Tyrant Alert

I came across this post on Fufa, one of the forums on the Ryze Business Network, and felt it was significant enough to warrant wider coverage. And hence, I'm reproducing an email that was posted on the board as a gesture of my solidarity with that campaign... and my hope and prayer that justice will be met.

The Gujarat riots that took place a few years ago have been a blot in the history of modern India not only because of the senseless savagery that took place but due to the apparent connivance of state officials in perpetuating, provoking and even abetting the violence and ethnic cleansing.

Chief Minister Narendra Modi is a man who, I think, deserves a place right next to Hitler, Stalin, and Osama. He should have been fired from his job but sad to say he is still in the hot seat and as this email suggests he is still capable of perpetuating his nefarious ways. While this particular campaign is asking for revoking the police chief Pande's promotion, but personally I hope it would also lead to Modi's resignation and eventual prosecution.

People like him do not deserve a place of power in any democracy. People like him must be punished so that democracy can be strengthened. People like him must be hauled over judicial charcoals because it's the right thing to do.

From: "Smita Vasudevan "
Subject: Experiments with violence in Gujarat
Date: Mon, 01 May 2006 00:00:54 -0500

Last week I read the book 'Scarred – Experiments with violence in Gujarat' by Dionne Bunsha. I read about a pregnant woman whose womb was cut open, the unborn child pulled out and thrown into the fire before her eyes. She was then burnt alive. Her crime? Only that she prayed to a different God (or the same God by another name?).
Ahsan Jafri was sitting in his house when the mob entered. They stripped him and cut off his fingers. Half dead, he was paraded around the neighborhood and asked to say 'Jai Shri Ram'. After which his hands and legs were cut off and he was thrown in the fire to roast alive.

Jafri had called up the Police Chief Pande, asking for help much before the mob got there.
Pande knew what was happening. But he just let innocent people die. Why? Perhaps he believed that they deserved to die because they were Muslims, perhaps it's because the little children being burnt alive were not his own or just maybe it was because he knew he'd be rewarded for this one day. And that day has finally come. On the April 28 2006, Modi promoted Mr. Pande to the position of DSP.

The only people fighting this injustice are a bunch of social workers and the families of those killed. In all probability this man will go scot-free.

But it doesn't have to be that way.... Not if each of us takes a 5 minutes off to write to anyone who can do something. Just pick up your phone and SMS NDTV at 6388. Go to their website www.ndtv.com and pen down a note of protest in the 'Feedback' section. Make them cover the issue in-depth so that more people raise a noise. Take 5 minutes off to pen down a note and send it to letters@thehindu.co.in

Please forward this mail to everyone that you know. The more people protest, the more they will be heard.

Today it was someone else's mother that was raped, someone else's sister who was burnt alive, and someone else's child that was hacked to pieces. What if it had been your own? Over a 1000 people died in Gujarat. Help their families get justice.