Rana Ayyub narrates ordeal over her book on Gujarat riots in a Facebook post

Senior journalist and author Rana Ayyub is claiming that she is being intimidated over the sensitive contents of her book, Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up, the Hindi version of which was released on September 16.

“I understand. This vindictiveness is normal. Many of my brave colleagues are suffering the wrath of the powers that be for speaking a narrative that does not suit them,” Ayyub said in a Facebook post on Thursday.

The book is themed on the religious riots that took place in Gujarat in 2002 when Narendra Modi was its chief minister. Ayyub reportedly conducted a series of sting operations on government officials, including policemen and politicians, during her time as journalist at the Tehelka Magazine. She is also said to have met Modi several times and the discussions between them have been presented in the book.

In her post, Ayyub detailed how she is being bullied with sexist remarks and threats, both online and at public events. She reckons the ultimate purpose of the harassment and veiled sexism she has been copping is to try keep the information in the book from reaching the masses.

She also recounts in the post that she deleted a Facebook post in the wake of Gauri Lankesh’s killing, after getting “tired of the please be safe messages.”

Ayyub’s Facebook post is reproduced below:

This is slightly long so I hope you will bear with me on this. Four years ago, July 2013, Tehelka published a damning expose reported by me on the involvement of IB officials who were complicit with the Modi dispensation in a series of fake encounters in Gujarat. It was the first time that a report had named IB officials who were considered kosher. The report created a media sensation followed by a classic act by those named of discrediting my work. A slander campaign and a character assassination was launched by supporters of those involved with a hashtag #ranaayyubcd running on social media for two days. Officials in the dispensation in Gujarat and in the IB personally called up editors and journalists asking them not to pay heed to the story, also suggesting that I was using my 'friendship' in the CBI to get the information . The innuendo was not to be missed. The following week Tehelka carried an editorial in it's July issue which read:

"Editor Rana Ayyub has been having a close taste of this prejudice in recent weeks. Over the past three years, Rana — one of TEHELKA’s most sterling and fearless journalists — has doggedly chased the story of fake encounters in Gujarat. Her journalism has been driven by a keen sense of justice and constitutional values. Yet, as her scoops on the Ishrat Jahan case began to make national headlines, she has had to face the humiliating experience of being assessed not as a professional but as a “Muslim journalist”. Equally dismaying, a despicable slander campaign has been unleashed against her — shadowy whispers about a CD involving her and CBI officers that have absolutely no basis in truth. "

The story died it's own death when I challenged the chauvinists and the mythmakers to present the CD so I could watch it with my family. They tried to shame me into silence but the facts outweighed the gossip machinery.

Ever since my book launch in 2016, a fact that few of my friends are privy to, my life has not been the same. My bank account checked routinely, my phone calls tapped as usual. Editors have been called by the dispensation to not give me space on their news channels and yes, no mention of my book ( this week Nidhi Razdan and Rajdeep Sardesai showed great bravado in talking about the content of the book on their show).

I understand. This vindictiveness is normal. Many of my brave colleagues are suffering the wrath of the powers that be for speaking a narrative that does not suit them.

Two weeks ago, just a day before my friend Gauri was murdered, I wrote a Facebook post about the government's obsession with my personal life and spreading misinformation through various propaganda websites. I had to delete the post soon after Gauri’s death because I was tired of the 'please be safe' messages.

In the last one week, the humiliating experience of having to witness my character assassination timed around the release of the Hindi edition has begun. The misogyny, the alleged affairs that 'got me' my stories and made me write the book are back. I am neither surprised nor furious for this is the classic, most successful trick in the book to silence someone, especially if the facts stated don't suit your narrative.

At the Times litfest this year, a gentleman in the audience asked me a question while I was in conversation with Sidharth Vardarajan. He said he loved my work but I would be taken more seriously if I attempted to look a little less glamorous. It was heartening to see the audience shame him and make him apologise for his rather sexist remark. At another event in Chandigarh, where I launched my Punjabi edition, I was told by a gentleman in the audience that an attractive girl like me would not have had trouble to get the officers speak, what they spoke in the book.

Misogyny exists and we cannot wish it away. I know for a fact though that at every crucial juncture of my journalism like in the past, I will be asked to give a character certificate besides other certificates of religion and patriotism to prove that I got my story through the right means. But you know what, do what you may, you ain't shaming me into the silence that you seek. So the next time, come up with something really more convincing than this sexist figment of your imagination.