The current Indian society has been undergoing a difficult phase ever since Modi came to power in 2014. Rising trend to malign the ethos of democracy by the government itself can be observed at every point. Silencing the voice of dissent to assassinate the democracy in India by the current Indian dispensation has been a prominent step which is, of course, condemnable and foul at the same time.
Gauri Lankesh, Govind Pansare, Narendra Dabholkar, M. M. Kalburgi are some of the many victims in this despicable political vendetta who had to pay heavily for taking up their arms against the government and some of the extremist Hindutva Outfits. Their bravery will be remembered as a sign of our intent to stop fascist forces from being functioning.
Rana Ayyub is one such name who has been risking her life in order to give us the low-down on Gujarat Riots in 2002 that killed more than 2000 people. Born in Mumbai to an educated father who was a writer with a Mumbai based magazine, Rana took a great interest in journalism right from her childhood. But the family had to move to a Muslim dominated area due to the riots in 1992-93.
Rana has extensively worked for Tehelka (literally, commotion), a Mumbai based investigative news magazine. She embarked on a mission of exposing those behind the Gujarat Riots. As a result of which she went to Gujarat with a Hindu identity (Name changed- Maithili Tyagi) and pretended to be a staunch believer in RSS ideology to present herself in a favourable light. She extensively interviewed people who were thought to be the masterminds of Gujarat Riots. She published a book on this sting operation titled “Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover-Up” which gained accolades and went down well with the general readers.
As soon as she published the book, she was abused with obscene messages online and threatened with gang rape. Her morphed images were circulated on various social media platforms to vilify her. But nothing could stop her from exposing the culprits. Amit Shah, now BJP chief, then Home Minister of Gujarat under Narendra Modi’s chief ministership was sent behind bars for Rana’s investigation. Her journey was not so much easy as it is being perceived. She went through a lot of mental agonies
Despite being subjected to a lot of vilification, she held on to her firm determination. We need more honest journalists like Rana at this very crucial hour to save our social fabric from being completely destroyed by certain fascist forces.