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Is Narendra Modi a terrorist?
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Narendra Modi did not attempt to stop violence in 2002

Narendra Modi stood by while thousands of Muslims were killed by an angry mob in 2002.
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Context

During the 2002 rioting in Gujarat, Narendra Modi, then the state’s chief minister, did not take any action to quell the violence, allowing thousands of Muslims to die at the hands of an angry Hindu mob.

The Argument

Under sworn testimony, Rahul Sharma, a senior police officer in charge of Bhavnagar, described how his office received no direction from local leadership of how to deal with the rioting. This lack of leadership allowed violence to spread across the state unchecked. Haren Pandya who worked in the state government at the time, remembers Modi saying in a meeting during the riots the police officials should “not come in the way of the Hindu backlash,” and suggested Muslims should “be taught a lesson to ensure that such incidents do not reoccur.”[1] Haren Pandya would be found dead in his car a year later in Ahmedabad. There are even indications that some in the government were involved in directing the rioting. A citizen-led inquiry into the rioting later found that the organization of the rioters suggested that elements in the government were disseminating orders and coordinating the movement of the rioters.

Counter arguments

Proponents

Premises

[P1] Narendra Modi made no attempt to quell terrorism in Gujarat in 2002. [P2] Therefore, Modi is an enabler of terrorism.

Rejecting the premises

References

  1. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/12/09/blood-and-soil-in-narendra-modis-india
This page was last edited on Thursday, 5 Nov 2020 at 23:33 UTC

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