Along with the 2002 communal pogrom, Gujarat’s series of fake encounters too have emerged as something that will haunt Modi in his bid to be PM. DG Vanzara, Modi’s pet cop accused of several fake encounters, has written a stinging resignation letter, a letter that makes for ugly reading. It is not the letter of an honest and upright police officer protesting against a dishonest political regime. It is not the voice of conscience. It is the letter of a desperate, cornered hitman warning his mafia boss that he can reveal unpleasant secrets. In essence, what Vanzara’s 10 page missive is doing warning Modi and the Gujarat Government: ‘We sink or swim together. We did your dirty jobs for you. If you don’t protect us dirty cops, we’ll make sure you drown with us.’

A close reading of Vanzara’s words and his silences reveals many interesting things. Let’s look at some of them.

Vanzara, accused in the Ishrat Jehan, Sadiq Jamal, and Sohrabuddin Sheikh/Tulsiram Prajapati fake encounter cases, says, “I would like to categorically state in the most unequivocal words that the officers and men of Crime Branch, ATS and Border Range, during the period of years between 2002 to 2007, simply acted and performed their duties in compliance of the conscious policy of this government.”

To what ‘conscious policy’ of the Gujarat Govt is Vanzara referring? He describes it as a policy of “zero tolerance” for “Jehadi terror,” to “prevent Gujarat from becoming Kashmir.” In other words, Vanzara is telling us that the alleged fake encounters of which he is accused, were all part of the patriotic drive to fight Jehadi terror. Note: nowhere does Vanzara say the encounters were genuine. He only suggests argues that Gujarat’s ‘encounter police’ killed ‘jehadis’ in encounters, on direct instructions of Govt. But he remains carefully silent on whether these encounters were staged or real. Vanzara implies his victims were ‘jehadis,’ and deserved to be killed in any case. The question arises, of course, why we should accept cops’ word that those killed were ‘jehadis’? If they were ‘jehadis’, why not arrest and interrogate them to expose more terror plots? Clearly, the ‘encounters’ were staged precisely so that no questions could be asked about whether or not those killed were really terrorists!

Vanzara’s letter clearly indicates the politics behind Gujarat’s ‘encounter’ killings. He says, “It is everybody’s knowledge that this government has been reaping very rich political dividends, since last 12 years, by keeping the glow of encounter cases alive in the sky of Gujarat...” He further chooses to “remind” Modi that “he, in the hurry of marching towards Delhi, may kindly not forget to repay the debt which he owes to jailed police officers who endowed him with the halo of Brave Chief Minister among the galaxy of other Chief Ministers who do not bear the same adjective before their names.”

So clearly, the ‘encounters’ were politically motivated – and the motive was to endow Modi with the ‘halo’ of bravery, based on which he, unlike other CMs, is now making a bid to be PM! This political motive was achieved by claiming that the ‘jehadis’ killed were aiming to kill Modi. Of course, Ishrat, Sohrabuddin and the others were safely dead – and so cannot defend themselves against the charge of being ‘jehadis’. Their dead bodies, though, helped reap “rich political dividends” for Modi and the BJP.

The hint that these encounters were fake lies in one significant sentence in Vanzara’s letter: where he sayd, “I have a moral justification to expose real culprits behind encounter cases....” ‘Real culprits’? This means that the encounters were crimes, for which there were culprits? And the cops who carried them out had done so on specific instructions from political leaders, who had assured them that they would be protected.

Vanzara says as much, when h writes, “Gujarat CID/Union CBI had arrested me and my officers in different encounter cases holding us to be responsible for carrying out alleged fake encounters, if that is true, then the CBI Investigating officers of all the four encounter cases of Shohrabuddin, Tulasiram, Sadique Jamal and Isharat Jahan have to arrest the policy formulators also as we, being field officers, have simply implemented the conscious policy of this government which was inspiring, guiding and monitoring our actions from the very close quarters.”

Who were these leaders who were guiding the ‘encounter cops’ from close quarters? Vanzara names Amit Shah (currently BJP’s campaign in-charge in the crucial state of UP, and close aide of Modi), and suggests that Modi, whom he held to be ‘God’ was under Amit Shah’s influence.

Vanzara’s letter also throws light on the relationship between police officers and the CM in Gujarat – a relationship of personal allegiance/loyalty which is unique to Modi’s Gujarat. In which other state would a cop call the CM his ‘God’?! Vanzara says that he and other cops “stood beside this government like a bulwark whenever it faced existential crisis in the past”, and expected the Government to stand by them, which did not happen. He says, shockingly that “Mutual protection and reciprocal assistance is the unwritten law between police and government in such cases. As the government has miserably failed in protecting its encounter police, there remains no one-sided obligation on part of me to protect (the govt).” So what Vanzara is saying is, he is willing to tell lies to protect the Government and himself, but if the Government fails to protect its ‘encounter police,’ they will break the unholy bargain between killers, and expose the bosses who ordered the hits! Crudely, Vanzara declares, “The logic is very simple, i.e, government and police officers are sailing in the same boat and have to swim or sink together. None should try to outsmart the other and try to swim at the cost of other, neither government nor the police officers.”

This letter has put the BJP and Modi’s fan club in a fix. Vanzara was a loyal Modi solider, branding him a Congress agent as they did Sanjiv Bhat is rather embarrassing and incredible for the BJP. Modi’s supporters can say Modi has set an example by not interfering to protect cops accused of murder. But then, they would have to admit that the killing of Ishrat, Sohrabuddin etc were murders – something the saffron brigade has strenuously denied till now! On the other hand, they can argue that the encounters were genuine. If so, they will be asked why Modi is ditching honest cops in the face of false charges?!

Modi defender Madhu Kishwar in a TV discussion last night found a way out by saying that the “encounters may be fake, but the terrorists are genuine.” That, of course, begs the question, “Why the need to ‘fake’ encounters if terrorists are genuine? Why not arrest them instead?” Ms Kishwar called the Supreme Court ‘mischievous’ for ordering that the Sohrabuddin matter be transferred out of Gujarat. But when it came to allegations against Modi and Shah, she said the ‘law should take its own course’ and no one should make allegations till proven by the Court! Of course, these Sanghi ideologues want ‘law’, ‘courts’ and due process where Modi, Shah, and Vanzara are concerned, but are perfectly comfortable with cops executing Ishrat, Sohrabuddin, Sadiq etc as ‘terrorists’ without any chance for them to prove their innocence in any court of law!

Recently, a sting operation has also revealed top BJP leaders discussing how to manipulate the Tulsiram Prajapati trial by getting his mother to sign a blank vakalatnama, and using it to appoint a pliant lawyer to represent Tulsiram’s family!

The blood on Modi’s hands just won’t remain hidden no matter how much he tries to hide it behind grand gestures of ‘development’. As Vanzara’s letter proclaims, Modi’s ‘development’ is built on the foundation of the cold-blooded killing carried out at his behest. He may discard Maya Kodnani once she is convicted, and Vanzara once he is arrested, yet he won’t be able to save himself.