How long will policemen allow their political masters to misuse them?
MOHAMMAD NAUSHAD KHAN comments on the resignation letter of D.G. Vanzara and its possible fallout.
The resignation letter of D.G. Vanzara, IG of Police (under suspension) of Gujarat, is a real eye-opener. It brings into light how badly Gujarat has been governed over the years and to what extent or how intricate the nexus between state police and the government can go. The letter has come at a time when Narendra Modi was to be declared formally prime ministerial candidate of the BJP. Will this letter cast a shadow on Modi’s political ambition to become BJP’s prime ministerial candidate or will he be able to get out of it? The letter also raises a question mark on how long our policemen will allow their political masters to misuse or abuse them at will.
The letter has provided enough ground for those who have been overtly or covertly opposed to the idea of elevation of Narendra Modi, and they will try to use the letter in resisting the declaration of Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP for the coming 2014 Lok Sabha polls. It appears that the sangh parivar is divided on the issue of declaration of Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate. L.K Advani, Sushma Swaraj, and Prithviraj Chouhan may have their own reasons to stall the declaration of Modi as the party’s prime ministerial candidate before the assembly elections and it seems most likely that L K Advani is once again trying to use his influence and experience to thwart Modi’s political ambition. RSS and BJP are walking together a tightrope and do not want to repeat what had happened in Goa; therefore RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat is trying to forge a consensus. Recently, Bhagwat is believed to have discussed the issue with LK Advani, Sushma Swaraj and others to end the logjam against Modi.
Surprisingly, Narendra Modi, who was trying to portray himself as a parallel to Manmohan Singh on the eve of Independence Day, has suddenly retreated from his earlier ambition when he, while replying to a question by a student whether he would come to interact with them after becoming prime minister at a Teachers Day function in Gandhinagar on 5 September, said he never saw such a dream, nor was he going to see it. “I have a mandate of serving the people of Gujarat till 2017.” His statement appears to be a tactical one; it sounds defensive after the stinging resignation letter of Vanzara and after sting operation carried out by a reporter of alleged involvement of two BJP MPs trying to influence the investigation in Prajapati fake encounter case.
Vanzara, who has been in jail for the last six years for his role in three fake encounters – 2005 Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter and murder of his wife Kausarbi, 2006 Tulsiram Prajapati encounter and 2004 Ishrat Jahan encounter, in his resignation letter to the state government and to the CBI director on 1 September, has written that with the passage of time, he realised that the government was not only not interested in protecting them but it also has been clandestinely making all efforts to keep him and his officers in the jail so as to save its own skin from CBI on one hand and gain political benefits on the other. It is everybody’s knowledge that this government has been reaping very rich political dividends, for the last 12 years, by keeping the glow of encounter cases alive in Gujarat, while otherwise, remaining in the low profile and indifferent to the fate of jailed police officers.
Vanzara has categorically stated in the most unequivocal words that the officers and men of Crime Branch, ATS and Border Range, between 2002 and 2007, “simply acted and performed their duties in compliance with the conscious policy of this government”. The resultant criminal negligence of the government and wilful acts of omission on its part may take this government to the crematorium ground sooner or later. This spineless government of Gujarat, which is valiant only in words, otherwise coward in deeds and impotent in actions, Vanzara writes, has ceased to command his allegiance, trust and loyalty. “By this reasoning I am of the firm opinion that the place of this government instead of being in Gandhinagar, should either be in Taloja central prison at Navi Mumbai or in Sabarmati Central Prison at Ahmedabad.”
Vanzara has also written that he once adored Modi like a “god”, but the CM failed to rise to the occasion under the evil influence of Amit Shah who usurped his eyes and ears and has been successfully misguiding him. He also writes that this government, “through the dirty tactics of Amit Shah, is unfortunately managing only for its own self so as to swim and continue to prosper in all directions, while ditching the police officers so as to sink and allow them to die unnatural death by drowning. By adopting such a suicidal path, this government, I am sure, is doing nothing else but is hastening and facilitating its own death”.
So far nine police officers from Gujarat and Rajasthan are kept in Taloja Central Prison; another 22 officers are kept in various jails in the state. Six more IPS officers have been named in the chargesheets of Tulsiram and Ishrat Jahan encounter cases.
Various political parties like Left, SP, JD-U raised the issue in the Rajya Sabha on 5 September and demanded it to be taken up for discussion as soon as possible. BJP in a counter attack also demanded to raise the issue of alleged irregularities of Robert Vadra. Many believe that the central leadership of Congress did not raise the issue in the required magnitude and has left the state leadership to address the issue in mere tokenism because of the deal fixed between Congress and the BJP to evade the issue of letter of Vanzara and the Gujarat government and that of irregularity of Robert Vadra raised by Ashok Khemka. BJP in order to make it a tie between Congress and the BJP said that if you want to discuss Vanzara then also discuss Ashok Khemka. However, the Communist Party of India has repeated its demand for the prosecution of Narendra Modi for using encounters to deal with terrorism. As per statement issued by the party, most of the encounters were executed with the full knowledge and direction of the Gujarat government.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is likely to examine the authenticity of the Vanzara’s letter and may also try to find out if those at the helm of affairs in the State were aware of the conspiracy.