Undercover: My Journey into the Darkness of Hindutva

by Ashish Khetan

‘I had to submit my work to the ultimate test to which a piece of journalism can be subjected—a forensic scrutiny, criminal investigations and finally a rigorous judicial cross-examination in three separate trials by a battery of aggressive defence lawyers who scrutinised, examined and doubted every word I had written and every fact I narrated.’

Ashish Khetan went undercover in Gujarat thrice in four years. He penetrated deep into the world of Hindutva and uncovered a hate-filled universe, where stories of rape and murder are exchanged over a cup of tea. Each time, he returned with reports that shook the country to its core. Equipped with cameras small enough to be clipped to a button on his shirt, Khetan secretly filmed men close to the corridors of power, or indeed in them, admitting to mind-numbing venality during the Gujarat riots of 2002.

The men he filmed said the riots could not have happened without the implicit, sometimes explicit, support of the state government. His investigations led to the conviction of Babu Bajrangi, his close aides and Maya Kodnani, and in the Best Bakery case, he proved that the defence had bribed Zahira Sheikh to turn hostile.

One of India’s leading investigative journalists, Khetan has broken some of the biggest stories of the last twenty years, but the time he spent in Gujarat, especially a gruelling six-month spell in 2007, left gaping emotional wounds. As he recounts the course of the three investigations, and the long, frustrating legal processes that followed, Khetan fills in the gaps in the Gujarat-model narrative. He also reminds us that this is not the story of something that happened nearly two decades ago—it is a portrait of the present and future of India. The Gujarat playbook is now the India playbook.

Genres: India, Nonfiction, Religion, Politics

332 pages, Paperback

Published January 11, 2021

About the author

Ashish Khetan is a lawyer, writer, and columnist.

In a career spanning over 15 years, he worked with major English Publications and TV News Networks in India. As a journalist, he was largely known for his commendable investigations during The Truth: Gujarat 2002 (also called "Operation Kalank").

Khetan's investigative journalism portal aptly named Gulail (or slingshot in English) had unearthed internal documents from more than half a dozen anti-terror agencies which revealed that the State had been knowingly prosecuting innocent Muslims for terror cases and keeping the evidence of their innocence from the courts.

During his 15 years of investigative journalism, he wrote over 2000 investigative and explanatory pieces on issues covering human rights, corruption, political economy, crime, business, internal security, terrorism, among other issues of national importance.

In 2014, he joined the Aam Aadmi Party and fought the 2014 Indian General Election from New Delhi but lost to Bharatiya Janata Party's candidate Meenakshi Lekhi.

In 2015, he was appointed as Vice Chairman of Dialogue and Development Commission (DDC) of Delhi, a think tank of Delhi Government. He was given a Cabinet Minister Rank by Govt of NCT of Delhi for his vital contributions to the government.

In April 2018, he resigned from the DDC to practice law. In August 2018, he quit the Aam Aadmi Party citing the desire to pursue law as a full-time profession.

Reviews

[Swati · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hope I can write a coherent review another day. For now, all I can write is I'm glad I picked this up and read it fully, and I'm quite shaken at the detailed descriptions, some images that will not ever leave my brain. The book doesn't have beautiful prose or anything, but it has facts that leave you thinking, wondering, how on earth is *this* what we are? How did this happen, and how is it that the people who caused it to happen are not only not in jail, but sitting in the top office of the world's largest democracy? It scares me, but I know my privilege protects me at least for now, and the least I can do is read about those who do not have that.

[Sourya Dey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ashish Khetan's courage amazes me. And this book severely increases my doubts over whether India is at all 'fair' and 'democratic'.

The sting operations described here are well detailed and worth reading simply for knowing the kind of people who are at the helm of India right now. And their deeds and ideologies. To be clear, this refers to BJP and their distortion of 'Hindu' ideals. Made me shudder.

Do read this book. Even if you, like me, don't have much interest in politics, read this book just to gape at the failure of democracy.

[Premnath Alwarsamy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book will be a revelation to many of those who blindly follows the Chaai wala for his promises, which he failed to fulfill again and again. It sheds lights on the darkest and truest side of Hindutva. Most of us will not believe or won't have the guts to imagine some of the things done by the so called "Protectors of Hinduism".

This book gives a different perspective into the events happened and the drama that followed. I will recommend this book for everyone to read, So they can get a glimpse of what actually happened and is happening in India.

[Arvind · Rating 5 out of 5]

Provides a very comprehensive deep-dive into the key events surrounding the Godhra incident and the subsequent riots in Gujarat in 2002. The author has juxtaposed material he obtained as an undercover journalist against the legal and judicial processes, including his own witness testimonials, related to those events.

This book presents a very interesting and unique perspective on the events; from the viewpoint of those who were allegedly on the ground and involved in those events. Compared to the other book on the same topic by Rana Ayyub, I find this book to be much more thorough, both in its content as well as editing.

[Jubair Sayeed Linas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent journalism. The book is essential for future to remember the Hindutva massacre and the RSS-BJP-VHP-Bajrang act towards muslims. The whole administration is compromised to kill the minorities in India. But Justice is not given to the victim. I wish this book always shock the perpetrators till their death

[Ava · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thorough dissection of the current sociopolitical landscape in India through the lens of the Gujarat riots, and subsequent acts of communal violence.

[Deependra Choudhary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Engaging.

[Yamini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ashish Khetan, a famous name in investigative journalism, has provided a thorough view of the different undercover that he underwent in his career. The initial chapters of Narodya Patya, Godhra, Naroodya Gam, was a good read with thrilling elements of the undercover might slip his identity. But the end chapters were mediocre and the author trying to connect it with the present-day scenario fell flat. If you are a close follower of Indian politics and the underlying politics in it, it's worth a try.

[Ubah Khasimuddin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, perhaps the definite book (beside Rana Ayyub's book) on the Gujarat 2002 riots - Khetan gives a thorough accounting of what happened as well as detailed descriptions of the culprits, ringleaders and how they confessed their crimes to him, during his stint as undercover reporter.
This book is not for the faint of heart - graphic details on the grisly riots and violence and the glee even 5-6 years after of the criminals is nauseating. But, if you are like me, wanting to really know what happened, this is the only account I've read that really gives the nitty-gritty. What I particularly appreciated is the timeline Khetan gives for the Sabarmati Express incident. I searched high and low on the internet for what happened on that train station and far and away Khetan's book gives the best point by point explanation.
Khetan is sympathetic to the victims of all the crimes but I imagine if you are a Hindutva fanatic you will not want to read this book because he empathizes with the Muslims who were so brutally injured/killed. And perhaps this is because when you read the confessions of the murderers, its disgusting. No shame, no guilt. Left me wanting to ask these people why they hate Muslims so much? Had they had some incident in their life where they were treated wrongly by a Muslim and that seed grew to violent hate?
I very much appreciated how Khetan lays out how Modi basically looked the other way during the riots and how he continued to use the Godhra train burning as political fuel.
What this book shows is that Muslims in India today need to be very careful, one spark, one tiny thing can turn a country that has been primed for this hatred after years of delicate RSS prepping, into a killing field. I fear we will see something like this in Karnataka next.
I declined to give this 5 stars because at times the author does get into the weeds with his experiences in trial court and they didn't really add anything to the overall picture for me.
Highly recommend this for anyone studying communal violence, the Indian sub-continent especially diplomats coming to serve in India.

[Shivam Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hindutva from the eyes of its foot soldiers.

This book is based on the author's conversations as an undercover journalist with the foot soldiers of Hindutva, and it is a bone-chilling read. The violence, the hatred, the single minded dedication to sectarianism and Islamophobia is disturbing to say the least.

When one used to read of Nazi atrocities, one would always think not in today's day and age and not in my country. However, reading this book, is a reminder of how wrong one was. What was done then can be/is being done now. What was done there can be/is being done here.

Further this book highlights the monumental failures of the various institutions of the State, which are supposed to act as checks on each other, but in this case either cast a blind eye, or worse were actively involved in furthering the excesses of the other institutions.

After reading this book, one remembers the saying that eternal vigilance is the price to be paid for liberty, and it seems we as a nation somewhere failed to pay that price. How far and how long will that failure poison us is anybody's guess.

I will also recommend one to read the Gujarat Files, by Rana Ayyub along with this book, they are both masterpieces in their own right.

[Anil Dhingra · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great investigative work running 18 years into the Gujarat riots after the Godhra train burning incident. Hats off to the author who repeatedly went to Gujarat undercover and produced volumes of taped conversations, interviews and researched government and other records to produce this book.
This book really opened my eyes and saddened me to read what a mockery of democracy India has become with manipulation of central and state machinery and even the judiciary.
It is a reality that the author belonged to an opposition party so some bias could enter in the description and analysis. However the court verdicts, the inquiry commission results and the taped confessions are a reality.
If the current state of affairs revealed by the author continues one shudders to think of the future.
A must read for all Indians who are interested in the political narrative.

[Smoothfin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ashish Khetan's skill as a writer is unquestionable. His work is an exhaustive (and exhausting!) indictment of the corrupt politicians, police, and court officials he investigated and, in the case of the courts, had to submit his evidence to. I'm mostly unfamiliar with the Indian political and legal system, so this was a pretty slow read for me. Khetan did meticulous work, and he describes it in great detail, and he builds overwhelming cases. But, as he describes, most of the time the system works to defeat him. In rare instances it seems that justice prevails. Most of the time it seems to fail. I'm amazed that he had the moral and even physical strength to keep up his fight. It's a worthwhile read. I think he could have summarized his work better in the end, but that's a minor criticism of this herculean effort.

[Shane Bordoli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Important book for our times here in India. Gives a clear account of his investigative journalism uncovering the dark side of Hindu nationalist ideology in action (and in power). Scary to be living in India during these times. At least there are some voices like this risking all to document the horrors perpetrated in the name of Hindutva. I read it in a couple of days. Sad to know that the book will be largely ignored, even though it exposes the evils happening right under our noses. It ends on a nice note: "We are living in a time of spectacular malevolence. If, or rather when, this phase eventually passes (as it must), the question will be: did we do enough to resist?"

[Vaibhav Anand · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ashish Khetan's book is a non-chronological personal account of his sting operations on Hindutva organizations. It was an account that was often, hard to read, as gory details of pillage, murder, etc. sprung forth from Khetan's pages. Khetan lays bare the 'Gujarat model' of encounters, pliable defense lawyers (and judges), and how careers of those who tried to save rioters got a leg up versus how those who tried to stop riots or bring the perpetrators to book were vilified and hounded. I especially enjoyed the blow by blow account of the Godhra train burning, the Bilkis Bano incident and then the judicial proceedings, and the Modi SIT deposition. I reduced 1 star from a 5 star rating because of the non-chronological nature of the book which confused me - often a case that was to be addressed in the future came up in the past and vice versa.

Outside that minor niggle, Khetan's Undercover is essential reading to understand how the "System" was broken at a national level by proponents of the Gujarat model.

PS: Read it before the System bans it.

[Sudipt Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Courageous work that thoroughly investigates a ghastly phase in India's country. Must read. It has not only led to conviction of perpetrators of the pogrom but also convinced the people about a widespread conspiracy and hatred that the polite society would prefer to deny or overlook.

Some editing would have made the it easier to understand especially for those who are not so familiar with the chronology of the events or name of main actors. Slight reduction in pages would have helped too.

[Vishal Talreja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frightening to say the least. It lays bare an idea of India that we never wished for but something that has become mainstreamed in the last two decades. It needs to be read so we can understand how ideas of hatred, polarisation are seeded within society and erode the pillars of our demoncracy resulting in far reaching consequences. Ashish gives us a warning with this book and its a warning we need to heed if we want India to stay a demoncracy.

[Ajay Kumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book should be re required reading for every indian citizen. No matter which side of whatever you belong, or what your beliefs are,the contents of this book will be q chilling reminder/awakening of the country we live in.

[Harishchandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best read today...

One of the most detailed and authenticated account of Gujrat riots. It seems the Gujrat riots had all the hallmark of targeted killings.

[Janak Parikh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic... superb read

[Sukhdeep Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional. Heroic. Inspirational.

[Meghana · Rating 5 out of 5]

The price for not falling in line (with BJP agenda) is ruination. I think all Indians know this fact, atleast subconsciously. Reading a look like undercover means I can no longer ignore it.

[Karthik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truths that hard to stomach are equally disturbing as enriching.

[Malvika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of chronologies and more importantly, TOOLKITS

[Aditi Ramaswamy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Utterly chilling look into the evil core of Hindu fascism. Really important book for every person of Indian descent to read.

[D · Rating 4 out of 5]

With every passing page, the urge to leave this country intensifies.

[Ujval Nanavati · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brave book that should be read to understand the extent of institutional capture and Muslim victimization that was the Gujarat Model that is now the India Model.

[Vignesh Suresh · Rating 4 out of 5]

One fine book detailing the actual reality of the Gujarat riots and the dangers that the current Hindutva extremism possesses!

[Uva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now that is journalism!

[Stories to live in. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an informative yet hopeless piece which I wholeheartedly appreciated.
Every time I read it I felt my faith in humanity deplete, even though all this is nothing new for the society that we live in.

[Lksingh · Rating 5 out of 5]

for some this book can be a sequel to rana ayub book.it is ironic that india's great journalism work came from gujarat. and now such people are ruling india.i hope some journalists now talk aboit about justice loya case too.Must read for all