New Delhi: The families living in the various makeshift colonies of Gujarat know that whenever the 2002 Gujarat pogrom makes a reappearance as a topic of discussion, the depth of the conversation will not do justice to the extent of their loss.
The Sabarmati Report may have been screened at the Balyogi Auditorium in the parliament house for prime minister Narendra Modi, information and broadcasting minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi, Union home minister Amit Shah and defence minister Rajnath Singh, but that it does not skim the surface of the truth is a fact known to these residents.
Memories of murder, despair, the failure of democracy and the ruptured rule of law have haunted the homes and hearts of victim families.
Modi praised the film on X, saying, “It is good that this truth is coming out in a way that is accessible to everyone. A fake narrative can only last so long—facts eventually prevail”.
Released on November 15, The Sabarmati Report rakes an issue deeply connected with the Bharatiya Janata Party government and its version of what unfolded on February 27, 2002. On this day, a train with Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya stopped at Godhra, a small town in Gujarat’s Panchmahal district, approximately 150 kilometres from the state capital, Gandhinagar. After an alleged altercation between the Muslim vendors working at the station and the passengers inside the Sabarmati Express, a fire is said to have erupted in one of the coaches of the train, killing 59 people.
Even after 22 years since the incident, the details of what happened before the fire remain under layers of obfuscation.
Also read: Godhra and After: ‘Conspiracy’ a Feature Film Cannot Hope to Unravel
Consequently, on February 28, 2002, Hindu mobs set out blaming Muslims for the deaths of the pilgrims, resulting in waves of violence. Rapes, looting, and murders took place, with the Muslim community being the major target. The violence lasted for more than two months.
Ektaa Kapoor, one of the producers of the film, boasts of a year-long research process. Many have pointed out glaring gaps in the film. But Rajiv Shah, a veteran journalist based in Gujarat feels that if The Sabarmati Report was allowed to release despite its several factual inaccuracies, other films on the same topic should have got the same treatment. “If they want people to finally see a certain version of the incident, then other versions of the incident must also be allowed to be released,” Shah told The Wire.
Several films released in the last decade dominated by Modi brazenly align to themes that the BJP deploys as propaganda in its own politics for power – saffronised ideas of nationalism, invoking a greater anti-Pakistan attitude, re-inventing Gandhi haters as patriots, and creating myths about non-BJP entities and minorities.
Films such as Uri: The Surgical Strike, Accidental Prime Minister, Swatantra Veer Savarkar, The Kashmir Files, The Kerala Story, Jahangir National University, Article 370, Razakar: The Silent Genocide of Hyderabad, Gandhi Godse and more try to use cinema to break down and normalise the acceptance of the BJP’s stance as ‘the right thing’.
But for Khairun Pathan, a survivor of the violence of 2002, watching the Sabarmati Report film or such films is out of the question. “I don’t want to relive my trauma,” she said.
“By now, I think most of us know what films like The Kashmir Files, The Kerala Story, and The Sabarmati Report are made for. Not only their narratives, but also their titles sound the same,” Pathan said.
Producing these films that fan pro-BJP sentiment, come with the privilege of being seen and promoted by the country’s prime minister. But content that refuses to toe the line meets a very different fate.
Also read: Why Modi Needed to Watch a Film
In January 2023, the BJP government invoked emergency laws to block a BBC documentary examining Modi’s role during 2002 riots. Controversy erupted over the very first episode of the two-part show – ‘India: The Modi Question’, which followed Modi’s trajectory from the ranks within the BJP, to him being appointed as chief minister of Gujarat. The BBC also revealed that the British government, in a report, stated that the way riots unfolded had “all the hallmarks of an ethnic cleansing”.
Later in February, 2023, weeks after the documentary was blocked in India, the Income Tax Department conducted raids at BBC’s offices in Delhi and Mumbai for more than three days. Following this, in April 2023, the BBC announced the formation of an independent, Indian-owned company, Collective Newsroom, which would produce content for the corporation’s six regional channels which broadcast in Indian languages including Hindi and Punjabi. This restructuring was a resort BBC chose to be able to function in India.
In 2021, Amazon Prime Video’s Tandav was accused of hurting religious sentiments. A scene featuring actor Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, dressed as Hindu deity Shiva mouthing lines about ‘azaadi’ attracted numerous complaints pushing the makers to release a statement apologising. BJP MLA Ram Kadam lodged a police complaint against the makers of Tandav and MP Manoj Kotak wrote to then minister Prakash Javadekar, asking for a ban on the show and a regulatory authority for OTT platforms at large. Tandav was not renewed for a second season.
In 2013, a public interest litigation was filed in the Gujarat high court seeking cancellation of the censor board’s clearance to Hindi film Kai Po Che, claiming that it slanders the Hindu community with its depiction of 2002 communal riots in the state.
In 2007, Parzania, the movie based on the 2002 pogrom was released throughout the country but not in Gujarat.
Meanwhile, The Sabarmati Report was declared tax-free in several states, including Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha.
Darshan Desai, a veteran journalist and academic from Gujarat who covered the 2002 pogrom extensively from several districts, believes that the film was little more than a political stunt to keep the long-buried issue alive. Desai said that such films, which receive commendation and acknowledgment from the BJP, are only and only created to influence the younger generations as well as deepen the communal divides that they have created over the years. Desai also feels that the film is an absolute disservice to the victims of the riots and that there is no real need to rekindle the harrowing trauma of victims and survivors through such films.
Interestingly, this year, in April, the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) dropped references to the 2002 Gujarat pogrom, along with the Babri Masjid, the politics of Hindutva, and minorities, in its political science textbook for Class 12.
Hozefa Ujjaini, a social activist from Gujarat, who witnessed the pogrom and has worked towards fostering communal harmony in the state, finds the film deeply absorbed in creating a concocted cinematic experience. “The film tries to give the actual horror of 2002 a new narrative, simultaneously clearing the BJP of all the blame that it has been rightly accused of. They have even wiped out the whole occurrence of the riots, like no violence happened and no one ever died,” Ujjaini told The Wire.
