The astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore splashed down off the coast of Florida early on the morning of March 19, India time, after spending nine months on board the International Space Station.

They were greeted with messages of relief from around the world. Williams and Wilmore had arrived at the station in June 2024 for what was to have been an eight-day stay, but the Boeing craft on which they were to return developed technical snags, forcing them to extend their stay to 286 days.

Among those who extended hearty welcomes to the astronauts were Indian politicians. Though she is an American citizen, Williams’s father was from Mehsana in Gujarat and she still has close family in the state. Many Indians, and especially those from Gujarat, view her storied career as a military pilot and then an astronaut as a source of pride.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote, “Sunita Williams and the #Crew9 astronauts have once again shown us what perseverance truly means.”

In another letter, written earlier this month, Modi invited William to India, stating, “It will be a pleasure for India to host one of its most illustrious daughters.”

This effusive warmth and praise stood in sharp contrast to Modi’s attitude towards Williams in the past. In 2007, after Williams returned from her first space flight, the longest by a woman at the time, media reports noted that Modi, then chief minister of Gujarat, did not congratulate her.

These reports, which circulated again after Williams’s recent return to earth, revealed an unusual connection between Williams and Modi, of which even many who followed the news at the time had remained unaware: Williams is the first cousin of Haren Pandya, the Bharatiya Janata Party politician from Gujarat who had been locked in a fierce rivalry with Modi before being murdered in 2003.

Most significantly, three months after riots engulfed Gujarat in 2002, Pandya secretly deposed before an independent tribunal. Pandya told the tribunal that at a meeting on February 27, the day of the Godhra train burning, the chief minister told senior police officials “that they should expect a Hindu reaction after Godhra” and that “they should not do anything to contain this reaction”.

As The Caravan reported in 2012, the month after Pandya’s deposition, “written records show that Modi’s principal secretary, PK Mishra, instructed the director-general of state intelligence to track Pandya’s movements”.

A register kept by the director-general of the state’s intelligence noted that the official had informed Mishra, now the prime minister’s principal secretary, that “the minister who is suspected to have met the private inquiry commission [Justice VR Krishna Iyer] is known to be Mr Haren Pandya”.

In the months that followed, Modi forced Pandya out of his ministerial berth and in elections held in December 2002, and denied him a ticket to the Ellisbridge Assembly seat, which he had held for 15 years.

In March 2003, Pandya was murdered while he was out for a morning walk. Questions remain unanswered about the killing, such as why his wounds did not correspond with those that would be expected from the official account of his killing and why his body remained unattended in the heart of Ahmedabad for more than two hours.

Pandya’s wife also went on to air doubts about the official account of the murder. His father directly alleged that Modi was behind the killing.

Thus, Modi’s earlier refusal to acknowledge Williams was unsurprising, particularly given that she shared a close relationship with Pandya – according to Pandya’s father, she even travelled India to participate in his electoral victory procession in 1998.

Modi’s volte face is newsworthy. But he could pivot secure in the knowledge that it would be largely ignored by mainstream media. Indeed, apart from a few regional platforms, most media drew no attention to it.

This silence is in keeping with the wider pattern of letting the storm of questions about Modi’s tenure as Gujarat’s chief minister fade into the past unanswered – including questions about the riots, Pandya’s killing and the killings of others such as Ishrat Jahan and Sohrabuddin Sheikh.

It has been key to allowing Modi to reinvent himself as an international statesman – even though, after the Gujarat riots, he was banned from travelling to the United States for almost a decade because he was held “responsible for or directly carried out, at any time, particularly severe violations of religious freedom”.

Here is a summary of the week’s top stories.

The Nagpur violence. The Maharashtra Police booked six persons on charges of sedition and spreading misinformation on social media in connection with the clashes that broke out in Nagpur on Monday night.

They are among 50 others named across four first information reports. More than 80 persons including 11 minors have been taken into custody.

The violence took place hours after Hindutva groups held a protest in the city demanding that Aurangzeb’s tomb located in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar be removed.

Stones were thrown at the police amid rumours that a cloth with the Islamic declaration of faith, known as the Kalma, had been burnt during an agitation by a Hindutva group in the late afternoon.

Several persons, including police personnel, were injured and vehicles were damaged in the violence.

The police fired tear gas shells and resorted to lathi charge to disperse the mob in the city’s Chitnis Park area. Prohibitory orders barring public gatherings were imposed within the limits of 11 police stations. The curfew has been lifted in some areas.

On the judiciary. The Delhi High Court initiated an inquiry into one of its judges after allegations that unaccounted cash was found at his home. The inquiry report was to be submitted to Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna on Friday, the Supreme Court Collegium said.

The Supreme Court said that its discussions on the proposal to transfer Justice Yashwant Varma to the Allahabad High Court, his parent High Court, was “independent and separate” from the inquiry procedure.

On Friday, reports said that the cash was allegedly recovered when emergency services responded to a fire incident at Varma’s official residence on March 14. However, the Delhi fire services chief later in the day denied that fire personnel found any cash during the operation. Varma has not commented on the matter so far.

Reports earlier said that the Collegium had transferred Varma to the Allahabad High Court, which is his parent High Court. The Allahabad High Court Bar Association had opposed repatriation of the judge to the court, saying that it is not a “trash bin”.

Vineet Bhalla explains why Indian judges enjoy de facto impunity when it comes to corruption allegations.

The court’s remarks. The Allahabad High Court held that actions such as grabbing a child’s breasts, breaking the strings of her pyjama strings do not constitute rape or attempted rape. The court made the remarks while altering charges against two men accused of attempting to rape a 11-year-old girl in 2021.

The two men were originally summoned by a court in Uttar Pradesh’s Kasganj district to stand trial under charges of rape and attempted rape. The High Court, however, directed them to be tried for assault with intent to disrobe – which carries a lesser punishment – and aggravated sexual assault.

A broken ceasefire. Israel resumed air strikes on Gaza on Tuesday, killing at least 330 people in what Palestinian authorities said was the deadliest attack since the January 19 ceasefire. Hundreds were injured, many critically, according to health officials.

The strikes hit densely populated areas, schools, residential buildings and tents sheltering displaced persons. Hamas accused Israel of unilaterally ending the ceasefire and warned the escalation would endanger hostages.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the offensive was triggered by Hamas’ “refusal to release hostages” and promised intensified military action against the militant group. The United States was consulted before the strikes, White House officials confirmed.

Over 47,700 Palestinians, including 17,400 children, have been killed since Israel began its offensive in October after a Hamas-led attack. The ceasefire had temporarily paused fighting, with hostages exchanged for Palestinian prisoners.

Also on Scroll this week

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