The Godhra potboiler

There was a conspiracy. A bogie was meticulously burned and its passengers killed.

What should a government do? Try and get the situation under control, immediately, using all the available resources. Using all available resources, find the cause of the incident. It now having been confirmed that it was a conspiracy, hunt down the accused and put them on trial.

What did actually happen? And therein lies the tragedy.

And now 9 years later, internet-nationalists are outraged that 63 people were acquitted for no crime of theirs.

There is no denying that there was a conspiracy. I earnestly appeal for the most stringent punishment for the perpetrators of this heinous crime. I also appeal that the perpetrators of the Gujrat pogrom be also put on trial. Injustice should just not be tolerated in this great nation of ours.

The tragedy of Gujrat is not just Godhra. The tragedy is both Godhra and post-Godhra Gujrat. As long as this divide exists, Gujrat will always be viewed as a stigma. And that is an even bigger tragedy.

Life has continued and will continue. But at the next flare-up, and we are all fools if we believe that there won't be a flare-up, the tragic consequences will even be greater.

Doesn't Gujrat deserve better? Doesn't India deserve better?

Godhra on the eve of elections

The Supreme Court has finally got down to getting justice for the Gujrat carnage vicims.

On Monday (Apr 27, 2009), it directed the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is headed by the CBI ex-Director Mr. R K Raghavan, to probe the alleged role of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and his administration in aiding and abetting the 2002 riots.

This is the first time that Modi, has come under the scanner for one of the worst riots in recent years. Often in the past, accusing fingers have been repeatedly pointed at him, his cabinet colleagues and top state officials for their alleged complicity. Mayaben Kodnani, who was a minister in his cabinet, is already under arrest for the Naroda Patya carnage.

This, at a time, when he is being projected as the BJP’s future prime ministerial candidate. Though it remains to be seen whether he will work it to his advantage or not. The aura that once surrounded him following the pogrom in 2002 may be diminishing, however, there is no denying that he is still a force to reckon with in Gujrat politics.

If the SIT is able to crucially dent the image of Mr. Modi, that will put paid to his wishes to be the PM of India. For all his anti-minority rhetoric, that may be a good thing. But if his development of Gujrat is anything to go by, that seems to be a bad option!

But this way or other, it is absolutely essential that his tacit, covert or overt complicity on the Gujrat carnage needs to be comprehensively investigated. He may either be acquitted or convicted. Which ever way the pendulum swings, Modi will need to open his mouth and speak up for the whole of Gujrat. His silence on the matter is too suspicious for anybody's (least of all the nation's) good.

One doesn't really want to pronounce judgement on Mr. Modi. But if his body language is any barometer, then he is bloody guilty as hell.

Anyway, jai ho!

Truth shall prevail

The noose is ever so slowly tightening.

Under arrest:
1. DSP K G Erda

On the Run
1. Inspector V S Gohil

Anticipatory Bail
1. Gujarat Education Minister Mayaben Kodnani
2. Former Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Jaideep Patel

It is time that Mr. Modi becomes answerable to a few pertinent questions.

1. Does he believe in the Indian constitution and consequently the judiciary? (Y/N)
2. If NO, does he have the mandated authority to occupy the high office of Gujarat Chief Ministership that he has for so long adorned, and adorned rather fabulously well.
3. If YES, what is his reply to the findings of the Gujarat High Court which has ruled that the Godhra incident, which killed 59, was not an act of terror.

The court on Thursday, Feb 12, 2009, upheld the POTA review committee's findings, which concluded there was no planned conspiracy in Godhra and that the incident was the result of the sudden provocation between passengers and vendors.

The court has categorically stated that it finds "the incident falling short of an act of terror."

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Apr 28, 2009

http://avkoshy.blogspot.com/2009/04/godhra-on-eve-of-elections.html

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Feb 27, 2011

http://avkoshy.blogspot.com/2011/02/godhra-potboiler.html

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Apr 22, 2011

1. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article1718407.ece?homepage=true

2. http://ibnlive.in.com/news/what-did-modi-say-at-the-feb-27-2002-meet/149944-3.html

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Democracy as a victim

It is unfortunate that we as a country are becoming an extremely intolerant society. While it is true that the three officers who were part of the ATS were actually killed by the terrorists, what Mr. Antulay is asking needs to be heard out. If he is alleging that the officers were NOT killed by the terrorists who came from the sea, I think he needs to be unequivocally and IMMEDIATELY be sacked from all posts that he is currently holding on Govt pleasure. On the other hand, if he is asking as to why these three officers were going towards the Cama Hospital, where there were relatively less "happening" than at Taj, Oberoi or the Nariman House, then I think he needs to be listened to.

Who send these officers there? I remember that on the day this carnage occurred, there were some dimwits who suspected these three officers of playing to the gallery by posing for photographers in their bullet proof vests before joining the hunt for these terrorists. They had obviously already received news of the attack. The question that Mr. Antulay is asking is, "Why Cama Hospital"

I am absolutely sure that there could be a perfectly reasonable answer for the same.

But does that mean that the minister cannot phrase a question that begs asking, at least as of today, without having the "mobocracy" descend on him asking for his scalp?

There does not seem to be a reason for this rabid mongering except the fact that he is a minister, a Muslim, and part of the UPA establishment. Which is a pity.