Murder most common
An accusation sheds light on some dirty aspects of Indian politics
IMPUNITY and power are old friends in India's western state of Gujarat, which is home to over 50m people. In 2002 some 2,000 Muslims were murdered there, in a pogrom carried out with the collusion of police and senior members of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). No high-level convictions followed. But the BJP's knack of eluding justice in the state, which it still rules, may be fading. On July 25th a minister of state, Amit Shah, was arrested in connection with the alleged murder of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, a suspected extortioner. The case, though unrelated to the events of 2002, may prove damaging for Gujarat's chief minister, Narendra Modi, a talented politician with ambitions to lead his party and country.
When Mr Sheikh, a Muslim, and his wife were arrested in 2005 the police claimed that he belonged to a banned terrorist group and had been plotting to kill Mr Modi. Two years on, the state government admitted that Mr Sheikh had been killed in a "fake encounter", a term that describes Indian security forces' practice of shooting suspects rather than prosecuting them. After the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI, the country's answer to America's FBI) called Mr Shah for questioning, he resigned and went into hiding. When he surfaced to deny the charges, he was promptly arrested.
As well as highlighting the shameful practice of encounter killings, the case is a reminder of some dirty aspects of Indian politics. The BJP blames Mr Shah's arrest on the Congress party that leads the national coalition government, accusing it of using police investigators for political ends. Claims of party bias have been made frequently over the years and detractors dub the CBI as the "Congress Bureau of Investigation". Critics say that it is slow to investigate claims of wrongdoing of those close to Congress, pointing for example to its apparent lack of interest in allegations of corruption over spectrum licences at the telecommunications ministry.
In the Gujarat case, however, the CBI appears to be playing by the book. The Supreme Court in January ordered it to act, after a petition from Mr Sheikh's brother. Nonetheless, the BJP is enraged. On July 23rd its party leaders refused an invitation to lunch with the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, ahead of a new session of parliament. Parliament has plenty to do, including passing a bill, on civil nuclear liability, that is needed to bring to life a nuclear deal signed with the United States, and a food-security bill designed to get better nutrition for the poor. Lawmaking in India is often disrupted by politicking—the murder row in Gujarat may provide plenty more opportunities for that.
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