DG Vanzara's letter: What he says and what he doesn't

It is by now common knowledge that the resignation of a police officer while he is under suspension holds little value. IPS officer DG Vanzara certainly knew that when he decided to exercise his “moralistic duty” to squeal on a state government’s patently illegal killings in the name of fighting terror. Expectedly, the state government of Gujarat has rejected the resignation, leaving it as what it was intended to be – a purely political maneuver.

In deciphering the carefully phrased letter, it’s apparent what the 10-page letter attempts to do. Here’s what it says. And what it doesn’t.

It’s a no-brainer that the timing of the letter is suspiciously convenient. Even as Vanzara sent an advance copy of his 10-page letter to the CBI, a sting operation’s footage was released in Delhi showing BJP leader Prakash Jawadekar discussing how to get former Gujarat Minister of State (Home) and close Modi aide Amit Shah off the hook in the Tulsiram Prajapati encounter killing. The sting had come after weeks of the BJP looking utterly shorn of ideas in Parliament, apparently foxed by the UPA’s sops.  Unrelatedly, Rajnath Singh had continued to paint Modi in soft focus, claiming that some nifty face reading on his part led him to believe that the Gujarat CM was pained and “so sad” every time the 2002 pogrom pops up during a chat.

Second, Vanzara has laid the blame for extra-judicial killings in Gujarat squarely on the political class, pretty much saying that he and his elite team of encounter cops were little more than pawns of the Modi government. With such phrases as “in compliance of the conscious policy of this government” and “served their country well under the direct instructions from this government”, he sets the stage for the portrayal of a state government that put out a kill and then let dispensable men in uniform take the fall. The men “have simply implemented the conscious policy of this government” he says, adding that the government had inspired and monitored his actions all along.

“The most notable part of the whole episode is that they (arrested policemen) are made to suffer in jails, in spite of the fact that they had been and are loyal soldiers of this government who fought incessant war against Pakistan-inspired terrorism…” he says, later adding that he repeatedly petitioned the state government, on his own behalf and on behalf of the other Gujarat police officers facing trial in fake encounter cases.

While this may amount to a confession of sorts, he would know that such an admission holds no value in a court of law – not his own confession about “war” against terrorists, not his allegations against fellow-accused BJP leader Amit Shah and not his implication of Modi. In any case, he has also not said anywhere in the letter that he or the other accused planned and undertook the executions of Ishrat Jahan, Sohrabuddin, Tulsiram Prajapati and Sadiq Jamal.

Third, he has specifically railed against former Gujarat Minister of State for Home Amit Shah, a very close Modi aide. Vanzara has accused Shah of poisoning the state police’s relationship with the chief minister, leading the state government to remain indifferent to the plight of police officers accused in the fake encounter cases and behind bars. The state came to life briefly when Shah was himself arrested, at which time no less than Ram Jethmalani was called upon to represent him. Not coincidentally, Shah has just been given charge of Uttar Pradesh for the 2014 polls, arguably one of the most critical states for the BJP.

Vanzara has left some things unsaid too, after hinting broadly that he is ready to take on the might of the Gujarat government. Could there be a card that he will play later?

Quoting Mahatma Gandhi, he writes, “States are soulless machines…. And the governments have no conscience….” The government has taken his dignified silence to be his weakness, he complains, raging that “this spineless government of Gujarat” has ceased to command his loyalty and deserves to be “in Taloja Central Prison at Navi Mumbai or in Sabarmati Central Prison at Ahmedabad”.

The letter also stops short, barely, of rubbishing the Gujarat model of development that is central to Modi’s pitch for the big job at the Centre. “… but for the sacrifices made by me and my officers in thwarting the onslaught of initial disorder in the state, the Gujarat Model of Development which this government is so assiduously showcasing at the national level would not have become possible,” he writes. Political dividends have been reaped, he says, by “keeping the glow” of encounter killings over Gujarat