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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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