Teesta Setalvad takes aim at PM Modi in her memoir

Mumbai: In her autobiography, social activist Teesta Setalvad has reiterated allegations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was the Gujarat chief minister during the riots in 2002. The autobiography, ‘Foot Soldier of The Constitution’, will be released this Republic day.

Raking up the Gulbarg Society massacre case, the social activist writes, “The chain of circumstances and the details of evidence post-Godhra establish that then chief minister Narendra Modi and his cabinet colleagues had conspired, planned, prepared, organised and perpetrated multifarious crimes against the Muslim minority by mobilising armed anti-Muslim mobs.”

Ms Setalvad has also expressed her dissatisfaction over the Special Investigation Team’s (SIT) probe. Speaking to The Asian Age, she said, “The SIT was expected to maintain equal distance from victims as well as the Gujarat government. But as I have documented in the book, the SIT Team was paid significant amounts straight from the Gujarat government’s coffers. Now, the legal counsel too is being paid inordinately high fees. The SIT would have done well if it had distanced itself from the parties involved in the case.”

Ms Setalvad has also given details about the murder of Haren Pandya, a minister in then Modi-led Gujarat government. Ms Setalvad claimed that Mr Pandya had information about an important meeting of Gujarat government leaders on February 27, 2002. Mr Pandya had given testimony on condition of anonymity to Concerned Citizen Tribunal (CCT), which was formed by eminent former judges and social activists.

Ms Setalvad writes, “Mr Pandya told CCT that at that meeting, Narendra Modi had asked the top men of his administration to allow people to vent their frustration and not come in the way of the Hindu backlash.” Government agencies are probing several allegations against Ms Setalvad and her husband, Javed Anand. In the memoir, Ms Setalvad has dismissed all the allegations, terming the charges "political vendetta."