MINORITIES - 2002 - Indian Social Institute

(class 10) and HSC (class 12) exams on Thursday. Gun-toting policemen and videographers swarmed
the exam centres zooming in on unprecedented security in Ahmedabad but the hyped-up protection
offered failed to assure the minorities as an estimated two-thirds of the Muslim students stayed away in
support of the exam-boycott call given by Muslim leaders. In Vadodara, however, Muslim students turned
out in large numbers even though the boycott call had begun from the city. (Times of India 19.4.02)
20 th April
Gujarat hits BJP in J&K, 4 leaders quit (7)
JAMMU, APRIL 19: THE BJP may have got Union Food Minister Shanta Kiimar to apologise for attacking
Narendra Modi and the Sangh Parivar over the Gujarat riots butthere is trouble brewing in the party's
Jammu and Kashmir unit Four senior leaders, including a national council member, have resigned from
the primary membership of the party over the handling of riots and the Prime Minister's remarks on
Muslims in Goa. The resignations of Ghulam Nabi Tak, BJP national executive 'member, and Doda unit
leaders Khurshid Ahmed Misgar, Aizaz KarimBhat and GianChand have been sent by fax to A.B. ^jpayee
and BJP president Jana Krishna-murthy. Copies have been sent to D.K. Kotwal, state president, and
Chaman Lal Gupta, Union Minister of State for Food Processing. (Indian Exp 20.4.02)
20 th April
SC tells Gujarat government: give students another chance to take exams or else (7)
NEW DELHI, APRIL 19: IN its second intervention in the Gujarat crisis, the Supreme Court today virtually
ordered the state Government to hold supplementary examinations in two months for students unable to
appear in the ongoing examinations due to the communal tensions. "Please consider the career of the
students", the bench said while asking it to "explore .the possibility" of holding examinations. "If you do not
do it, we are going to direct you to hold supplementary examinations for the students." Earlier in the week,
the court issued notices to the state Government and the Centre on a PIL seeking action against the
culprits of the violence. (Indian Exp 20.4.02)
20th April
Why UK’s report worries Delhi (7)
NEW DELHI: The Vajpayee government is worried a scathing report on the Gujarat riots prepared by the
British High Commission here might form the basis for british courts to indict chief minister Narendra
Modi for complicity in the killing of three British Muslims near Ahmedabad in early March and possibly
even genocide. We presume the British government will fight any such move just as it opposed the idea of
extraditing pinochet said an official referring to the year long legal battle by human rights activists to have
the former Chilean dictator sent to Spain to face trial. But if the victims family members move the courts in
Britain there is no telling what might happen. (Times of India 20.4.02)
20 th April
India image takes beating due to Gujarat (7)
New Delhi, April 19: India's international image has taken a nose dive ever since the outbreak of violence
in Gujarat. Foreign diplomats here are openly concerned about the continuing violence in the state and the
inability of the Central government to bring back some semblance of stability and normalcy in the state.
This is the chink in Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Hindutva armour and one which the Opposition
parties are 'seeking to exploit to the hilt. The Prime Minister, who had asked rather plaintively, "With what
face will I go abroad," during a visit to Gujarat is visibly uncomfortable when reminded of the widespread
^criticism of the violence in the state. (Asian Age 20.4.002)
20 th April
PM dares Opp over no-trust (7)
NEW DELHI, April 19. — The government and the Opposition dared each other to prove their numbers
even as Parliament adjourned for the fifth consecutive day today without conducting any business. And in
another development Mr Vaj'payee today met President KR Narayanan, and was understood to have
discussed various issues, including the situation in 'Gujarat. An all-party meeting called by the deputy
Speaker Mr. P.M. Sayeed, turned acrimonious. The Prime Minister rejected the Opposition demand for a