Can anyone with local knowledge comment on the following? In the days that followed the burning of the coach, riots broke out in Gujarat that left hundreds dea

Can anyone with local knowledge comment on the following? In the days that followed the burning of the coach, riots broke out in Gujarat that left hundreds dead, most of them Muslims. As the massacre continued, journalists, activists and several senior police officers in Gujarat who spoke to the news media on the condition of anonymity said that Mr. Modi’s government was complicit in the violence. Mr. Modi, for his part, asserted that the violence was “a spontaneous reaction of the Hindus.” While reporting from Gujarat on the aftermath of the riots, I stumbled upon the fact that a senior minister in Mr. Modi’s cabinet, Haren Pandya, had testified in a shroud of secrecy before a tribunal that was investigating the cause of the riots. When I approached Mr. Pandya about this, he told me that he had told the tribunal that on the night of Feb. 27, Mr. Modi held a meeting with senior police officers and bureaucrats during which he is alleged to have instructed the police to allow the mobs to vent their anger on Muslims. It is a charge that Mr. Modi has consistently denied. Mr. Pandya, who was a political adversary of Mr. Modi, told me that he did not attend that meeting, but that other people who were present had told him what had happened. Months later, Mr. Pandya was found shot dead in his car. When Mr. Modi went to his house to pay his respects, Mr. Pandya’s widow told him he was responsible for her husband’s death and asked him to leave. But a few months later, several Muslim youths were arrested in connection with Mr. Pandya’s killing, and their motive was said to be vengeance for the riots. Twelve of them were later convicted of murder by a special court and sentenced, but the Gujarat High Court overturned the murder convictions, alleging flaws in the investigation. The Gujarat government and an investigating agency have since challenged this in the Indian Supreme Court. Shaking Off the Horror of the Past in India http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/16/world/asia/16iht-letter16.html http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/16/world/asia/16iht-letter16....