Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up by Rana Ayyub

Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up Reviews

• 
  Alok Mishra

  The book is hilarious! I mean it. An undercover operation has been painted in all its glories but the 'author' hasn't offered even a single cognisable or verifiable piece of evidence for her 'operation' and it was so 'brave' that her sponsors denied publishing it – the same organisation whose founder was jailed (and it still shamed) because of a harassment case. Tejpal, you all know. So much blah blah and no substance. An alternate version of Shashi Tharoor if you are low on budget. Enjoy!
  
  Added out of sympathy: It's not even a timepass fiction if you think so!
• 
  Samadrita

  5 stars for the journalistic courage on display. 1 star for the atrocious, typo-ridden, grammatically awkward writing that made my eyes bleed. Next time Rana, please just hire a better editor or, better still, a ghost writer.
  
  But to simply criticize the quality of the writing would be to sidestep the real issue which is the truth of what happened in Gujarat at the time of the riots and how the state machinery bent to the will of those in positions of power to orchestrate possibly the most barbaric instance of carnage in post-liberalization India. So yes, this is a must read for those of us suffering from amnesia after the 2014 general elections.
• 
  Ajay

  Just another propaganda book by sellout journalist Rana Ayyub. Here she says she have evidences, proofs and sting footages. And she tries to portray herself as genius who tries to find the genuine truth. This book was published in 2016 and I am sure she found all evidences before 2014 . Why doesn’t she go to court before 2014 and even now why doesn’t she appealed to the court. No Rana Ayyub will not go to court because she doesn’t have any proof. This book was written for her agenda. No doubt even her news agency Tehelka didn’t publish this investigation. An investigation should always be unbiased instead of showing bigotry and Hinduphobic.
  
  Even in first week of July 2019 Supreme court said Gujarat Lies: A collection Rana Ayyub’s personal vendetta and they say it is based upon surmises, conjectures, and suppositions. The opinion of a person is not in the realm of the evidence. Even opposition parties are not supporting her because they also know she wrote propaganda book.
  
  It’s a disgusting book by sellout journalist. This is why I am not surprised why we have stopped trusting these news channels, websites and journalists. This book was anti-Hindu and agenda driven book.
  
  
  
• 
  Book'd Hitu

  One of the most idiotic book I have read till date.
  
  Rana Ayyub portrays herself as a superwoman for whom all the top leaders and cop chiefs of Gujarat are waiting to reveal their secrets with a red carpet welcome.
  
  I wasted my time and money on this book.
• 
  Nirwa Mehta

  this book is nothing but a collection of personal vendetta against Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. Had no substance, no logical conclusion. Waste of time and money. Not worth the hype.
• 
  Dhaval

  I have lived through the riots and even driven on the highways during the period. I was in Ahmedabad at that time. So I know a little about the first hand experience. So I was intrigued and wanted to check this book though I doubted the veracity of the author.
  This book is not only badly written - which is inexcusable but the arguments put forward are hilarious. There is no proof or even logic to the turn of events. Its sensationalism and trying to feed off the insecurities of the minorities in India and sling mud - as that what gets you attention.
  I am surprised it hasnt been banned or the government and police have not filed a case on the author. I would rate it low even as fiction as the writing is bad and disjointed.
• 
  Ashish

  She wails in the public that she feels Indian society is oppressed and yet choses to be someone with a 'Tyagi' surname. Well, who knows!
  Nevertheless, the book doesn't have any merit since its purely out of an imagination. Lacks proofs and credible evidence that could used to substantiate the propagandist and maligning writing. Many have come forward to refute the book, the ones who are mentioned in it. The author is out on bail in a fund fraud case as well. Her credibility is not good.
• 
  Nakshatra Mishra

  Subjective, biased and one-eyed analysis of the events from a very personal point of view... ignoring all the facts and figures. The author has written it in poor English, coupled with headless editing and useless assertions.
• 
  Harshita

  I wish I could give this book less than 1 star.
  
  Honestly, I came to read this book after seeing Rana Ayyub's rants on twitter - giving her the benefit of doubt that may be that's not all she does. But I was WRONG. This book is just another one of her bigger rants, because tweets have character limit.
  
  She starts off the book with something and ends with something else altogether. The only common thread from her tweets and this book is her hatred for Modi-Shah.
  
  Her portrayal of a braveheart who is relentless to unearth the secrets, walking into a lion's den going undercover and how the top cops of Gujarat are just ready to spill all their secrets and pour out their heart over a chai time with her is all just astonishing and eventually leads you to roll your eyes. She pretends to be a foreigner, but somehow knows to ask questions that might have been very internal matters of the states and guess what - nobody suspects her.
  
  She didn't give any proof about the things that have been said in her book; her editors didn't publish it; and Supreme Court of India trashed the book quoting "the book is based on surmises, conjectures and suppositions".
  
  The book makes some serious accusations, and I am surprised how none of the political oppositions or the media used it against BJP - they went out to form a government at the center- two times in a row.
  
  A book so baseless and poorly written (I thought years of being a journalist would have accounted to something, but NOPE.), where she continues to "unearth" the dirty secrets by risking her life.
  
  The book might as well be called Gossip files, because without an iota of evidence to prove the stuff from her book, that's what it is.
• 
  Nandakishore Mridula

  As a species, we are a forgetful lot. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the political arena. So yesterday's persona non grata becomes today's messiah.
  
  This is what happened with Narendra Modi, the current Prime Minister of India.
  
  In 2002, Gujarat in India was witness to one of the worst episodes of ethnic cleansing in modern history - when crazed mobs of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad went on a spree across the state, slaughtering Muslims at will. The ostensible reason for the carnage was the burning of a train containing Hindu activists by Muslims: but the consensus among liberal Indians is that these riots were carefully planned and orchestrated.
  
  Narendra Modi was Chief Minister of Gujarat at the time. At the time, he was thought to be complicit or at least to have committed the sin of omission of turning a blind eye. However, no investigation could uncover anything directly linking Modi to the carnage. Ultimately, some small fry were arrested and convicted. The man who was seen as a butcher had a makeover as a development messiah, and ultimately climbed on to the throne at Indraprastha.
  
  -------------------
  
  Rana Ayyub, a journalist at the investigative journal Tehelka, went undercover in 2010 as Maithili Tyagi to interview various police officers and politicians in Gujarat to uncover the truth behind the riots and the false "encounter" killings in which Muslims were victimised as terrorists. In the guise of an Indo-American out to make a film on the state, she managed many sting operations in which two things were crystal clear: police machinery in the state was totally compromised to carry out the vendetta of Modi and his erstwhile Home Minister Amit Shah, and all those who opposed the powers that be were victimised or eliminated outright (ironically, this happened also to Tehelka). However, at the most crucial point of the investigation, when Rana had secured interviews with Modi, the journal called of the whole thing with the flimsy excuse that he was becoming "extremely powerful" and cautioned Rana to silence.
  
  She is breaking that silence now.
  
  -------------------
  
  While I salute Rana's courage in going into the lion's den, this book is so badly written and edited that I was within an inch of throwing it against the wall many a time. Also, her sting operation has lost its "sting" as most of the news is old hat. The BJP and RSS have succeeded in polarising the country on religious lines to such an extent that most people don't care about Modi's dubious past: his supporters will sing paeans in his praise exactly because he showed courage in standing up to the "Muslim terrorists". Frightening, but there it is.
  
  Three stars for a courageous effort, however.
• 
  Tia

  I'm really sorry to people out there and me for I read this book. Worst? I completely read this book.
  I really really really want my time back.
  
  After the recent
  anti-CAA protest and
  expose on how it was carried out, I thought let's give this book a chance. Let's see what happend in 2002.
  Boy, I was so wrong. I mean even fiction is written better than this. Like really?
  
  It's a bad written book, a real bad case of writing. A real real bad case of writing.
  
  To top it all, the woman couldn't even hide the fact that she is being biased about it, it's a propaganda to say the least. Leave that, she couldn't even come up with facts and evidences.
  I mean this book was for a
  reason thrashed by the Supreme Court of India and I get it now but me being the stupid me still went ahead and read this book.
  
  
• 
  Anand Singh

  I don't know what is there to read in the book! The author says leave everything and believe me because I say so... strange!
• 
  Ganesh Suman

  Where are the videos of sting operation?
  Dog ate it!
  
  There you get the backstory of this book.
• 
  Jagdish Sharma

  The usual left narrative left with no evidence, no plot and no truth. Believe me because it's me attitude does not work in publications!