Police said a ‘500-people strong mob of minority community’ attacked people in the Jahurpura area near the Old Bus Stand. Since only 35 people were arrested for the attack on 27th February, as reported by various English newspapers the next day, it was found to be grossly inadequate by the masses. 2002: The bogies of Ahmedabad-bound Sabarmati Express were set on fire on 27th February, 2002 by Muslim miscreants. Additional forces of police, State Reserve Police and anti-riot Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel led by senior DSP, Raju Bhargava, rushed to the spot and carried out a combing operation. Does this author think that 15 children were also drunk? http://www.indianexpress.com/storyOld.php? Before anybody could know what had happened, we saw a huge mob approaching the train. We all got frightened and somehow closed the windows and the doors of the compartment. The SIT also rejected the accident theory, and found on reinvestigation that the Godhra carnage was indeed a conspiracy to burn and bake the unwary passengers and the riots were a reaction. On 27 February 2002, Godhra train was taking hindi pilgrims home and at every stop they would step outside and start yelling slogans. The Hindustan Times did not even bother to have the headline like: “58 karsevaks burnt to death in a ghastly attack in Godhra” or something of the sort. Yakub Pataliya, 63, was on the run for the last 16 years He was arrested from Godhra by a police team after they Others complained: Musalmans invade our quarters and insult our women in our presence, and we have to sit still. Even if you dispute the version of some of the kar sewaks – that the attack was premeditated and that the mob was ready and waiting - there can be no denying that what happened was indefensible, unforgivable and impossible to explain away as a consequence of great provocation. This said, one cannot but pinpoint the harsh reality that events such as the horrors of Godhra were tragically predictable as a result of the wounding and aggressive communal campaign of the VHP. They were shouting slogans like: ‘Tumhari shahidi bekar nahi jayegi, Mandir bana kar hi rahenge’ (Your sacrifice will not go in vain, we will build the temple)… This incident drew mixed reactions from the Congress, the main opposition party in the state. On Godhra, Kuldip Nayar wrote in an article published on 6 July 2002: “Narendra Modi would have created a Godhra train incident if it had not happened. Godhra – Waiting For Justice. As a result there has been a series of these ghastly episodes and one such was the Gujarat carnage of 2002. The train erupted in panic. Belgium-based world famous scholar Dr Koenraad Elst also wrote in his book “BJP Vis-à-vis Hindu resurgence” (Published by Voice of India in January 1997): “Another example is riot reporting. They watched and pushed back into fire the victims including 15 children and roasted to death in a horrific manner 59 Hindus returning from Godhra. But all these people forgot one thing. How could at least 500 Muslims reach the other side of the train? A trainload of such people called ‘karsevaks’ or ‘Ramsevaks’ were returning to Ahmedabad in Gujarat from Ayodhya after participating in the Purnahuti Yagya. How does Ahimsa come there? http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Umarji-was-indirectly-stalling-Godhra-probe/articleshow/36903039.cms. The story began nearly 36 hours earlier. While reporting on this issue, Organiser also reported in a news item—“RSS condemns the killings and calls for restraint” and this report carries the statement of RSS Joint General Secretary, Madan Das Devi that RSS urges Hindu society to exercise restraint after the Godhra attack. Saurashtra and Kutch, which did not see any riots even in the first three days after Godhra, also saw the BJP winning, and not just winning, but winning ‘hands down’. are done by terrorists and they are acts of terrorism, whereas Godhra was not terrorism, but communalism and barbarism. “It was vandalism at its worst. Trouble had started at Dahod station, nearly one hour and 75km up the tracks. Even moderate Hindus, of the sort that loathe the VHP, are appalled by the stories that are now coming out of Gujarat: stories with uncomfortable reminders of 1947 with details about how the bogies were first locked from outside and then set on fire and how the women’s compartment suffered the most damage. The train contained several bogeys full of kar sewaks who were on their way back to Ahmedabad after participating in the Poorna Ahuti Yagya at Ayodhya. According to some witnesses, explosives were also used. How can you justify your silence when the two communities are running at each other’s throats and Hindus are being crushed to atoms? If that was the case, then the karsevaks would have ran out of the train and saved their lives, by running from the second side before Muslims reached there. Umakant, who was trying to break the closed door and get away, was pelted with stones by the attackers and pushed with the bamboos inside the coach (Source: Article by Dr. Suvarna Raval in Marathi daily Tarun Bharat dated 21st July,2002). Chronology of a few communal riots/atrocities is appended below: 1927-28: Murder of P.M. Shah, a leading local representative of Hindus. And, in fact, even weekly Outlook in its issue dated 11th March, 2002 (i.e. But nothing of the sort happened. It clearly shows that not only it was a pre-planned attack but many others were aware that something is likely to happen on that day.”, Disclaimer: Not independently verified, just what was reported by VSK, Gujarat. Irrespective of whether a VHP member thrashes a Muslim or whether Muslims thrash or burn alive a trainload of VHP members, the ‘secularist’ newspaper editors will continue to bash the VHP and hold it responsible for all the troubles. The victims included 15 children, including some toddlers and some old people of above 65. On 27th February, the VHP asked the State government to act against them and when it failed, the public anger was directed against all Muslims” (Source: http://archives.digitaltoday.in/indiatoday/20020318/cover3.html). Such people have no right to complain…” (extract from To the Hindus and Muslims, a collection of articles by Gandhiji from Young India ).”. This is the full text of his article: “There is something profoundly worrying in the response of what might be called the secular establishment to the massacre in Godhra. Another mentions a woman washing clothes by the railway line being hauled away. The Gujarat Police on January 30 arrested an accused in the 2002 Godhra train carnage. They will all go to hell for this act of malice,” said Devika, who could not even retrieve her bag as she ran for her life. They also did so during the Gujarat Assembly elections of December 2002 and continue to do so today. Suddenly, stones were being thrown at the train. This was quoted by Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Parliament on 14 May 1970. Why then are these poor kar sewaks an exception? By this time, the karsevaks were much the worse for wear. Besides, he also cites: “The rumour of an attack on a religious place in Dahod” as one of the reasons for the Godhra incident. Such was his notoriety, claims a BJP MLA, that ‘a few months ago the authorities had difficulty pasting a notice on his door’. It is impossible for it to have been the result of petty quarrels at the Godhra railway station. I know the arguments well because – like most journalists – I have used them myself. Some versions have it that the kar sewaks shouted anti-Muslim slogans; others that they taunted and harassed Muslim passengers. And a huddle of Muslim-owned businesses sprang up in shacks alongside the tracks, many of them motor-repair yards. The ghost of Godhra looks set to walk its streets for months.” (URL: http://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/200-on-the-human-richter/214849). Riots, though mostly started by Muslims (e.g. But there comes a time when this kind of rigidly ‘secularist’ construct not only goes too far; it also becomes counter-productive. Not a single student or a teacher of a particular community was present in the schools of Godhra on 27th February. Singh—one of the finest police officers Gujarat has ever produced—also said that the police should have cordoned off the area in Godhra after the massacre. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Curfew-in-Godhra-after-clashes/articleshow/167495.cms? Forty shops belonging to the Hindus were also set on fire in station area. The report written by Peter Popham published on 20 March 2002 was: “…What happened in car S/6 was the hideous finale. People outside were shouting loudly, saying ‘Maro, Kato’ and were attacking the train. One event that changed the political discourse of this country was the burning of the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express on 27th February, 2002, that resulted in the tragic death of 58 passengers travelling in the coach including several karsevaks who were travelling in that very coach. Police opened fire and hurled tear gas shells to disperse the mob. Pooja was hurt in her back and was unable to stand up. Why have we de-humanised them to the extent that we don’t even see the incident as the human tragedy that it undoubtedly was and treat it as just another consequence of the VHP’s fundamentalist policies? And the attitude is—keep the Hindu suffering as low as possible, Muslim atrocities as low as possible and inflate and exaggerate Muslim sufferings as much as possible. After that, Mr. Sadva Hazi also left for Pakistan in 1948. Godhra carnage: Burnt coach of Sabarmati Express train at Godhra. The old women were pleading, ‘don’t kill us’ but they just didn’t listen,” says Gayatri Panchal (16), who says 3-4 people ran after her as soon as she jumped off the train (The Indian Express, 28th February, 2002). This was done by rationalizing or justifying the Godhra carnage. Their gas cylinders broke the bars on the windows and exploded inside; the petrol bombs flew through and set the upholstery and the people trapped inside on fire. However, our politicians and pseudo-secular media people are blind to Hindu suffering. RSS had asked the Hindu society to observe restraint and not retaliate after Godhra even before the riots had started. The weekly reports: “The blame for the initial explosion on 28th February is being pinned on the Modi government for its failure to arrest those responsible for the Godhra massacre. Where there are cowards, there will always be bullies… But I, as a Hindu, am more ashamed of Hindu cowardice than I am angry at the Mussalman bullying… ”, The Entire Happenings in Godhra—How the Massacre Occurred. Godhra was Planned, Post-Godhra was a Result of Provocation. Inside the train, someone pulled the emergency cord; the train stopped, then moved off again; the cord was pulled again 1km out of the station, and this time the train stopped and stayed stopped. The Independent, England insulted the dead kar sewaks and leveled baseless allegations. This area in 2002 was lying vacant as most of the Hindu families had shifted elsewhere. 2003 September: Ganesh idol immersion saw stone pelting and conflicts between Hindus and Muslims. Truth about Godhra. Godhra (its twin city of Dahod is the birth place of the fanatical Mughal emperor Aurangazeb) town in [...], [...] Punwani] has not only disrespected, but also insulted and slandered the 59 dead victims of the Godhra carnage including 25 women and 15 children including babies and toddlers, by leveling shameful and [...]. 2. It was an act of a pre-meditated conspiracy of barbarism and not real terrorism. Among some details of the brutality, an event that reveals the killing of a Dalit karsevak in the Godhra massacre is worth reproducing. But it simply discloses the attitude of the ‘secularists’ in dealing with the situation. Even Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) had also written about the Muslim communalism in Godhra. 11 of the 31 convicts were given the death penalty while the remaining were given life imprisonment. Truth … How Various Congress Leaders triggered the Gujarat Riots and Started the Violence by burning alive 59 Train passengers (Mostly Women and Children) in Godhra city. 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