Gordhan Zadafia (born 20 June 1954) is an Indian politician from

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. He was a leader in

Vishva Hindu Parishad Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) () is an Indian Right-wing politics, right-wing Hindu organisation based on Hindutva, Hindu nationalism. The VHP was founded in 1964 by M. S. Golwalkar and S. S. Apte in collaboration with Chinmayananda Saraswati, ...

(VHP) for 15 years before joining

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

(BJP). He served as the General Secretary of BJP in

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

city and was elected twice as a member of the

Gujarat Legislative Assembly The Gujarat Legislative Assembly or Gujarat Vidhan Sabha is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Gujarat, in the state capital Gandhinagar. Presently, 182 members of the Legislative Assembly are directly elected from single-member ...

during 1995–97 and 1998–2002. He was a Minister of State for Home and Security and Police Housing (Independent Charge) during 2001–2002 in the state Government of Gujarat led by

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

. He was accused of involvement in the

2002 Gujarat riots The 2002 Gujarat riots, also known as the 2002 Gujarat violence or the Gujarat pogrom, was a three-day period of inter-communal violence in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The Godhra train burning, burning of a train in Godhra on 27 Fe ...

. Following a break with Narendra Modi after 2002, he pursued other political parties, competing against BJP, but eventually rejoined BJP in 2014.

Political career

Zadafia was a close associate of the VHP chief

Praveen Togadia Pravin Togadia (; born 12 December 1956) is an Indian doctor, cancer surgeon and an advocate for Hindu nationalism, coming from the state of Gujarat. He was the former International Working President of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and a can ...

in Gujarat unit of VHP. He is reported to have been inducted as a Minister in the Modi cabinet as a sop to the latter for his support of Modi's chief ministership. Zadafia is accused of involvement in the

by posting police officers sympathetic to VHP in strategic positions and accused of helping unleash violence. He transferred police officers such as Rahul Sharma. On his orders, police raided refugee camps claiming that they housed rioters. After the December 2002 elections,

dropped him from the cabinet to signal a break with the VHP. Zadafia subsequently floated a new political party, Mahagujarat Janata Party (MJP) during the 2007 assembly elections in Gujarat, later merged into the Gujarat Parivartan Party of former chief minister

Keshubhai Patel Keshubhai Patel (24 July 192829 October 2020) was an Indian politician who was the Chief Minister of Gujarat in 1995 and again from 1998 to 2001. He was a six-time member of Gujarat Legislative Assembly. He was a member of RSS since 1940s, of ...

. During the 2012 assembly elections, Togadia and VHP activists campaigned hard for the Gujarat Parivartan Party against the BJP. Despite all efforts, Zadafia and his team lost the 2012 elections. The VHP support for Zadafia ended up strengthening

's anti-hardline Hindutva image. The

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) questioned Zadafia thrice regarding his role in the 2002 riots. Following reports that SIT had found evidence against him and senior police officers, it was reported that Zadafia was inclined to testify against Modi. Following pressure from RSS leaders, Zadafia refrained from such a move. On 24 February 2014, Zadafia rejoined the BJP and merged Gujarat Parivartan Party into it.

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Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zadafia, Gordhan Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh members Vishva Hindu Parishad members 2002 Gujarat riots 1954 births Politicians from Ahmedabad Living people Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Gujarat Gujarat MLAs 1995–1998 Gujarat MLAs 1998–2002 Hindu nationalists

Political career

See also

References

Bibliography