The genocide of 2002 has been described, and most convincingly, as state sponsored. It was not just that the state apparatus of Gujarat either looked away while the mobs rampaged, or else aided and guided the mobs, or even on occasion itself became part of the mob: what was crucial was that the federal Indian State, whose capital is Delhi, gave the state of Gujarat and its mobs the freedom and the time to loot, kill, rape and pillage. In power in Delhi at the time was a coalition led by the ideological kith and kin of those who were in absolute power in Gujarat. Not only did the elders of the Sangh Parivar fail to use the considerable powers vested in them by the Constitution of India, they brazenly lied in Parliament. The key functionary, the Home Minister - who by then was also the Deputy Prime Minister - said that Narendra Modi was "in control of the situation." The real meaning of this was not lost on many: what Advani meant was, "Our boys are in control and we will let them get on with the job." The media coverage which caused so much anguish across the land only made the hearts of Hindutva beasts swell with pride. The Opposition in Parliament could do nothing.
