Short Takes
Partners in Crime
The revelations of police officer DG Vanzara bring the noose closer to the necks of Amit Shah and, finally, to Modi’s, writes Dr Mohammad Manzoor Alam.
In a way, the disclosures made in policeman DG Vanzara’s letter of resignation are no disclosures really, as all along Muslims of Gujarat and India knew that the most heinous breaches of human rights in that state had been organised and orchestrated by Modi government.
However, just because Amit Shah (under the directive of Modi) ordered the extrajudicial execution of innocent citizens by unprincipled and lawless “encounter specialist” cops, the act did not become legally valid and morally sustainable. Vanzara’s letter of resignation suggests that policemen were not bound by constitutional obligation, but by the whims and fancies of mentally deranged and morally deficient government ministers.
Vanzara should have known as an educated person that no one–including his men and his political superiors–is above the rule of law. What he calls “encounter policemen” is a misnomer for cold-blooded murderers who have no legal sanction, no moral authority. They have no legal cover and the only way left for politicians to deal with them, when they are caught in the act, is to ditch them. That is exactly what Shah and Vanzara’s “god”, Modi, have done.
Vanzara has said he has started losing faith in his god, that is Narendrabhai Pheku Modi. In his loss of faith in his personal god he has gone to the extent of saying that the right place for the Gujarat government is not Gandhinagar, but in jail. Although he singles out Amit Shah for the worst condemnation, the entire government being worthy of a life in jail means the whole council of ministers, including the chief minister.
The self-serving arguments of Vanzara notwithstanding, he has a point: if policemen carrying the orders of a minister to kill citizens extrajudicially can be sent to jail, why can’t the minister be jailed for ordering this heinous crime. If the minister can be brought inside legal net, how long can the chief minister be allowed to remain outside it?
With minister Maya Kondnani serving a life term in jail and minister of state Amit Shah out on bail because of Ram Jethmalani’s legal prowess, the noose may no longer be too far from Modi’s neck. All this is logical. And we have not factored in the mysterious murder of Ajit Pandyan, minister of state in Modi government. Think of the ghosts of the dead of 2002 and justice may not look unattainable. All partners in crime, big and small, belong in jail.
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