LONDON: Narendra Modi began on Sunday a whistle-stop tour through Europe to re-brand Gujarat internationally, but the chief minister may have to shout to make himself heard above the massed protestors pleading for justice.

 

In particular, Modi’s lawyers may have to prove to a British magistrate that he is not Augusto Pinochet, the former Chilean military leader who was uniquely arrested in the UK in 1998 and detained for 17 months on charges of crimes against humanity.

 

Just hours before Modi began his first visit to the UK since the Gujarat violence, members of a South Asian human rights organisation claimed they would seek Modi’s arrest on Tuesday through the court of a Bow Street magistrate, where public interest cases are heard. It was at a Bow Street magistrate’s court that the whole headline-grabbing saga of the Pinochet arrest began but observers said the Modi affidavit may turn out to be no more than a “gimmick”.

 

But, Modi’s London visit began with an altogether sunnier ‘community event’ near Wembley stadium, attended by 2,400 Gujaratis. The chief minister’s main message, said organiser Anil Pota, general secretary of the Overseas Friends of the BJP, is to seek the help of Gujaratis everywhere for his ‘Vibrant Gujarat’ initiative.

 

Modi is to meet representatives of oil company Shell in the UK and several leading business groups during his next stop in Zurich and Geneva. The European tour will culminate in a “global investors meeting” late next month in Ahmedabad, where Fortune 500 companies will be invited to invest in a state that is peaceful and prosperous.

 

Prominent Gujarati poet Praful Amin in Birmingham, said non-resident Gujaratis “are backing Modi” and it was time for reconciliation even with some of the angrier groups of British Gujarati Muslims calling Modi a ‘fascist’.

 

On Sunday, relatives of two British Gujaratis from Yorkshire, who lost their lives in the Gujarat violence, publicly endorsed the mass protests and calls for justice for their loved ones.

 

Bilal Dawood, whose brothers Saeed and Shakil Dawood were killed while on holiday in Gujarat, went public on BBC domestic radio with what he called a message to Modi.

 

“We just want a proper investigation or a reinvestigation to happen... We just want to know what’s happened, who’s done it, and why it’s happened, and the right justice process to be followed. Modi is in charge of Gujurat state, so... he is ultimately liable for (these deaths)...”