Thread by @nirwamehta

Rana Ayyub is saying she has been doing ‘brave journalism’ and that Modi govt is silencing her voice. Should I live review her ‘book’ Gujarat Files and point out loopholes in what she claims to be her finest investigative piece?

I’ve read the damned thing years ago, but have forgotten. I WILL TAKE ONE FOR THE TEAM AND DO IT IF YOU GUYS WANT.

Quick feedback says I should read and write an article on the loopholes in the piece of conjectures as said by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The report on this shall be out soon. I cannot believe I’ll have to spend money on the piece of trash. If anyone has a spare copy, let me know

I haz the copy. There is a lizard and a hole on the cover page. Jai Shri Ram ke naam se shuru kiya jaaye.

She starts off with how she was perpetually ill and it was because ‘she was running away from responsibilities’ as her doc diagnosed. what kind of people are perpetually on sick leaves. what kind of boss allows so many sick leaves *cough*. anyway, so she’s kinda sorta depressed.

News on Sohrabuddin read by her mum makes her curious (of course). She talks of 2007 election rally where Modi had talked abt Sohrabuddin and how then Aakar Patel had decided Gujarati wimmens think of Modi as ‘sex symbol’. #OkayThen

She has already asserted that the Gujarat govt is vengeful and goes after officers who ‘go by the call of duty’. No proof, nothing to back allegations, but we must all believe it because she said it. Like how she claims she is a brave journalist even now.

she claims she ‘exposed’ that the Ishrat Jahan encounter (2004) was ‘sinister’ plot to kill innocent people (in 2010 while tracking Sohrabuddin case which took place in 2005?). LET had already hailed Ishrat as a martyr. Headley said she was LET economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-…

Coming back, in 2010 she stays in Ambassador hotel in Khanpur, Muslim dominated area (unassuming place for her to stay - her words). Then she got a message ‘we know where you are’ after her Ishrat ‘expose’ and she decided to move.

So, she talks about going to Ahmedabad for Sohrabuddin case, but talks about Ishrat Jahan case, then she says Shah was arrested after her ‘expose’, but Shah was arrested in Sohrabuddin case in 2010. But nowhere she says what exactly her ‘expose’ was. And on whom!

She takes pride in Shah’s arrest, but all she talks abt is Ishrat till now and cops unhappy with Guj govt, but suddenly she was the brave thing who ‘exposed’ Shah. Dude? TWO SEPARATE CASES! U high bro?

So now she decides to go undercover. She becomes ‘Maithili Tyagi’ (Kayastha girl from Kanpur), but studying in US and making film on Modi’s popularity. Pls correct me if i’m wrong, Tyagi is mostly Brahmin, not Kayastha, since we’re being so specific about castes here.

For makeover, she first tries out wigs - this while she wants to do an expose on top cops of the state. She really thought some of the sharpest minds couldn’t figure out wigs. OH GOD. (btw, she does mention she chose Tyagi as it was specifically not Brahmin or Dalit surname, #Ok)

anyway, so as her makeover she chose to go with hair straightener, ash grey lens and colourful bandanas. Her ‘guardian family’ (hmm…) arranged for fake ID and sim on it.

LOL. Further she takes credit for sending Shah to jail (2010). Dude, how? He was accused (and later cleared) in Sohrabuddin case (2005) and she was literally here for the expose on Sohrabuddin. HOW DID SHE SEND HIM TO JAIL BEFORE HER SO CALLED INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM.

One of her ‘literary friend’ arranged for her accommodation in Nehru Foundation. He didn’t ask her qns as ‘she sent Shah to jail and that was good enough for him’. Fun fact: Nehru Foundation founded by Vikram Sarabhai and his son Kartikeya is key person.

Foundation hostel warden admitted her without even glancing at her. This is how terrorists get hotel rooms because reception pe security is shitty. (Hope Nehru Foundation has since upgraded security and people are not admitted on fake identities)

Naresh Kanodia (Gujarati film actor) introduces her to GL Singhal and one obscure gynaec introduces her to Maya Kodnani - apparently cos she was a doctor and a would be a part of film on Gujarat. Nice how things just fall into place for her.

So, for her ‘research’ on health sector in Gujarat as ‘filmmaker’, she chooses not any top city doctor, not health minister, not health secretary of state, but a doctor in Naroda Patiya, also an accused in Delhi riots case.

Singhal was accused in Ishrat Jahan case (2004) and Kodnani in 2002 riots. Why was she interested in meeting them when neither had anything to do with Sohrabuddin case (2005) which she was ‘exposing’ in 2010 (after Shah was already arrested, for which she already took credit).

Also, read how the allegations against Kodnani of having led the mob when she was actually at Gujarat assembly were dismissed and her acquittal upheld by Guj HC opindia.com/2018/04/anothe…

So after meeting Kondani and showering her with compliments, ‘Maithili Tyagi’ returns to room to have ‘eerie’ feeling that her room was ‘searched’. Laptop was on. Now, if it were top cops of Guj doing it, they’d be silly to leave trail behind. FIRE THEM ALREADY.

Next day she wants to speak to Singhal for her ‘investigation’. Again, Singhal was an accused in Ishrat case (2004) not Sohrabuddin (2005). Both cases are separate. Now Singhal, ATS chief, opens up and gets chatty too quickly to random wimmens in skirt and bandana

apparently just days before his imminent arrest in ishrat case, Singhal gets ‘relaxed’ when an outsider acknowledges his struggles and achievements. She wants us to believe top cop of Gujarat lets his guard down with slightest flattery.

She claims she has a Q&A with Singhal - where all that is discussed is encounters - Ishrat, Sohrabuddin, politician-officer ‘groups’, etc. Again, top cop of Gujarat does not find it suspicious that randomass ‘filmmaker’ from US discusses this instead of ‘glory of Gujarat’.

She attributes quotes to Singhal that ‘riots hue muslims ko maara, benefit liya, ispar (encounters) bhi kiya.’ - Again, the ‘tapes’ of these ‘recorded conversations’ have never seen light of the day. So we just take her word for it.

Another top cop, Rajan Priyadarshi, apparently badmouthed Modi to bandana clad Rana in his first encounter with her. Same rhetoric of Modi killed Muslims is repeated ad nauseam and like Singhal, he, too, talks about his Dalit identity. No proof, no evidence of these conversations

In 2012 (before Rana’s crap was published), he had joined Congress and had also called Modi a traitor. archive.indianexpress.com/news/excop-joi…

Congress leader (which is not clarified by Rana in the book yet) claims Amit Shah personally ordered him to kill Tulsi Prajapati in custody. Shah also claimed he does not believe in human rights. We are supposed to believe politicians say such things as casually.

Again, all these things are discussed to random ‘filmmaker’ from US who wants to make documentary on Gujarat glory. She wants us believe Modi specifically asked Zadaphia (HM during riots) to arrest 3 random Muslim men in Rajkot. As if Modi knows every Gujju’s name and location.

this is something on would write if they were heavily inspired from Bollywood. thok do, maar do type of tapori stuff straight out of KRK film

Her ‘expose’ on Ishrat case in Tehelka, she claims, got her faith linked to her story (she has been regularly using her religious identity to play victim) and hence was ‘being silenced’ - repeat something enough that you get delusional enough to believing the fantasy you created.

“I wore a denim skirt with a black t-shirt with loads of chunky jewellery for the meeting. There was a bandana around my head and I carried a camera and a slingback.” - the bandana never goes. How Rana went undercover to meet Guj cop Usha Rada

At one point she says she was asked to leave Nehru Foundation (had no roof on the head) and next moment she is again in Nehru Foundation with her spy camera kurta to meet Rada. No consistency. Usha Rada takes Rana to fancy restaurants, movies. How do ppl get so friendly so soon!

She’s again talking about leaving Nehru Foundation. Kya gajab hai. She claims she had deactivated FB and so no one could know how she looked like (because Maithili with bandana and straightened hair would not look like Rana at all)

new house is a bungalow on S G Highway and Rana now encounters a snake in this isolated place. 🤣 🤲🏻 Kalu Bhai is caretaker of isolated bungalow with snake in it. HAHAHAHAHA zomg

*screaming*

Heh heh heh read more here opindia.com/2017/09/anti-m…

ok, taking a break. something’s come up. be back in a while.

Okay. I’m making notes, timeline and dateline and discrepancies in what she claims happened in the book and how things actually happened (along with references) so pls give me some time. By Tuesday or Wednesday I will try to publish the article. Thanks for the patience!