Gujarat BJP Tweets Contentious Cartoon On 2008 Ahmedabad Blasts Case Verdict, Twitter Removes Post

The cartoon depicts men in nooses wearing skull caps with the inscriptions "Satyamev Jayate" and "No Forgiveness to those who promote terror."

New Delhi: A cartoon posted by the Gujarat unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) following the sentencing of 49 people convicted in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial bombings case provoked outrage across the country. Twitter later deleted the message.

The cartoon depicts men in nooses wearing skull caps and had the inscriptions, "Satyamev Jayate", and "No forgiveness to those who promote terror".

The caricature was also posted on the Gujarat BJP's official Instagram account. Meta-owned Instagram has not taken it down. 

When the detailed court decision was made public on February 19, the caricature was shared on the official verified handle of Gujarat BJP (@BJP4Gujarat). The tweet got a lot of attention on social media, eliciting a variety of responses.

On February 18, 2022, a special court in Gujarat pronounced its judgment in the 13-year-old case, in which 38 of the 49 defendants were handed death sentence and the remaining 11 were sent to life imprisonment till death.

Many on Twitter posted messages to condemn the cartoon, saying it was done in bad taste.

A Twitter user Sandeep Manudhane wrote: "An actual tweet by official BJP handle, after the 38 terrorists implicated in bomb blasts were given capital punishment, by a Court. I'd like to know which major political party in the world celebrates justice like this. (And I wonder the impact this will have on mobs)."

Another Twitter user said, "That post by BJP Gujarat is not simply in violation of 'Twitter rules', it's in violation of the law."

Twitter later took down the post, saying it violated the social media platform's rules. 

On July 26, 2008, 22 explosives exploded in various locations in Ahmedabad, including the Gujarat government-run Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation-run LG Hospital, buses, parked bicycles, and automobiles.

Fifty-six people were slain, and around 200 were injured. Two explosives set in Kalol and Naroda failed to detonate. After Jaipur in May and Bengaluru the day before, Ahmedabad was the third city to be attacked that year.