2002 massacre of Muslims in Gujarat that Narendra Modi, the then Home Minister Gordhan Zadaphia, the then Ahmedabad Police chief P. C. Pandey actively colluded in killing Muslims and planning their mass murder and destruction of the property . The Chief Minister, Home Minister and their whole administration not only planned, provoked and encouraged the massacre of Muslims and destruction of their property but also ensured that mass murderers and rapists got a safe hiding.

Sandip Dasverma asks you to write, in thousands and more, to the BJP leaders (he has posted a long list of email addresses of top functionaries of the party) asking them to denounce its tainted Gujarat leadership.

Gujarat Massacre suggests some punitive measures that could be taken up by the national, international communities:

Journalism has again come to the rescue of Democracy and the need to restore a civilised and moral society.Recent revelations on the audio/visual Media has clearly shown the nexus of the administrative, political, executive and legal machinery in such a way as to manupilate the facts to suit thier devious and devilous actions which include nothing less than mass genocide.These actions cannot be condoned and needs to be addressed by the national, international communities and political systems by means of social and economic boycotts and trials of a criminal nature at the Hague.

Roshan feels it’s a sad day in India’s history:

I don’t feel its sad because the entire issue has been politicized and the very credibility of the report is being questioned. I feel it’s sad because the people who appear on the tapes confessing to rape, murder etc. are still free over 24 hours after appearing on television confessing to these crimes and the government has not deemed it fit to even now arrest them. I can understand that the Chief minister cannot be deemed guilty because of other criminals saying that he supported them but what about catching at least those criminals who openly have admitted to their crimes? Or has this just been forgotten in the circus of politics in India?

Fear visits Goldenboy:

I have seen mass-hysteria being whipped up by gunda-parties like the Shiv-sena on the streets of Kher Nagar (Bandra –East) where I grew up, the turf of Shiv-sena monster minister Madhukar Sarpotdar. This area was amongst the worst scenes of rioting during the 1993 communal violence in Mumbai. As a child, I have seen people running with swords on the streets and I have seen an acid-bulb land in a neighbour’s house during the 1984 riots. [...] I have seen Moslems not being allowed to buy a house in virtually most parts of Mumbai. I have seen Moslem families leave their houses forever at the time of 1993 riots. I have lived through the 1993 riots and seen petrol bombs being hurled on slums belonging to the minority community. I have seen the hatred, and the glint of human madness in the eyes of “Hindu” colleagues and friends…

Mekhala is ashamed:

I am deeply ashamed. That this happened in the birthplace of Gandhi. That Ahimsa was irrelevant. That religion turned brutal. And that, we remained mute. Our demand for justice wasn’t loud enough to be heard. That we let ourselves forget ravages resulting from hatred so easily. That this is our legacy to our children.

Slobodan Milosevic Modi’s hour of reckoning is here, according to Mustafa Khan:

Democracy cannot work if one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter or protector. Neither a Narendra Modi nor a Nasser Mahdani. The former had assimilated the Nazi gestapo or Getheime Staatspoleizi, or secret state police, strategies to destroy the Muslims. The latter had tried to use RSS tactics to confront the RSS when it killed old Alavikunju Maulavi of Kolam on his way to mosque in 1984 and later Maulvi Ali of Thrissur mosque in his sleep and had attempted to kill Mahdani himself and left him crippled for life. Mahdani wanted “to physically train and equip our men to take on the RSS the same way the Hindu organization did motivating them with religious discourse.” Mahdani has met his fate and paid with limb and ten years of imprisonment, Modi is on the way.

Hurin was terrified:

Does it feel, saying all the above that we Indians are a civilised society? It pained my heart to see how the men on camera said all the above with no remorse or shame whatsoever. I am not easily frightened, and I have a reputation on that, but this shameless exhibition simply made me tremble with fear; I was terrified to see how men can fall so low and that too in the name of religion.

Raheema’s first reaction: It’s finally happening!

Harini commends Ashish Khetan and Tehelka:

Be very afraid, says Tarun Tejpal- editor in chief of Tehelka, in his foreword to one of the most chilling journalistic pieces that I have ever seen and heard. And co-ordinated and planned manner in which the saffron brigade organised themselves, and the casualness with which they committed murder, and the utter lack of remorse that they show on camera - does more than scare you, it terrifies you.

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