KOCHI, MARCH 2 In a telling disclosure, former President K.R. Narayanan said the 2002 communal pogrom in Gujarat was backed by a conspiracy involving the BJP governments in that state and at the Centre. ‘‘There was government involvement in the Gujarat riots. I wrote repeatedly to Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee about it. I also discussed it personally with him. But Vajpayee just didn’t do anything effective,’’ Narayanan said, in an interview published in Manava Samskaram, a Malayalam magazine edited by Congress MLA P.T. Thomas.

Narayanan underlines how the Vajpayee government cocked a snook at the Presidential order to deploy the Army. He says he had asked for the Army to be sent in and it was deployed. But the troops couldn’t shoot at the rioters. ‘‘So many episodes of that riot could have been averted if the Army could shoot at the rioters. Much of the genocide in Gujarat would not have happened if the Army had the operational freedom. But neither the state nor the Central Government allowed it,’’ he said. ‘‘Behind the carnage in Gujarat was the conspiracy of the state and Central Governments.’’

He said the BJP Government had ‘‘hidden agendas’’ in many areas, including education. ‘‘They wanted to take over the reins in education to further their ideology. I intervened in a way that they did not appreciate when it came to appointing some vice-chancellors. This was not taken kindly by Murali Manohar Joshi and some others. But my interventions were democratic, constitutional and secular,’’ he said.

Such interventions, added Narayanan, was why BJP didn’t want to allow him a second term as President. ‘‘They had come to power deciding to put to work too many of their hidden agendas. They had probably realised that their agendas can’t be implemented in my presence,’’ the former President said.

He said he was not entirely happy during his years in office, particularly towards the end of his term. ‘‘There were too many occasions during my presidency when I had felt completely hopeless and sad. There were times when I just could not do anything. It had pained me. I had often rued the limitations of my office, he said, adding: ‘‘Power with a surrounding powerlessness is the real tragedy.’’

Narayanan also said he had rued his decision to return the I.K. Gujral government’s recommendation to dismiss the then UP government. ‘‘I did it because I thought it was constitutionally right. But later events showed it was politically unwise. The BJP made political capital using the Speaker to play its games. It gained power in UP and, using that momentum, at the Centre too, spelling long-lasting impacts on the country’s polity,’’ he said.