MINORITIES - 2002 - Indian Social Institute

Gujarat Jesuit Province and the Behavioural Science Centre of St. Xavier's College, Ahmedabad, and
non-governmental bodies are visiting the affected Muslims in several camps and providing them with food
and
other relief materials. (SAR News 4.3.02)
4 TH March
Two Catholic Priests, Two Others Injured in Attack by RSS men (7)
Indore: In the Gujarat backlash, even Christians were not spared. Two Catholic priests and two others of
Khurda village here were attacked by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activists, March 2, while they
were on their way to nearby Manpur police station in a jeep to submit a report on an attack on a
Church-run school in Khurda. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) had called for a 'Bharat Bandh' (national
strike) March 2, to protest the train-burning incident in Godhra, Gujarat, in which 58 Hindus were roasted
to death. According to sources, Fr. Nicholas Martiz, the Novice Master of the Catholic Ashram, Khurda, Fr.
George Bhuriya, Parish Priest, Mr. Francis, a parishioner, and Mr. Prakash, the driver of the Ashram, were
attacked by an armed group of RSS supporters. Fr. Nicholas sustained head injuries, which required
hospital isation, while Fr. Bhuriya, Mr. Prakash and Mr. Francis, sustained minor injuries. The RSS men
also damaged the Church jeep, the sources added. (SAR News 4.3.02)
5 TH march
Catholic Mission Burned down (7)
Gujarat: A mission station run by the Divine Word Society (SVD) in Sanjeli, Gujarat, was ransacked and
set ablaze by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists, in the wake of the
communal riots in the State. According to sources, on March 1 evening, a group of RSS-VHP activists,
broke open the Sanjeli mission house, attacked the priest in charge of the mission, Fr. Chackochan, and
his companion Br. Gnanrul, and set fire to the building after looting the valuables, the sources said.( SAR
News: 5.3.03)
4th March
Gujarat toll crosses 400, villages burn (7)
Ahmedabad, March 3: HOME MINISTER L.K. Advani spent about six hours on Sunday in Ahmedabad
and Godhra, taking stock of the situation in the state where the toll is now 427. And though, barring 15
killings, Ahmedabad was largely peaceful, rural areas in Gujarat witnessed retaliatory bloodshed. ,But the
visit, all of six days after the Sabarmati Express killings, was a bit of a let-down. Advani skirted most
sensitive areas, including Naroda, Chamanpura and Bapunagar, and at the press meeting, he looked like
he had yet to come to grips with the situation. Though he rapped the state administration over the
mounting death toll, he seemed to buy the official claims of "tapering tensions" and effective administrative
action. He also accepted the official count of deaths in police firing, which, according to locals, is
questionable. (HT 4.3.02)
4 th March
If Simi can be banned, then why not VHP ? (7)
New Delhi, March 3: Academicians and intellectuals have blamed the Vishwa Hindu Parishad for the
mayhem in Gujarat and demanded an immediate ban on the outfit. Most of them were of the view that the
communal flare-up in Godhra and the rest of Gujarat was not a sudden incident, but was a part of the
tension that is being built up in the country by some of the "fundamentalist outfits for last few years." Prof.
Chandra Mohan Bahmbari of JNU said: "I have been against the ban and censorship, but it becomes
essential whenever democracy is under a threat by fundamentalist forces." The VHP has taken, the
country ransom in the name of religion.-The VHP workers not only believe in communal ideologies
against the Muslims and Christians, but they practice them as seen in the past and also recently.; Earlier it
was in Orissa and now it's in Gujarat, he said. (Asian Age 4.3.02)
4 th March
Tense calm in Gujarat, Ahmedabad still burns (7)
Ahmedabad: DESPITE Army presence, Gujarat continued to burn for the fifth day today. The Army
seemed to be away from the trouble-spots and arrived only when violence flared up. However, troops shot