MINORITIES - 2002 - Indian Social Institute

Ahmedabad, March 31: Riot victims sheltered in the relief camps of Gujarat can breathe easy, at least for
the moment. The state government has shelved its plan to close down the camps under pressure from the
Relief Committee headed by Governor S.S.Bhandari. No camp will be dismantled or relocated before the
victims are adequately compensated, chief minister Narendra Modi said at the first meeting of the
14-member committee since its formation on March 25. "There is no move to wind up any relief camp or
ask the riot victims to go home," said health minister Ashok Bhatt, a panel member. Modi had recently told
the men in charge of five of the biggest camps in the city that he wanted some of the riot victims { to return
home. Those living in the camps out of fear should go home, Modi had said and added that he would see
to it that they get police protection. (Telegraph 1.4.02)
1 st April
Tension continues in Ahmedabad (7)
Ahmedabad: Two persons succumbed to injuries on Sunday, taking the toll in violent incidents in Gujarat
in the past 48 hours to nine, while two others including a BSF jawan were injured in fresh violence in
Vejalpur Sunday night police said on Monday. Violence continued in parts of Ahmedabad and other parts
of the state with reports of arson and attacks from souther, central and northern regions, police said.
(Times of India 1.4.02)
2 nd April
Gujarat riots are an answer to Jihad: VHP (7)
New Delhi, April 1: The VHP on Monday sought to justify the continuing violence in Gujarat describing it as
a popular upsurge and people's answer to jihadi terrorism. "The Indian state and (pseudo) secularism has
failed to protect Hindus and control jihadi terrorism and hence people are fast making up their mind to
defend themselves. What is happening in Gujarat is not communal riots but people's answer to Islamic
jihad," VHP international general secretary Praveenbhai Togadiya said. He alleged that Indian polity,
including NDA, has been practising one-way secularism and acting as a defendent of jihadi terrorism.
While asserting that VHP was not justifying the violence in Gujarat, he said: "But what is happening in
Gujarat is an upsurge, a rebellion." Citing an instance of one way secularism, he said, "Thousands of
terrorists have been arrested in Jammu and Kashmir over the past several years but not even one has
been punished so far. When they are not punished, the Hindu loses faith in the system." Asian Age
2.4.02)
2nd April
Modi faces PM’s grilling on April 4 (7)
New Delhi: ON HIS Gujarat visit on Thursday, Atal Bihari Vajpayee will ask Narendra Modi the answers to
questions he put to him at their March 27 meeting in New Delhi.
• Why is the violence continuing?
• What has been done to restore order and minority confidence?
• What is the government's relief and rehabilitation plan?
The Prime Minister will expect the chief minister to respond in clear, unambiguous language, sources
said. Vajpayee is scheduled to address a press conference later in the day
On his daylong tour, the Prime Minister will meet a cross-section of people and visit relief camps where
more than 100,000 Muslims have been staying since the violence erupted on February^. (Hindustan
Times 2.4.02)
3 rd April
SC hearing on minority institutions rights starts (7)
NEW DEDHI: In a bid to clear the long-standing confusion over the rights of minority-run institutions and
also the meaning of "minority" under the secular Constitution, a 11-judge Bench of the Supreme Court on
Tuesday started hearing a batch of petitions awaiting its indulgence for nine years. The Bench comprises
of Justice B N Kirpal, Justice V N Khare, Justice S Rajendra Babu, Justice Syed Shah Mohammed
Quadri, Justice Ruma Pal, Justice S N Variava, Justice K G Balakrishnan, Justice P Venkatarama Reddi,
Justice Ashok Bhan and Justice Arijit Passayat. The long-awaited hearing has a chequered past. In
October 1993, t five-judge Bench referred the matter to a seven-judge Bench framing three questions,