New Delhi, Oct 26: The Congress today said the foundation of Narendra Modi government in Gujarat was ''standing on the bodies of innocent people" killed in the 2002 post-Godhra violence and asserted that the people of the state should show him the real place in the light of the Tehelka sting operation.

The people of Gujarat should show Mr Modi his real position, Congress spokesperson Mahan Prakash said while reacting to the sting operation--'Truth Gujarat 2002' by Tehlka magazine.

He alleged that many atrocities were committed on the people of Gujarat under Mr Modi's rule, especially on the minorities.

''Everyone in the world knows that Mr Modi and Sangh Parivar are responsible for the Gujarat genocide and the protectors are predators,'' Mr Prakash claimed.

He said each one of them must be prosecuted for killing the innocents in cold blood.

Responding to the BJP's allegation that the operation was collusive with the Congress and BJP dissidents, Mr Prakash said the saffron party should not hide the truth before media. ''People of Gujarat are aware of Mr Modi's fascist and one-upmanship attitude,'' he alleged.

In a sting operation,  Tehelka  has recorded scores of self-confessed rioters speaking out on the riots - how deadly arsenals were built and transported across the state, how mobs were mobilised and Muslims killed, the role of the police, and even that of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.  

The reporter, Ashish Khaitan, obviously approached them as being sympathetic to the Hindutva cause. He has clarified that all these disclosures by the rioters were voluntary and that no money was exchanged in the sting operation. By evening, the expose was also being broadcast on television networks.

Indeed, the phrase "state-sponsored genocide", often bandied about by activists, may not be an exaggeration if these claims of rioters are correct. 

Take for instance, the claim of Haresh Bhatt, a Bajrang Dal leader in 2002 who is now the BJP MLA from Godhra. He claims the chief minister's response in the wake of the Godhra incident, in which 58 Hindu pilgrims were burnt in a train, was "favourable" to the suggestion of retribution. Says Bhatt: "He had given us three days... to do whatever we could...After three days, he asked us to stop and everything came to a halt."

Bhatt said his firecracker factory made bombs and a "complete" rocket launcher.

 

UNI