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-<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Tehelka-The Truth Gujarat 2002-video footage screenshot.jpg|thumb|300px|right|''Tehelka'' video footage of ex-Bajrang Dal leader and BJP MLA Haresh Bhatt.]] -->
-'''The Truth: Gujarat 2002'''<ref name="thetruth-website">{{cite web|title=Gujarat 2002: The Truth In the Words of the Men Who Did It|url=http://archive.tehelka.com/story_main35.asp?filename=Ne031107gujrat_sec.asp|publisher=Tehelka|date=7 November 2007|accessdate=30 May 2013}}</ref>  (also called Operation Kalank) was an [[Investigative journalism|investigative report]] on the [[2002 Gujarat violence]] published by India's ''[[Tehelka]]'' news magazine in its 7 November 2007 issue.  The report, which was based on a six-month long investigation and involved video [[sting operation]]s, claimed that the violence was possible because of the connivance of the state police, as well as the Chief Minister of Gujarat [[Narendra Modi]]. The report and subsequent reactions were widely covered in Indian and international media.<ref>{{cite news|title=Gujarat state head 'supported Muslim massacre'|url=http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gTytUYNbD-Go9mm8U3s_g1SKIhLg|accessdate=29 April 2013|newspaper=AFP|date=Oct 25, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Majumder|first=Sanjoy|title=BJP dismisses Gujarat riot claims|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7063327.stm|accessdate=29 April 2013|newspaper=BBC|date=26 October 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Lakshmi|first=Rama|title=Hindus Detail Involvement In Deadly '02 Riots in India|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/25/AR2007102501829.html|accessdate=29 April 2013|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=October 26, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title='Top RSS, VHP men behind 2002 riots'|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/India/Top-RSS-VHP-men-behind-2002-riots/Article1-254191.aspx|accessdate=29 April 2013|newspaper=The Hindustan Times|date=October 26, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Singh|first=Onkar|title=Gujarat riots a genocide; Modi sanctioned it: Tehelka|url=http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/oct/25godhra.htm|accessdate=29 April 2013|newspaper=Rediff|date=October 25, 2007}}</ref><ref name=economist>{{cite news|title=Don't mention the massacre|url=http://www.economist.com/node/10251282?story_id=10251282|accessdate=6 May 2013|newspaper=The Economist|date=Dec 6, 2007}}</ref> The recordings were authenticated by India's [[Central Bureau of Investigation]] on 10 May 2009.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jaffrelot |first1=Christophe  |year=2012 |title=Gujarat 2002: What Justice for the Victims? |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |volume=XLVII |issue=8 |page=78 |publisher= |doi= |url=http://www.epw.in/special-articles/gujarat-2002-what-justice-victims.html |accessdate=22 May 2013}}</ref>
-Some of those investigated in the report were sentenced by court, including two leaders and 30 others. The leader of the Bajrang Dal [[Babu Bajrangi]] was sentenced to life.<ref name=ndtv>{{cite web|url=http://www.ndtv.com/article/cheat-sheet/naroda-patiya-riots-former-minister-maya-kodnani-gets-18-years-in-jail-261251 |title=Naroda Patiya riots: Former minister Maya Kodnani gets 28 years in jail |publisher=NDTV.com |date= |accessdate=2012-11-17}}</ref> Former Gujarat legislator [[Maya Kodnani]] was sentenced to 28 years prison time.<ref name=ndtv/> The death penalty was being sought for them as of April 2013.<ref>{{cite news|title=Gujarat government to seek death penalty for Kodnani, Bajrangi |newspaper=The Hindu |date=April 17, 2013 |accessdate=2013-05-30 |url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/gujarat-govt-to-seek-death-for-maya-kodnani/article4626829.ece}}</ref> Parts of the report were used as evidence in court,<ref>{{cite news |title=Journalist who ‘stung’ Babu Bajrangi deposes |author=Express News Service |url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/journalist-who--stung--babu-bajrangi-deposes/888887/ |newspaper=The Indian Express |date=Dec 17, 2011 |accessdate=May 26, 2013}}</ref> and Ashish Khetan, the author of the report who was deposed in court, writes that the evidence was crucial for the conviction of the accused.<ref name="khetan_sting_its">{{cite news |title=The Sting in the Story |author=Ashish Khetan |url=http://tehelka.com/the-sting-in-the-story/?singlepage=1 |newspaper=Tehelka |date=Sept 08, 2012 |accessdate=May 26, 2013}}</ref> The magazine called the convictions "vindication" for its 2007 report.<ref>{{cite news|title=Babu Bajrangi and Maya Kodnani convicted for Naroda Patiya massacre |publisher=Tehelka |date=August 29, 2012 |accessdate=2013-05-30 |url=http://archive.tehelka.com/story_main53.asp?filename=Ws290712TEHELKA_IMPACT.asp}}</ref>
-==Content==
-An October 2007 report by the investigative news magazine ''[[Tehelka]]'' used a video sting operation to record a number of [[Sangh Parivar]] activists describing the riots from their perspective. The report's table of content reads:
-# "First-hand accounts from the men who plotted and executed the genocide in [[Ahmedabad]], [[Vadodara]] and [[Sabarkantha]]. Mayhem was meticulously planned and carried out by Vishva Hindu Parishad-[[Bajrang Dal]] cadres across Muslim localities."<ref name="thetruth-website"/>
-# "The VHP and the Bajrang Dal manufactured and distributed lethal weapons across the state, often with the connivance of the police."<ref name="thetruth-website"/>
-# "Shocking accounts of how the guardians of the law colluded with the outlaws to make Gujarat’s horror even worse."<ref name="thetruth-website"/>
-# "Key [[Bharatiya Janata Party]], [[Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]], VHP and Bajrang Dal activists speak openly of how [[Narendra Modi]] blessed the anti-Muslim pogrom."<ref name="thetruth-website"/>
-# "How public prosecutors ran with the hare and hunted with the hound, keeping their sympathies strictly for the accused. Government Counsel Arvind Pandya on how he hopes to subvert justice by manipulating the Nanavati-Shah Commission, set up to ascertain the truth."<ref name="thetruth-website"/>
-# "The truth behind [[Naroda|Naroda Patiya]], the grisliest massacre of 2002. Ahmedabad police’s collusion in the pogrom and its cover-up. Gory details of how former Congress MP [[Ehsan Jafri]] was hacked limb by limb at [[Gulbarg Society massacre|Gulbarg Society]], in the words of those who did it."<ref name="thetruth-website"/>
-# "How spontaneous mob fury was shown as a premeditated conspiracy by the police who produced fake witnesses by bribing, coercion and torture."<ref name="thetruth-website"/>
-There was substantial media interest in the report's description of Narendra Modi's role in the riots, based, for example, on video footage of a senior Bajrang Dal leader saying that at a public meeting the day of the fire, "he had given us three days to do whatever we could. He said he would not give us time after that, he said this openly."<ref name=reuters>{{cite news|last=Rajesh|first=Y.P.|title=Hindu activists accuse Modi for Gujarat riots|url=http://in.reuters.com/article/2007/10/25/idINIndia-30166020071025|accessdate=29 April 2013|newspaper=Reuters|date=Oct 26, 2007}}</ref>
-==Key people==
-*Babu Bajrangi, Bajrang Dal leader<ref name=impact1 /><ref name=impact2 />
-*Haresh Bhatt, Bharatiya Janata Party MLA and Bajrang Dal vice-president<ref name=impact1 /><ref name=impact2 />
-*Maya Kodnani (Naroda Patiya)<ref name=ndtv />
-*Suresh Richard (Naroda Patiya)<ref name=impact1 /><ref name=impact2 />
-*Mangilal Jain (Gulbarg Society massacre)<ref name=impact1 /><ref name=impact2 />
-*Prahlad Raju (Gulbarg Society massacre)<ref name=impact2 />
-*Madan Chawal (Gulbarg Society massacre)<ref name=impact2 />
-*Rajendra Vyas (Ahmedabad)<ref name=impact1 /><ref name=impact2 />
-*Anil Patel (Sabarkantha)<ref name=impact2 />
-*Dhawal Jayanti Patel<ref name=impact2 />
-==Authenticity==
-Journalist [[B G Verghese]] described the report as "nothing short of a bombshell ... too well-documented to have been faked, as alleged. The effect was numbing."<ref>{{cite book|last=Verghese|first=B G|title=First Draft: Witness To The Making Of Modern India|year=2010|page=448|publisher=Westland}}</ref>
-On 5 March 2008, the [[National Human Rights Commission of India]] directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to authenticate the video evidence uncovered by the ''Tehelka'' report. The CBI investigated the raw video footage and the equipment used to create it, and interviewed 14 of 18 "persons belonging to different Hindu outfits like VHP, Bajrang Dal, RSS and Gujarat Police [who] have been shown making revelations."<ref name=cbi-report>{{cite web|title=CBI Authentication of Tehelka Tapes Pursuant to the NHRC Order dated March 5, 2008|accessdate=22 May 2013|author=Central Bureau of Investigation|url=http://www.cjponline.org/gujaratTrials/statecomp/pdf%20files/pdfs/CBI%20Authentication%20of%20Tehelka%20Tapes.pdf|year=2009}}</ref>
-In October 2009, the CBI responded to the NHRC by issuing a report stating that "No Evidence of editing, alteration and tempering has been detected in the audio video recordings and their respective voice track recorded in the DVDs" and that "[Forensic Science Laboratory staff] have stated that on the basis of the result of the examination of the exhibits by them, it is clear that the recordings in the Sting Operation are authentic." After interviewing the subjects of the videos, the CBI reported, "Most of the above mentioned persons have stated that they were approached by some person / persons and that they have talked on the subject of Gujarat Riots which is the subject matter of the sting operation."<ref name=cbi-report/>
-==Journalistic ethics==
-The sting operation raised questions regarding journalistic ethics.<ref name=sajaforum>{{cite web|title=Media: The Gujarat Killings, and the Ethics of Tehelka|url=http://www.sajaforum.org/2007/10/tehelkas-sting.html|work=SAJA Forum|last=Dudney|first=Arthur|date=October 31, 2007|publisher=South Asian Journalists Association|accessdate=29 April 2013}}</ref> Arthur Dudney, a South Asia scholar at [[Columbia University]] wrote, "From the perspective of squeaky-clean journalism, Khetan has broken two rules: Firstly, misrepresenting his identity as a journalist and secondly, making false promises about confidentiality."<ref name="sajaforum"/> Considering that the issue was implicating a sitting Chief Minister, Dudney seems to suggest that a method other than duplicity was probably not available: "When a subject hesitated during an interview, Khetan said: 'I won’t quote it anywhere ... For that matter ... I am not even going to quote you' and immediately after the reporter promised that, the interviewee made a chilling admission: Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat, had given the Hindu chauvinists three days to do whatever they wanted without government interference. Obviously the fact that the sitting Chief Minister of a state participated in communal violence is a matter that the public must know about, but I can see no way that the story would have come out had Khetan not bent the rules."<ref name="sajaforum"/>
-==Partisan criticism==
-The sting operation led to partisan criticism, both from Bharatiya Janata Party, as well as the Congress. Political activist [[Arundhati Roy]] described the range of critiques: "The overwhelming public reaction to the sting was not outrage, but suspicion about its timing. Most people believed that the exposé would help Modi win the elections again. Some even believed, quite outlandishly, that he had engineered the sting. He did win the elections."<ref name="roy-field-notes">{{cite book|last=Roy|first=Arundhati|title=Field Notes on Democracy|year=2009|publisher=Haymarket Books|location=Chicago|pages=158-159}}</ref>
-===Critiques of anti-BJP bias===
-Indian journalist and Member of Parliament associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party, [[Chandan Mitra]], described the timing of the report's release as being "so transparently pegged to the Gujarat assembly polls that even breast-beating secular fundamentalists found it hard to defend."<ref>[http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20071112&fname=Cover+Story+(F)&sid=6 A Sting Without Venom] Outlook India - November 12, 2007 issue</ref> It was pointed out that the report was released only a month before the assembly elections of Gujarat,<ref>[http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnist1.asp?main_variable=Columnist&file_name=KANCHAN126.txt&writer=KANCHAN&validit=yes Half-truths don't help Muslims] - Kanchan Gupta{{Dead link|date=April 2013}}</ref> and some claimed the sting was only meant to bring the downfall of the [[Narendra Modi]] government.<ref>[http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnist1.asp?main_variable=Columnist&file_name=SWAPAN171.txt&writer=SWAPAN&validit=yes  Gujarat has outgrown riot] - Swapan Dasgupta</ref> [[Bal Thackeray]], the head of the [[Shiv Sena]] party termed the report a "political conspiracy to defame the Hindus" by the "so-called secularists".<ref>[http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/001200710271941.htm Tehelka sting a political conspiracy: Shiv Sena] [[The Hindu]] - October 27, 2007</ref> It was pointed out the Modi did not visit Naroda Patiya as the ''Tehelka'' report claimed, and that [[Aaj Tak]] coverage mixed ''Tehelka'' material with material from the movie [[Parzania]], which Arvind Lavakare claimed was used to sensationalize the reports on the ''Tehelka'' findings.<ref>[http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14562098&vsv=SHGTpicslot Who killed 254 Hindus in Gujarat?] Sify - November 16, 2007</ref> The [[Bharatiya Janata Party]] claimed that ''Tehelka'' never conducted any sting against the [[Indian National Congress]] and alleged that the Congress-led government gave ''Tehelka'' [[tax exemption]]s.<ref>[http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Oct272007/national2007102732570.asp Tehelka is Cong proxy: BJP] Deccan Herald - October 27, 2007</ref>
-===Critiques of pro-BJP bias===
-Alternatively, some claimed that Narendra Modi himself orchestrated the sting to gain support in the 2007 Gujarat elections.<ref name="roy-field-notes"/><ref>[http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20071112&fname=Cover+Story+%28F%29&sid=2 'Is It For Another Riot?'] Outlook India - November 12, 2007</ref> According to ''[[The Economist]]'', some senior members of the [[Indian National Congress]] accused ''Tehelka'' of being "in cahoots" with the [[Bharatiya Janata Party|BJP]]<ref name=economist/> as a tool to galvanize the [[Hindu]] vote. The bookies in Gujarat did respond to the report by shortening the odds on Modi,<ref name="economist"/> indicating heavy betting for Modi's win.
-==Impact==
-The video reports were aired on [[Aaj Tak]].<ref name=impact2 /> The media widely covered the sensational segments from the report, but in some places, such as [[Ahmedabad]] in the state of [[Gujarat]], the government banned coverage.<ref name=impact1 /> A group of editors criticized the Gujarat for banning cable from airing the reports.<ref>{{cite news |title= Editors Guild condemns Gujarat action |newspaper=The Hindu |date=October 30, 2007 |accessdate=2013-05-30 |url=http://www.hindu.com/2007/10/30/stories/2007103055681200.htm}}</ref>
-The reports were the impetus for further investigations. [[Mayawati]], chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, called for new investigations as a direct result of the Tehelka report and the "fresh information" it had uncovered about the organized mass murder.<ref name=impact1 />
-Among the more reported segments of the report was video of Babu Bajrangi, the Bajrang Dal leader, describing the slaughter at Naroda Patiya and his reaction to it: "After killing them, I felt like Maharana Pratap." [[Maharana Pratap]] was a 16th-century ruler who was known for confronting the enemy at the Battle of Haldighati.<ref name=impact1 /> In the Tehelka transcript, Bajrangi is further quoted as saying, "(and we killed at will, turned the place into Haldighati)... And I am proud of it, if I get another chance, I will kill even more ..."<ref>{{cite news|title=‘After Killing Them, I Felt Like Maharana Pratap’ |publisher=Tehelka magazine |date=September 1, 2007 |accessdate=2013-05-30 |url=http://archive.tehelka.com/story_main35.asp?filename=Ne031107After_killing.asp}}</ref> After he was charged, Bajrangi denied his involvement and said, "I never killed even an ant in my life". He also told reporters, "I did not lead any mob in Naroda Patiya. The sting operation shows me saying that I took a sword and cut open a woman's womb. But I was trying to explain that the FIR filed against me accuses me of that act and that I deny it."<ref name=impact2 /> He was later convicted by the riot court for 97 of those murdered at Naroda Patiya, which was one location among many in [[2002 Gujarat violence]].<ref>{{cite news|title=BJP MLA among 32 guilty in Naroda Patiya massacre |publisher=Indian Express |date=August 30, 2012 |accessdate=2013-05-30 |url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/bjp-mla-among-32-guilty-in-naroda-patiya-massacre/995125/}}</ref>
-Shortly after the publication of ''Tehelka'' report, a spokesperson from Congress called on Narendra Modi to resign. Modi responded with silence to the report and its evidence that he had allegedly encouraged violence.<ref name=impact1>{{cite news|title=Tehelka expose: Modi should go, says Cong |publisher=NDTV |date=October 26, 2007 |accessdate=2013-05-30 |url=http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070030761}}</ref><ref name=impact2>{{cite news|title=Sting traps footsoldiers of Gujarat riots allegedly boasting about killings with state support |publisher=The Indian Express |date=October 26, 2007 |accessdate=2013-05-30 |url=http://www.indianexpress.com/story/232545.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Modi sanctioned Gujarat violence: Tehelka probe |newspaper=DNA |date=October 25, 2007 |accessdate=2013-05-30  |url=http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_modi-sanctioned-gujarat-violence-tehelka-probe_1129894}}</ref>
-==See also==
-* [[2002 Gujarat violence]]
-* [[Naroda Patiya massacre]]
-* [[Gulbarg Society massacre]]
-==References==
-{{reflist|2}}
-==External links==
-* [http://archive.tehelka.com/story_main35.asp?filename=Ne031107gujrat_sec.asp ''Tehelka'''s "The Truth" report]
-* [http://www.tehelka.com/story_main35.asp?filename=Ne031107safehouseofhorrors.asp Safehouse Of Horrors - The Report] at [[Tehelka]] Nov 03, 2007.
-* [http://www.tehelka.com/story_main53.asp?filename=Ne080912Coverstory.asp The sting in the story (Backstory of the sting)] Tehelka,  8 Sept 2012.
-{{DEFAULTSORT:The Truth: Gujarat 2002 (Tehelka report)}}
-[[Category:Politics of Gujarat]]
-[[Category:2007 in India]]
-[[Category:Investigative journalism]]
-[[Category:2002 Gujarat violence]]
-[[Category:Religious violence in India]]