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''Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up'' is a journalistic book about 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 ...
authored and self-published by Rana Ayyub. The book is dedicated to Shahid Azmi along with advocate and activist Mukul Sinha. The foreword of the book is authored by Justice
B. N. Srikrishna Bellur Narayanaswamy Srikrishna (born 21 May 1941) is an Indian jurist and a retired judge of the Supreme Court of India. From 1993 to 1998, he headed the "Srikrishna Commission" that investigated causes and apportioned blame for the Bombay ri ...
.


Background

By posing as Maithili Tyagi, a US based film-maker and a student of the
American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...
subscribing to the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS,, ) is an Indian right-wing politics, right-wing, Hindutva, Hindu nationalist volunteer paramilitary organisation. It is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar ( ...
's ideology, Ayyub managed to get access to senior police officers, bureaucrats, and politicians in Gujarat. She even managed to meet
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 ...
in her Maithili Tyagi disguise. Ayyub was wearing a concealed camera and microphone during these meetings which enabled her to record her conversations. The book is based on these recorded conversations. The recordings were made in the years 2010–11 in a time frame spanning eight months. The entire exercise had been carried out on behalf of
Tehelka ''Tehelka'' () is an Indian news magazine known for its investigative journalism and sting operations. According to the British newspaper ''The Independent'', the ''Tehelka'' was founded by Tarun Tejpal, Aniruddha Bahal and another colleague ...
for whom Ayyub was working at the time. Tehelka put an end to the investigation in April 2011.


Publication

According to a September 2016 column by Priya Ramani in
Mint Mint or The Mint may refer to: Plants * Lamiaceae, the mint family ** ''Mentha'', the genus of plants commonly known as "mint" Coins and collectibles * Mint (facility), a facility for manufacturing coins * Mint condition, a state of like-new ...
, ''Gujarat Files'' has become a bestseller with Ayyub managing to sell 32,000 copies of her book. Ramani notes that although no publisher was willing to publish her work, India's biggest English language book distributor, India Book Distributors (IBD), has reached an agreement with Ayyub to distribute the book the previous month and they have already sold 8,000 copies of the book. A
Hindi-language Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of the Government of India, alongside English, and is the ''lin ...
edition was published in 2017. By 2019n, Ayyub said the book had sold more than 600,000 copies.


Bookshops

It is alleged that many bookshops have refused to stock the book. In a July 2016 interview in ''Frontline'', Ayyub claimed that she called bookshops in
Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...
and
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 ...
pretending to be a reader looking to buy ''Gujarat Files''.


Reception


Reviews

In a review of the book in ''
The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...
'', Suchitra Vijayan writes that the book attempts to show how the bureaucracy, and the police, working in tandem, created lawlessness in Gujarat "in the aftermath of the anti-Muslim pogrom in 2002, and the numerous encounter deaths that took place between 2002 and 2006." Vijayan quotes
Justice Brandeis Louis Dembitz Brandeis ( ; November 13, 1856 – October 5, 1941) was an American lawyer who served as an associate justice on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1916 to 1939. Starting in 1890, he helped develop the "right to pri ...
of the US Supreme Court: "If the Government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.” According to Vijayan, the book contains incriminating information against
Amit Shah Amitbhai Anilchandra Shah (born 22 October 1964) is an Indian politician who is currently serving as the 32nd Ministry of Home Affairs (India), Minister of Home Affairs since May 2019 and the 1st Ministry of Co-operation, Minister of Co-operat ...
and
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 ...
; and the information that dalit and lower caste police officers in Gujarat were co-opted and made instruments of state violence. However, Vijayan calls the book an unfinished work "waiting for context and analysis." In a review of the book in the ''
Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...
'', Manjula Narayan writes that the book " mplicatespowerful politicians and evealssins of omission and commission." According to Narayan, the book is "an important work" which confirms many fears of corruption surrounding the Gujarat riots. In a review of the book in the ''
Business Standard ''Business Standard'' is an Indian English-language daily edition newspaper published by Business Standard Private Limited, also available in Hindi. Founded in 1975, the newspaper covers the Indian economy, infrastructure, international busi ...
'', Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay notes that the book's importance is due to the details it provides regarding the events in Gujarat in, and after, the year 2002. According to Mukhopadhyay: In a review of the book in ''Mint'', Salil Tripathi notes that "The picture that emerges from ''Gujarat Files'' is profoundly disillusioning because it reveals that the checks and balances which are so vital for a functioning democracy simply did not work in Gujarat." The officers Ayyub interviewed express helplessness in carrying out illegal orders because not doing so would jeopardize their careers, according to Tripathi. While commending Ayyub for her courage in the journalistic work she did to collect the material for this book, Tripathi observes:


Impact

Ramachandra Guha Ramachandra "Ram" Guha (born 29 April 1958) is an Indian historian, environmentalist, writer and public intellectual whose research interests include social, political, contemporary, environmental and cricket history. He is an important autho ...
has called ''Gujarat Files'' "a brave book". Reflecting on the procedure used by Ayyub in composing ''Gujarat Files'', Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay has observed: "Going undercover and interviewing many who had been in the thick of gruesome extra-constitutional operations required bravado and this must be appreciated." Priya Ramani has noted that though the book has been criticized for being poorly edited and lacking context, its actual content has not been criticized by anyone. Manoj Mitta has noted the silence on the book of those who were secretly taped by Ayyub, and also of a large section of mainstream media. While noting the silence on the book in a section of the Indian media, including the complete silence on Indian television, Jyoti Malhotra has commented that many journalists have privately applauded Ayyub's courage in authoring this book. According to Malhotra, the charges in the book are serious in that Narendra Modi himself is accused of being complicit in the 2002 Gujarat riots. The book also accuses
Amit Shah Amitbhai Anilchandra Shah (born 22 October 1964) is an Indian politician who is currently serving as the 32nd Ministry of Home Affairs (India), Minister of Home Affairs since May 2019 and the 1st Ministry of Co-operation, Minister of Co-operat ...
"of allegedly masterminding the Gujarat riots as well as ordering the killing of a terrorist Sohrabuddin Sheikh, his wife or live-in partner Kausar Bi and his associate Tulsiram Prajapati, "according to Malhotra. "If these transcripts are validated, they could present serious legal and ethical repercussions about Shah’s use of the State police force as his personal assassination squad and the bureaucracy as his fief," writes Suchitra Vijayan. Indira Jaising, who represented the CBI in court in the Ishrat case, has observed that " e book validates what CBI investigations had revealed.” Reflecting on the book, Manjula Narayan observes: In 2023, the author was interviewed regarding
India–United States relations India and the United States established diplomatic relations in 1947 following the independence of India from the United Kingdom. Currently, India and the United States enjoy close relations and have deepened collaboration on issues such as cou ...
on
Democracy Now! ''Democracy Now!'' is an hour-long TV, radio, and Internet news program based in Manhattan and hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, which airs live ...


Criticism

In the
Haren Pandya Haren Pandya (27 August 1961 – 26 March 2003) was the Home Minister of Gujarat in India. He was murdered in 2003 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, when he was sitting in his car (the place of his murder is contentious), after a morning walk in the Law Ga ...
murder case, the
Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...
dismissed Rana Ayyub's book, stating that "it is based upon surmises, conjectures, and suppositions and has no evidentiary value." Ayyub termed the court's comments "puzzling", since the CBI had used her work as evidence in other related cases, and noted that no officer or bureaucrat had denied her claims or taken her to court. In response to claims by Rana Ayyub at the book's launch & suggestions in the book that her work was not carried by ''
Tehelka ''Tehelka'' () is an Indian news magazine known for its investigative journalism and sting operations. According to the British newspaper ''The Independent'', the ''Tehelka'' was founded by Tarun Tejpal, Aniruddha Bahal and another colleague ...
'' (the weekly the author was a journalist with) citing “political pressure”, Shoma Chaudhury, then managing editor of ''Tehelka'', has written: "It did not meet the necessary editorial standards. While parts of the story were good, there were a lot of loopholes and serious concerns about the procedure that had been followed. Rana is a courageous reporter and out of a respect for her work I would not like to detail those concerns publicly. However, they were discussed with Rana in great detail many times, both via emails and verbal discussions.


Ethics

The ethics of doing journalism using secret recordings has been called into question. Ayyub has addressed this issue by noting that there was no other way to place the facts on record.


References

{{2002 Gujarat riots Works about the 2002 Gujarat riots Books about politics of India Investigative journalism books 2016 non-fiction books 21st-century Indian books Books about the Modi administration