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October 13, 2003

 

Press Release

“Ban Yatra Politics, End the Sacrificing of Innocent 
Lives in the Name of Religion”

 

-----Appeal to the UP Chief Minister Shri Mulayam Singh Yadav

and to Union Home Minister & Deputy Prime Minister Shri LK Advani

 

Families of Godhra victims who’s wives were burnt alive in the S-6 Coach of the Sabarmati Express appeal for and end to the politics that takes innocent lives. They demand

a)      A Ban on Future Ayodhya Yatras especially the one planned from October    15, 2003

 

Four Victim Families who lost their wives/mothers.sisters in the gruesome mass burning of 59 innocent people on board the S-6 Coach of the Sabarmati Express on February 27, 2002 have appealed to the UP Chief Minister Shri Mulayam Singh Yadav and Union Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani to immediately prohibit the planned rath yatra to Ayodhya on October 15, 2003.

 

In a fervent appeal made through Citizens for Justice and Peace, an organisation dedicated to struggling for justice to the victims of violence, they have made this appeal. Sworn affidavits accompany this appeal for peace and against the politicisation of religion.

 

The names of the Godhra victim families on who’s behalf we are making this plea are:

Dr Girshbhai Rawal, 82 years old, lost his wife Sudhabehn in the Godhra tragedy and his son, Ashwinbhai when he was stabbed at Ramol on April 16, 2002. Ashwinbhai was the local Bajrang Dal President and a BJP card holder. Ashwinbhai’s wife, Belabehn and 18 year-old daughter Khushboo; Bharatbhai Panchal, 40 years old lost his wife Jyotibehn in the Godhra tragedy. His daughter Shefali, now 16 years and son Dhawal; Prakashbhai Chodagar, 35 years old, lost his wife Nilimabehn (Amibehn) in the tragedy. Their children are Harsh, 8 years and younger son, Meet (4 years); Sharadbhai Mhatre, 42 years, who lost his wife Malabehn.

 

The letter, a copy of which is attached, states that the Godhra victims “ , have expressed their concern that these rath yatras invariably vitiates the atmosphere and become the cause or result of violence. The affidavits of some of these relatives are annexed. We also

 

believe that these yatras only serve political purposes. Moreover they have the searing impact of ripping apart the centuries’ old harmony and lived secularism of Indian society which is also the basic structure and part of the Indian Constitution.

 

“Our country and the Indian polity has been held ransom to this politico-religious mobilisation for over almost two decades now and this must stop.

We apprehend that the yatra which is scheduled  to start on October 15, 2003 will also lead to a cycle of communal violence and cause heightened insecurity among the minority communities all of which will further vitiate the already surcharged atmosphere in the country. In the context of what has happened during the similar yatras and agitations in the past,  we strongly urge and demand that you prevent the forthcoming rath yatra by issuing prohibitory orders and also ensure that there is no problem of outburst of violence and no problems concerning law and order.”

 

Sworn affidavits of the victim families have also been attached to the letter. An excerpt from Dr Girishbhai Rawal’s affidavit states:

“*After 19 months of loss, I say and submit that I feel that me and my entire family, as also other victims of the Godhra tragedy, have been made sacrificial goats by the VHP in their political game. I say this because my wife participated in the yatra spontaneously thinking it was a religious event. In her life and mine we did not share the communal sentiments that are part and parcel of the VHP/BJP’s politics. Since this tragedy of the Godhra incident and our family members have been used by the VHP and the BJP to amass crores of rupees, here and abroad, and also win the last elections. Worst still, they were used for justifying the murders at Naroda and BEST Bakery have been shockingly committed and justified. Fifty-nine people burnt in Godhra and 2500 people massacred all over Gujarat! Who has done all these things and who has benefited this things? On many occasions the VHP and BJP have held functions with big names from the NRI world and collected large sums of money while they made us sit on the dias as scape goats. Where has this money gone and what has it been used for? 

* The Honourable Supreme Court should investigate the collection of funds and what they are used for by the VHP and BJP. Cassettes and CD’s were made, T-shirts were distributed, all around the death of 59 persons by burnings in the S6 coach in the Sabarmati Express. But those forces that are capitalizing on this tragedy have no concern for the poor and innocent lives lost, they are interested in their own politics and are again trying to begin one more yatra. As victims of Godhra burning, and personally as a father who has suffered his son’s joining the VHP and becoming a victim of their hate propaganda by absorbing it in his heart and mind, I earnestly feel that all such yatras like the Ayodhya yatra which is political and not religious, which causes and uses violence should be banned. The Central government will not do it so it is up to the Honourable Supreme court to take this historic step.

* The investigation into the causes and fallout of the Godhra tragedy too are being suppressed by the current BJP establishment. The kind of threats and intimidation that are used to avoid fair testimony in Courts and before the Nanavaty-Shah Commission, and the fact that no real impartial truth has come out so far suggests clearly that unless the Honourable Supeme Court takes a direct and personal interest in the Godhra and Other Investigations, Justice will not be done. The police is completely under the sway of the BJP and VHP politics in the State and therefore we urge you to respond to our appeal in the matter. Even Courts in Gujarat cannot function free of the communally surcharged atmosphere which the establishment is doing nothing to diffuse. In fact statements of senior functionaries of the state and the center further aggravate the situation and police atrocities against innocent minorities continue.”

 

The CJP will be following its commitment to file an intervention petition on behalf of the Godhra S-6 victims in the Supreme Court very shortly.

 

Teesta Setalvad

Secretary

Citizens for Justice and Peace

Shri Vijay Tendulkar (President), Shri IM Kadri (Vice President), Teesta Setalvad (Secretary)

Members: Shri Cyrus Guzder, Shri Titoo Ahluwalia, Shri Alyque Padamsee, Shri Javed Akhtar, Shri Ghulam Pesh Imam, Shri Nandan Maluste, Shri Anil Dharker and Shri Javed Anand

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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