India PM Narendra Modi given clean chit in 2002 Gujarat riots

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi gestures as he is presented with a garland by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders after the election results in New Delhi. Reuters File Photo
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi gestures as he is presented with a garland by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders after the election results in New Delhi. Reuters File Photo

The Nanavati Commission report tabled in India’s Gujarat Assembly on Wednesday, has cleared the then Narendra Modi government in the state of complicity in the riots that rocked Gujarat in the wake of the Godhra incident in 2002.

The Nanavati Commission was constituted to probe the allegations that members of then Cabinet fomented violence against minorities in Gujarat.

The report which runs into 1,500 pages, points out that there is no direct evidence to implicate the then chief minister or any member of his cabinet in inspiring violence in the riots.

The Commission report was submitted to former Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel but the final report was tabled earlier on Wednesday in the state assembly.

Over a thousand people had lost their lives in the communal riots in 2002. The violence began after 59 people had died when a compartment of the Sabarmati Express full kar sevaks returning from Ayodhya, was locked from outside and set ablaze at Godhra.