They never listen to people like me or Asifa Khan the way they listen to Teesta Setalvad even though unlike her, we have no personal agenda. The medi… - Zafar Sareshwala

Then we began talking of all the riots and asked him: what were you doing on the morning of 27 February 2002? Why did you not call your police and the army? Why did you not go to Juhapura? Why did you not visit refugee camps? The questions that the [Supreme Court of India-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT)] asked of Modi much later, we asked him all those questions that day.

Anti-Modi sentiment continues to be orchestrated by the media as the definitive truth, irrespective of what the people of Gujarat or courts say. Positive developments about Gujarat are never covered by the media. All that I am telling you, I have narrated the same things to numerous journalists, including those of the prime time T.V channels, like Rajdeep Sardesai and Sagarika Ghosh. But no one pays heed. You know how it is with TV channels; they trap you in their own questions. They only want to project those who abuse Modi. In 2007, in the heat of the very bitter elections-those were the “maut ka saudagar” days-NDTV called us for a special show against the backdrop of the Reliance refinery. When I went there, I was zapped. They had divided the participants into two distinct groups–one was supposed to be pro-Modi and the other anti-Modi. The cameras were going to roll in few minutes and there I was put in the pro-Modi group.

See how Modi met us! He kept track of what time we arrived in the building and came to the elevator to receive us. I was really nervous about the outcome of this meeting. He shook my hand and broke the ice saying in Hindi: “Aayo yaar!” Inside, there was a jhoola (swing). He made me sit next to him on the jhoola. .... After hearing us out with patience, Modi said some of your points are valid but many are exaggerations. ... We saw the point because in contrast to the 2002 riots which lasted 3 days, the riots during Congress regimes used to go on for months on end with some of these earlier riots producing a far higher death toll. The police as well as the administration were thoroughly communalized. It was widely known that the BJP/VHP etc patronized Hindu dons while the Congress party patronized Muslim dons. ... We were touched by the fact that he listened very carefully and gave us proper answers. He had all the facts on his fingertips. We had thus far experienced that Muslims don’t get a proper hearing from any one. We experienced the riots of 1969, of 1985, 1987 and 1992. No chief minister had listened to us. All those were Congress Party chief ministers. They never talked to us. ...