Plot

A study of politics of hate, examining the rise and entrenchment of right-wing politics in India, by documenting the 2002 Gujarat riots and their aftermath. It specifically examines political tendencies reminiscent of early Nazi Germany.

The Final Solution is a 2004 documentary directed by Rakesh Sharma about the 2002 communal Gujarat Riots that arose as a response to the Godhra Train Burning incident on February 27, 2002, where 58 Hindus were burnt alive on a train carriage. An official estimate states that 254 Hindus and 790 Muslims were killed during the riots, with 223 more missing. The documentary consists mostly of interviews, with both Muslims and Hindus, of multiple generations, and both sexes, with different views regarding the causes, justifications, and the actual events of the violence that occurred, as well as their prospects for the future. The government of Gujurat at the time, led by Chief Minister Narendra Modi, was highly criticized throughout the documentary and was accused of inciting much of the rioting and not doing enough to halt it.—Loga

Final Solution is an interrogation of politics of hate. The film graphically documents the changing face of right-wing politics in India through a study of the 2002 carnage in Gujarat (Western India). 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 handling of the horrific ethnic violence during the Gujarat riots, in Feb-March 2002. Within the right wing pantheon, he became a fast-rising star after his landslide poll victory in Dec 2002.

Final Solution traces the origins of his ascent to power in the aftermath of the Gujarat carnage that deeply polarized the electorate. The film follows CM Modi during his 'GauravYatra' 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.