Fake encounter case: How Vanzara's arrest gave halo of victimhood to Modi
A major chapter in our history of national security and was closed when Gujarat's controversial retired DIG DG Vanzara was released on bail after eight years of incarceration. He was an accused in nearly a dozen fake encounter cases slapped on him and around 30 other police officers by the previous UPA government. Certain radical minority institutions whose countrywide jihadi links Vanzara had managed to uncover at the time of his arrest, I believe, were also allegedly actively behind the fake encounter cases of Gujarat, including Ishrat Jahan and Sohrabuddin cases.
The sea of people that converged to welcome Vanzara at the Sabarmati jail shows is a testimony of his popularity. The weight of hundreds of garlands around his neck weighed Vanzara down before he unwrapped himself and addressed his supporters and the press. "I and my brave Gujarat police colleagues fought for the country and people's security. My commitment to national security and fight against terrorism remains as strong as ever. I respect the judiciary. My bail proves justice can get delayed but not denied".
There were emotional moments, too, when a misty-eyed Gauriben, his wife, was made to climb the bonnet of the SUV from where Vanzara addressed his supporters. Vanzara's brothers, Kaluji and Vanraj, as well as his son Prithviraj, however, were as stoic as Vanzara.
Former Indian Youth Congress president Maninderjeet Singh Bitta, who took a strong stand against terrorism after becoming its victim in 1990s, strongly came out in support of Vanzara calling him a victim of Congress conspiracy and even revealed details of how some of the Congress leaders-cum lawyers had defended the Sikh terrorists involved in the terror attack on him. Bitta went to meet Vanzara inside jail before his release and remained with him right till he left for Mumbai from Ahmedabad airport three hours later. Cries of ''Vande Mataram", "Bharat Mata ki Jai" and "Sat Sri Akal" continued around Vanzara and Bitta till he entered the departure lounge of the airport.
Vanzara's bail is conditional as he has been asked by the court to live in Mumbai and not to leave city limits. His son Prithviraj has vowed not to marry till Vanzara reaches his home in Gandhinagar. And so there was an emotional moment at the airport when Vanzara put his hand over his son's head and was heard commenting: "Beta, You have run from pillar to post for your father like Ram. Today my jailwas (innings in jail) ends and vanvaas (innings in forest) begins. But I am hopeful I will come back home soon''.
Whatever the legal merits of Gujarat's encounter cases none can deny the political conspiracy behind them as a much higher number of encounter cases in states like Uttar Pradesh are out of the spotlight. What is so disturbing about Gujarat cases, including Vanzara's, is that the very cops who were booked have, according to me, played a very bold role in unearthing the links of jihadi outfits.
In fact these very officers were repository of knowledge about the activities and strategy of ultra-Wahabi outfits who are behind the terror ideology, particularly Vanzara, who had developed a very good network of informants amongst moderate Islamic or Sufi tanzeems always eager to cooperate in the fight against ultra-Wahabi terror. Significantly, Gujarat didn't see a single terror attack till Vanzara was arrested - the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts happened only after his arrest.
At the time of his arrest, Vanzara had managed to penetrate into the of ultra-Wahabi outfits across India, from UP, Bihar to Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala. And so it is said the sympathisers of these ultra-Wahabi outfits in the political arena too were behind the fake encounter cases in Gujarat, aimed particularly against Vanzara. Ishrat Jahan's case was glaring. Despite strong evidence that she was hand in glove with terrorists, an attempt was made to show that not just she but the three men killed with her, two of them by any yardsticks actual terrorists, were innocent.
The mouthpiece of LeT in Pakistan had hailed her as a martyr for the jihadi cause soon after the encounter but a year later gave a clarification that she was in no way involved in terror and the publication had wrongly hailed her as a martyr. In the clarification the publication also tendered an apology to her family for the hardships it had to undergo because of the tribute that LeT paid to her. As political analyst, Japan Pathak, who has studied the Gujarat fake encounter, says: "The tribute and then the apology after a long gap prove that there was an apparent connection between at least some of the people who wanted to frame the Gujarat cops and the jihadis in Pakistan". The LeT clarification came when relatives of a victim decided to file a case against the cops in court.
The Gujarat encounter case story is also famous for the role played by some of the Muslims officers in service of the nation. In 2013 when pressure on the home ministry began for filing a case of criminal conspiracy against a senior Indian Intelligence Bureau officer, Rajendra Kumar, who had actually passed on the intelligence to Gujarat police on the movement of the encounter victims, the then IB chief Asif Ibrahim put his foot down saying it would affect national security. In doing so he put the UPA government and their co-conspirators on the back foot.
It was indeed very brave of Ibrahim as he had been handpicked by the UPA government. There were Muslim officers too who were actively involved in the Gujarat police drive against jihadis.
But none can forget one of the biggest upshot of the Gujarat encounter cases story - the halo of victimhood the encounter cases gave to Narendra Modi. As a Modi watcher says: "These cases played a very big role in creating a sympathy wave for Modi which eventually helped him to win 282 seats and become prime pinister''.