Human rights organisations have criticised Denmark’s dealings with a frontrunner to become Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, for his role in a religiously-motivated massacre over ten years ago, according to Politiken newspaper

The Danish embassy in India was among the first to end a diplomatic isolation of Modi, who has been lambasted for not doing enough to prevent the killings of up to 2,000 Muslims by Hindu nationalists in the Indian state of Gujarat in 2002.

Modi, the head of Hindu national party Bharatiya Janata, and the chief minister of Gujarat at the time of the massacre, has been accused by witnesses of having a moral responsibility because he did nothing to stop the killings. Furthermore, human rights groups question why many of those responsible were never brought to justice.

Following the massacre, the US and the EU distanced themselves from the 63-year-old, but Denmark and Sweden decided to end diplomatic sanctions against him in 2008. Since then, the Danish ambassador to India, Freddy Svane, has met Modi a number of times concerning Danish investment in Gujarat.

Meenakshi Genguly, the head of human rights organisation Human Rights Watch, said that economic interests are being prioritised over human rights by Svane and Denmark.

“The conversations with Modi are predominantly about potential investment opportunities. Denmark should do more to convey their concern about those responsible for the massacre who weren’t brought to justice,” Genguly told Politiken.

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Business before human rights
Genguly was backed up by Trine Christensen, the deputy secretary general for the Danish department of human rights advocate Amnesty International, who finds it worrying that Denmark  ended diplomatic sanctions against Modi.

“It questions whether Denmark is adequately prioritising human rights issues when dealing with him [Modi],” Christensen said.

But Svane refused to respond to the accusations by the human rights groups, arguing that it is necessary to maintain a good relation with Modi, the current favourite to win the Indian general election this spring.

“It’s the ambassador’s role to maintain relations with the most important politicians – whether they are part of the government or the opposition. We have read the reports about the incident in Gujarat,” Svane said. “You can always argue, but I must relate to the fact that there have been many investigations and that Narendra Modi hasn’t been convicted. India is a democracy and has an independent judiciary system.”

Narendra Modi has denied any responsibility for the massacre and has described the accusations against him as being unjust.