Agra: Days after former Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) vice chancellor (VC) Lt General Zameer Uddin Shah’s comment on the 2002 Gujarat riots, the varsity’s previous media advisor Jasim Mohammed has said that Shah had “twisted facts” to gain publicity for his upcoming memoir, ‘The Sarkari Mussalman’. The book, which will be formally launched by former Vice President Hamid Ansari at the India International Centre in New Delhi, is scheduled to hit the stands on Saturday.In an interview with a news agency recently, the former VC had said, “The crucial period was the intervening night of February 28 and March 1, 2002. I had met the then chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, at 2 am. My troop sat on the airfield an entire day on March 1. We got vehicles only on March 2. By then the damage had occurred. Some crucial hours were lost.”Hundreds had died in the riots that shook Gujarat that year.Mohammed claimed that Shah had met PM Modi on March 5, 2016 and complimented the latter for “controlling riots in a swift manner”. “I had accompanied Shah to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence. During their interaction, Shah complimented Modi for controlling the riots in a swift manner. He had also thanked the PM for taking steps to quell the riots. He never mentioned about the delay in getting vehicles,” said Mohammed.When contacted, Shah, a recipient of the Param Vishish Seva Medal, Vishisht Seva Medal and Sena Medal for his services in the armed forces, said, “I never criticised the PM during my interviews. I have always stressed that the delay in providing logistics was an administrative failure. The riots were controlled within 48-hour by the Army. I have not twisted any facts. I stand by what I have stated.”Shah admitted that Mohammed had accompanied him to the PM’s house. TOI also has a copy of the letter that Admiral L Ramdas had sent Shah on October 10, 2018, which states: “At the time of the riots, Shah had informed me about how his troop had to wait one whole day before being provided with transport facilities by the authorities. Had the troop been allowed to restore law and order on the first day of the riots, many more lives would have been saved.”

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