We know what we want—shut down the Ministry for Minority Affairs; just give us our constitutional rights as ordinary citizens. The problem is that th… - Zafar Sareshwala

Gujarat relief camps were far better run and the government was very cooperative. This is not to say that refugee camps can ever be a pleasant or comfortable place to live in. But, the government made arrangements for food, medical care, and all the rest better than most governments in India do. ... Neither Teesta nor Shabnam Hashmi has much time for them. Hundreds of thousands are still in those camps but do you hear any discussion in the media about those camps? They are already forgotten, but these same people keep ranting about the plight of Muslims in Gujarat relief camps even though those folded by mid-2002, within four months of the riots. .... But, the Gujarat government gave prompt compensation to families who suffered losses, including to those whose business establishments were destroyed. This may not mean much to wealthy Muslims but Rs. 1 or 2 lakh means a lot to the poor. The system put in place by Gujarat government was neither chaotic nor fitful.

An important aspect of this riot was that it was not as simple as BJP vs. Muslims or just VHP vs. Muslims. Many Congress workers were equally involved. Some of these workers have also been convicted. I personally know of many Congress workers who took an active part in the riots. ...The Congress knows it was complicit in riots. This is the reason why the Congress does not want to mention 2002 in Gujarat but they scream about it only on national television

Please note that when we asked for a meeting with Modi he was not yet a hero but one of the most hated figures; he was called Milosevic, Hitler, and so on. Now, there is a long line of people waiting to meet Modi sahib and competing with each other to praise him to the skies, but at that time no Muslim was willing to approach him openly.... Here we were praying in anxiety about our first meeting with Modi, when bang came the first headline against me: “Zafar Sareshwala takes a U-turn on Modi.” The very same people who treated me as a hero earlier, now attacked me furiously. .... All hell broke loose when I issued a statement saying, “We welcome the visit of Narendra Modi, who is the democratically elected chief minister of Gujarat.” Suddenly, from a hero, I became a villain... Because I am a businessman, I could absorb the attacks on me by the anti-Modi lobby. But the poor Maulana, oh my God, he was branded as kaafir. Bahut zaleel kiya unko. He was humiliated no end!