Final Solution (2004) Rakesh Sharma

Final Solution is an interrogation of politics of hate. Set in Gujarat during 2002-3, the film graphically documents the changing face of right-wing politics in India through a study of the 2002 carnage in Gujarat (Western India). It specifically examines political tendencies reminiscent of Nazi Germany of the 1930s. Final Solution is anti-hate/ violence as “those who forget history are condemned to relive it”. Pre-2002, not many had heard of Narendra Modi, current Prime Minister of India, then an erstwhile RSS Pracharak on deputation to BJP, before he was suddenly chosen to replace the increasingly unpopular Chief Minister of Gujarat, Keshubhai Patel, a year before the State Assembly elections were due. Within months of taking over, CM Modi was in national limelight as the new hardline Hindutva icon, especially after his landslide poll victory. Final Solution traces the origins of his ascent to power in the aftermath of 2002 Gujarat Riots that deeply polarised the electorate. The film follows CM Modi during his Gaurav Yatra and on the election campaign trail, while interweaving stories of the survivors and eyewitness accounts of the pogrom. The film also documents the post-poll ground-level realities to find deepening fault lines – ghettoisation, segregation in schools, formal calls for economic boycott and continuing dehumanisation of the Muslim minority in the state. Final Solution is the story of the Gujarat carnage, its aftermath and its long-term impact. This ‘Gujarat Model’ of anti-minority aggressive assertion of Hindutva not only helped reap huge electoral dividends later, during 2007 and 2012 Gujarat state elections, but also projected and established CM Modi as a decisive strongman, the Supreme Leader, who went on to become the Prime Minister of India by 2014. Final Solution is a chronicle of the rise and entrenchment of politics of hate and intolerance in India.