NEW DELHI, April 4: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, obviously stunned by the horror of the bit of Gujarat he saw on Thursday, told a gathering of Muslim victims sheltered in a camp that they were not alone in suffering the barbaric assault on their human rights, and that the whole of India shared their grief.
Even as a he spoke, explaining that he was late in coming to Ahmedabad because the state administration of Chief Minister Narendra Modi would not let him come earlier, several parts of Gujarat were reeling under unabated violence.
There were reports that one person was killed and several injured in police firing at the precise time of the prime minister’s visit to Gujarat.
“You are not alone at this time of crisis, we all are with you. The entire country is with you,” Vajpayee told mostly Muslim victims huddled at the Shah Alam Relief camp where nearly 8,000 people affected by the state-backed communal violence have taken shelter.
In an emotional outburst, Vajpayee said: “Apne desh mein refugee ho jana, yeh dil ko cheerane wali baat hai (becoming refugee in one’s own country is something that pierces the heart).”
He said India had prestige in the comity of nations for its pluralistic character which has been badly bruised by the events in Gujarat. He said “with what face, I do not know, I will go abroad after what has happened here”.
Referring to the massacre of Hindu activists in a train on Feb 27, Vajpayee said: “Whatever had happened in Godhra should be condemned. But what went on after that in other parts of the state should also be equally condemned by one and all.”
“Yeh pagalpan bandh hona chahiye (this madness should stop),” he said amidst claps from Muslim inmates of the camp. “Aag se aag nahin bujhti (fire does not stop fire). To prevent fire from spreading you need water,” he said.
“What happened this time in Gujarat cannot be even imagined by a civilised man. I cannot even think of how a man can be torched to death. This is inhuman and should be condemned,” Vajpayee said.
“Are we going off track from the path of humanity,” he asked. Vajpayee walked into the relief camp amidst unprecedented security with the chief minister Narendra Modi accompanying him. Immediately after Vajpayee ended his speech, some of the youth victims raised anti-Modi slogans demanding his dismissal.
“No guilty would be allowed to go unpunished. The guilty would be punished. When we cannot give life what right do we have to take it away,” Vajpayee said.
“Aman qayam rakhna rajneetik neta aur adhikariyon ka zimedari hai (it is the responsibility of political leadership and officials to maintain peace)”, he said.
Vajpayee said he was shocked at the incident on Wednesday in which five Muslims were burnt to death in an Ahmedabad village and said “I wonder whether the devil has overcome us”. He said while the train carnage at Godhra was to be condemned, the incidents which followed were equally condemnable.
Amid clapping by the riot victims, he said that the refugee camps will continue as long as required and the government will take proper care to rehabilitate the victims. The widows, orphans and destitute should get special care from the government, he added.
One person was killed and three others injured in police firing in Modasa town of Sabarkantha district on Thursday even as Vajpayee was touring the violence-hit areas of Gujarat.
Five other persons were injured in acid attacks in the town which sparked off the violence. Officials in the state police control room and in the home department in Gandhinagar were however tight-lipped about the incident apparently in order to maintain a facade of peace in Gujarat during the VIP visit.
Reports said the incident happened in the afternoon near the main bus stand in the communally sensitive North Gujarat town, which has witnessed several violent incidents in recent weeks. Curfew was imposed in Modasa to control the situation after the violence rocked the town around 2pm in the afternoon. Reports said a truck was set ablaze on Malpur road.
Reports trickling in suggested that rival mobs came face to face following an incident of acid attack in the town. The security forces fired at the mobs, killing one and injuring three others. Eyewitnesses said the dead was an innocent hand-cart puller who was trying to run for safety with his cart.
The incident happened shortly after the Prime Minister spoke at the relief camp in Ahmedabad that he was ashamed of the happenings in Gujarat. There were no other reports of violence in any other part of the state on Thursday. —JN
APP ADDS: Shouting slogans against Modi, the demonstrators at the Shah Alam camp also demanded that the inquiry into the communal riots be conducted by a Supreme Court judge, says an official source from Ahmedabad. They also called for a CBI probe into police “inaction”.
NEW DELHI, April 4: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, obviously stunned by the horror of the bit of Gujarat he saw on Thursday, told a gathering of Muslim victims sheltered in a camp that they were not alone in suffering the barbaric assault on their human rights, and that the whole of India shared their grief.
