Thaindian News

New Delhi, April 26 (IANS) Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s portrayal of the state as “vibrant” holds little truth with rising crimes against women, rising levels of hunger and child labour, activist Teesta Setalvad said here Tuesday.

“All these advertisements of a vibrant Gujarat are nothing but a sham. The various socio-economic parameters like rising cases of crime against women after 2002 or the persistence of child labour in various industries, violation of labour laws in the diamond industry and the glaring poverty of the Muslim community point otherwise,” Setalvad said.

She was addressing a conference here on “Post-carnage Gujarat and its socio-political reality”.

The activist voiced her concern in the backdrop of police officer Sanjiv Bhatt’s claim that he was present at a meeting Feb 27, 2002 when, according to his affidavit in the Supreme Court, Modi said that Muslims needed to be “taught a lesson” for the Godhra train burning in which 59 Hindus were killed.

“The 23,000 survivors of the Gujarat carnage live in box like houses in a land that is not authorised. So tomorrow there is every chance that they maybe demolished. They don’t even have ration cards or below-poverty-line cards. Moreover, all those Muslim families which had any kind of business have not received any support or loan to rebuild their lives,” she added.

On crime against women, Setalvad said: “There is a lot of internalisation of crime, giving rise to violence against women at homes post 2002. What else can you expect to happen to a society when a band of people are trained to rape and kill?”

Putting the onus on the media, she said: “Why is that unlike other chief ministers there is no query on Modi’s assets? I have filed five RTIs but have got no information. There is a constant pressure on journalists to not report the truth”.