Teesta Setalvad has been sent to jail — but for how long? With good lawyers, support from several Indian intellectuals and journalists, as well as the Western press, she may soon be out of jail.
One can gauge the level of her global connections from the fact that even the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) tweeted in her support. “We are very concerned by the arrest and detention of Teesta Setalvad and two ex-police officers and call for their immediate release. They must not be persecuted for their activism and solidarity with the victims of the 2002 Gujarat Riots.”
Interestingly, action against Teesta Setalvad has been initiated after the Supreme Court in its recent verdict said that the rights activist had exploited the emotions of the petitioner Zakia Jafri for her own “ulterior motives”.
With Teesta Setalvad being sent to jail, many BJP leaders and Narendra Modi supporters believe that “justice has been done at last”! I am not so sure about it, though. The harm, after all, has already been done: The hatred against Narendra Modi and the BJP — and indirectly against Hindus and India — has already been taken up by The New York Times in the US, The Guardian and BBC in the UK, Le Monde and France24 in France, among others. And it is here to stay.
Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda minister, once said: “Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth.” In the case of the 2002 Gujarat riots, truth has been deliberately negated so much that it has now become difficult to differentiate between truth and untruth. I think this was done cleverly by Teesta Setalvad. Yes, she lied, yes, she tutored witnesses, yes she diverted NGO funds, yes, she did perjury, and the harm is done…
Teesta Setalvad is accused of siphoning off funds contributed for the welfare of those affected by the 2002 riots. Raees Khan, a former associate of Setalvad, had claimed that funds which were to be used for educational purposes were misused. He had registered a complaint with the Ahmedabad crime branch in connection with the same. Yet her aura among Left-liberals and activists remain undiminished.
By Francois Gautier@FP
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