MINORITIES - 2002 - Indian Social Institute

TENSION HAS gripped the communally sensitive town of Asind, ahead of the three-day Urs fair at the
Ba-dia Dargah from July 16. The issue is the tradition of setting up temporary sheds on the adjoining
Sawai Bhoj Temple premises. Hindu hardliners have this time opposed the practice. A peace committee
meeting on the issue on Monday has failed to resolve the issue. Meanwhile miscreants have painted the
Dargah with saffron colour and fixed a trishul atop it, despite police presence. Sources said the incident
took place after the visit of former Gujarat VHP leader Harish Bhai Bhatt last week. On Friday, Bhatt had
opposed the setting up of sheds. (Hindustan Times 3.7.02)
4 th July
Gujarat yatra legitimate, only put off: Jaitley (7)
NEW DELHI : 3 JULY: THE BJP today asserted that the 'Gaurav Yatra' planned by its Gujarat state unit
was a legitimate political activity and clarified that the proposed mobilisational programme has only been
postponed, not cancelled. Addressing' reporters here, party spokesman Arun Jaitley today said the
decision to postpone the yatra was taken with a view to "thwarting the attempts of the Opposition and their
cheerleaders to decontextualise" its political action plan in Parliament. "We did not want the Opposition to
use against us in Parliament. It was a collective decision of the party," Mr Jaitley said. This assertion is
significant as it comes in the wake of the speculation in a section of media that the B JP had rolled back
its yatra because of pressure from the prime minister and other quarters. This cannot but be yet another
indicator of the new mood of assertiveness in the party. The Economic Times 4 th July 2002)
4th July
Inflammable material was poured from inside the compartment (7)
AHMEDABAD, JULY 3. A report by the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) on the probabilities of the
February 27 Godhra train carnage has opened a Pandora's box with many people questioning the Gujarat
Government's theory of "conspiracy" by the minorities. In a sensational statement, the Gujarat Pradesh
Congress president, Amarsinh Chaudhary, today pointed an accusing finger at the Sangh Parivar of
having stage-managed the Godhra train carnage to instigate communal violence in the State. Basing his
statement on the FSL report that the inflammable material must have been poured from inside the burnt
S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express, Mr. Chaudhary claimed that the report had negated the Modi
Government's stand that local Muslims had set fire to the train from outside. Mr. Chaudhary claimed that
the kind of inflammable material used to burn the train was the same as the one used in burning the
Muslim properties in the post-God-hra carnage, and that the "same elements who indulged in communal
carnage were also involved in setting fire to the train." He demanded a thorough inquiry to trace the
"elements" in the coach and determine who could have set it afire. (Hindu 4.7.02)
5 th July
Modi shunts out Godhra DC, SP (7)
Gandhinagar, : The Gujarat government on Thursday evening transferred as many as 26 IAS officers,
including the Godhra Collector Jayanti Ravi and Rehabilitation Commissioner Maheshwar Sahu. These
transfers come a day after the transfer of 23 IPS officers, including Godhra SP Raju Bhargava. The
decision to transfer two senior officials from Godhra in quick succession seems to indicate that the Modi’s
ministry is keen to remove all those who were involved with the Godhra district administration at the time
of the riots. (Hindustan Times 5.7.02)
5 th July
Closed camps have 15,000 inmates (7)
AHMEDABAD JULY4: TEN relief camps and 10,000 inmates: that's District Collector K Sriniyas's official
figure for Ahmedabad for the PM's ears. According to a study, what he won't hear is that there are 15,000
more in 15 camps, "officially closed", and hence "officially" out of the government's sight and mind. Harsh
Mander, the country director of Action Aid and a member of the Forum for Relief and Reconciliation who
found this in a survey of the relief camps, says tftese 15,000 "invisible" refugees don't get either ration or
medical help. Mander, who resigned from the IAS over the Gujarat riots and the state administration's
"indifference" towards them, submitted his report to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Tuesday