‘Confusion has been spread …’, PM Modi said on the 2002 Gujarat riots, said – PM Narendra Modi Podcast with Lex Fridman Talks about 2002 Gujarat Riots NTC

The podcast of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s special conversation with American Podcaster Lex Freedman was released on Sunday, in which several important topics were discussed. In this conversation, there was a detailed discussion on issues like Artificial Intelligence, Technology, India’s cultural heritage, democracy and global diplomacy. PM Modi said that confusion was spread by calling the 2002 Gujarat riots a big riot. Whereas even before this, riots used to take place in Gujarat.

PM Modi said that before the old events you have talked about, I would like to present a picture of 12 to 15 months before you can guess what was the situation. For example, on 24 December, 1999, i.e. about three years ago. An Indian flight from Kathmandu to Delhi was hijacked and taken to Afghanistan. Hundreds of Indian passengers were taken hostage. There was a huge upheaval all over India, because people had a question of life and death. Then, in the year 2000, terrorists attacked the Red Fort in Delhi. Another crisis again shook the country. On September 11, 2001, there was a huge terrorist attack on twin towers in the US, which once again worried the whole world. There are only one type of people attacking everywhere.

‘Gujarat was emerging from earthquake at that time’

He said that in October 2001, terrorists attacked the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly. Soon after, the Parliament of India was targeted on 13 December 2001. Within 8 to 10 months, these major global terrorist attacks took place, violent incidents, in which bloodshed and innocent people died. In such a stressful atmosphere, even a small spark could integrate unrest. The situation had arisen. At such a time, suddenly on 7 October 2001 I was given the responsibility of becoming the Chief Minister of Gujarat. This was a big challenge, at that time Gujarat was emerging from a devastating earthquake. The largest earthquake of the previous century, in which thousands of people were killed. My first big as Chief Minister was. This was an important task and after taking oath, I was engaged in this work from the very first day.

He said that I am a person who had no prior experience with the government. I had never been a part of any administration, never even worked in the government before. I had never contested elections, never became an MLA. I had to contest elections for the first time in life. On February 24, 2002, I became an MLA for the first time. And for the first time, I stepped into the Gujarat Legislative Assembly for the first time around 24, 25 or 26 February. On February 27, 2002, we were sitting in the assembly for the budget session. And on the same day, I became an MLA for only three days, when the incident happened in Godhra suddenly. The Bhayakar incident was, people were burnt alive. You can imagine that the background of the previous incidents is the background and such a number of people can be burnt alive, can be imagined how the situation would have been.

‘Court found us completely innocent’

Prime Minister Modi said that of course, nothing should be done, we also want peace. The second one who says that these were very big riots, then this confusion has been spread. If you look at the data before 2002, it is told how many riots used to be in Gujarat. There was always curfew here. Kite flying or a minor collision of bicycle used to riot. There were more than 250 big riots in Gujarat before 2002. The riots that took place in 1969 had lasted for about six months. At that time, we were not anywhere in the picture of the world. And such a big incident became such a sparking point that violence happened. But the court has seen this case very deeply. At that time, our political opponents were in power, and naturally they wanted us to be punished. But despite their untiring efforts, the judiciary twice analyzed the situation closely and eventually found us completely innocent.

He said that the court did its work for those who had committed the crime. But the biggest thing is that in Gujarat where there were riots somewhere in the year, after 2002, there was no big riot in Gujarat in 22 years. There is complete peace. Our effort has been that we do not do vote bank politics. We take this minister “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, everyone’s faith, everyone’s effort”, this minister. We have moved from the politics of appeasement to the politics of aspiration. Because of this, whoever has to do something, he joins us and Gujarat has become a developed state, we have been working for it. Now we are working for developed India, Gujarat is playing its role in it.

It is necessary to criticize in democracy: PM Modi

The media has criticized you about the 2002 riots, how do you deal with that. In response to this, Prime Minister Modi said that if I have to tell in a sentence, I welcome it. I firmly believe that criticism is the soul of democracy. If you are true democratic, there is democracy in your blood, then our scriptures say, “Always keep your critics with you.” So you can work well in a democratic way. I believe that there should be criticism and there should be very sharp criticism. But my complaint is that nowadays there is no criticism. A lot of studies have to be done for this. The subject has to go closely. Has had to find out the truth and lies. Nowadays people do not do any study or research due to the habit of finding shortcuts and start making allegations. There is a lot of difference between accusing and criticizing. The people whose people are giving references are allegations, not criticism. Criticism should be needed to strengthen democracy. No one is good with the charge. Tu-tu, I-me is. So I always welcome criticism with an open heart. And whenever false allegations are made, I continue to serve my country with full dedication peacefully.