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home > News/Analysis > News Archive
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News : Archive (June 16-30th, 2002)
- Muslims escape riots to find jobs gone
At least 300 residents of Ahmedabad have been fired in a month
Express News Service, June 30, 2002
Ahmedabad, June 29: In Narendra Modi’s Gujarat, the blows never cease. Several Muslims who thought they were lucky to have escaped the riots with their lives now find themselves without jobs.
- Time has come to put Savarkar's dictum to action: VHP
PTI, New Delhi, June 30
The country was facing a "definite aggression from these forces and a time had come to bring Savarkar's dictum of Hinduising politics and militarising the Hindudom to reality," the VHP leader said, addressing the valedictory function of a seven-day youth training camp organised by Bajarang Dal at Mandoli in the outskirt of the capital.
- State of Gujarat relief camps shocks Sehgal
HT Correspondent, June 30, 2002
(Ahmedabad, June 29) Indian National Army veteran and presidential candidate Lakshmi Sehgal said on Saturday that she was horrified to see that relief camps in the city were being closed down without having proper arrangements for the rehabilitation of inmates there.
- Heavy rains in Gujarat make life in camps unbearable
Saturday, June 29, 2002 (Gandhinagar)NDTV.com
Heavy rains have been lashing Gujarat, and the showers seem to have added to the troubles of those residing in the state's relief camps.
- Hindutva manufactured
Khushwant Singh, Editorial, The Hindustan Times, June 29, 2002
In Hindutva, Savarkar described Hindus as a nation because they acknowledged India as their fatherland and land of worship. Among Hindus he included Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs because their religions were of Indian origin but excluded Muslims and Christians because their religions came from outside. So he concluded that Hindus are a nation, while Muslims, Christians and Parsis are “communities or numerical minorities”.
- Other yatra: Some Muslims will brave fear for tradition
Express News Service, June 29, 2002
Ahmedabad, June 28: While the date for rath yatra nears amidst rumours that there may be trouble, Muslims, who have been participating in the function along with Hindus all these years, are still optimistic.
- Compensation not enough: Riot victims
PTI, June 28, 2002
NEW DELHI: Accusing Narendra Modi government of not providing adequate relief measures to the riot victims in Gujarat, members of a relief committee from the state on Thursday urged Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to intervene and direct the state government to ensure fair distribution of relief meaterials.
- Fresh communal violence in Bhavnagar
PTI Gandhinagar, June 28
In a fresh oubtreak of communal violence today after a month-long calm, two groups clashed and some shops were set on fire in Bhavnagar city of Gujarat prompting police to open fire, police sources said here.
- Riot victims slam Govt ‘inaction’
HT Correspondent June 27, 2002
Over 50 riot victims from Gujarat under the aegis of Qaumi Relief Committee sat on dharna at Jantar Mantar on Thursday to voice their protest against the Government's failure to provide rehabilitation, resettlement, security and compensation.
- It’s raining misery at relief camps in city
Express News Service, June 28, 2002
Ahmedabad, June 26: WHILE most of the people in city heaved a
sigh of relief at last night’s rainfall, for inmates of various relief camps
there was little reason to rejoice. At most of the camps there was a
huge commotion as heavy rains lashed the city.
- Ban Modi entry into UK: Rights activists
Saurabh Shukla, Hindustan Times June 27, 2002
The Gujarat carnage has come back to haunt New Delhi again. An initiative launched by some prominent scholars of South Asia and human rights activists based in the UK has urged the British Government to declare Narendra Modi and members of his ministry personae non gratae.
- 'Civil servants should be made more accountable'
Omer Farooq/Hyderabad, Daily Pioneer, June 27, 2002
Harsh Mandar, the IAS officer, who resigned in protest against the failure of the State machinery in stopping Gujarat violence, has called for a system to make the officials accountable who either fail or collude in the riots and violence.
- Poets articulate Gujarat violence victims' pain
IANS/Yahoo! India News, June 27, 2002
Anshu Malviya -- a young poet from Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh --pictured the horror of the sectarian madness that gripped Gujarat in India for three months since February-end.
His poem "Kausar Bano Ki Ajanmi Bitiya (the unborn daughter of Kausar Bano)" was based on grisly murders in the Naroda-Patia neighbourhood of Ahmedabad, where about 80 Muslims were killed in a matter of minutes.
- Govt not to close relief camps
PTI, June 27, 2002
AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat government on Wednesday reassured the High Court that it would not close down any relief camp for violence victims in the state.
The reassurance was given during the hearing of the Public Interest Litigation, filed by 'Citizens for Justice and Peace and Communalism Combat', which charged the state government with using coercive methods to get the relief camps vacated by the violence victims.
- Distanced from the people
By Kuldip Nayar, The Hindu, June 27, 2002
Whether it is the police or the administrative set-up, it functions at the behest of the rulers alone. Some years ago, the consideration was politics. Now caste and creed also play a role.
- Homeless riot-hit now landless
Syed Khalique Ahmed, The Indian Express, June 27, 2002
Vadodara, June 26: A month after they returned to their damaged houses, 181 families living in Noor Park Society in Tarsali have received marching orders. The administration has woken up to the fact that the land on which their houses have stood all along belonged to the government and were hence ‘‘encroachments’’
- PUCL's riot report indicts Baroda cops
Times News Network, June 26, 2002
VADODARA: An independent report on violence in Vadodara following the Godhra carnage, released here on Tuesday has severely indicted the state government, the city police and local politicians for instigating and committing violence against the Muslims here.
- UK Academics in Anti-Modi Drive
From Basant Rawat, The Telegraph India, June 25, 2002
Ahmedabad, June 24: South Asian academics in the UK have joined human rights advocates in urging the British government to declare Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and his Cabinet ministers personae non gratae over the “genocidal violence” against minorities. (Also read)
- Religious leaders want VHP banned
PTI, June 25, 2002
AYODHYA: Prominent saints and seers in this temple town on Tuesday demanded a ban on the VHP saying the outfit's decision not to abide by the court order on the Ram temple issue would "encourage the cult of religious terrorism."
- Parivar Wars
Editorial, The Times of India, June 26, 2002
At the best of times, no one can seriously accuse the parivar of moderation, but the tone of the VHP’s latest ‘counsel’ to its ‘favourite’ Indian minority — the Muslims — will still take a lot of beating.
- Move to rebuild shrine scuttled
HT Correspondent, June 25, 2002
(Ahmedabad, June 24) Despite Modi's assurances to the National Commission of Minorities (NCM) about the confidence building measures to be undertaken by his Government, authorities here have scuttled the first attempt in this direction by refusing permission to rebuild the demolished shrine of a Sufi poet
- NHRC seeks report on Gujarat
PTI, June 25, 2002
NEW DELHI: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked its special representative in Gujarat P Nampoothiri to report all the latest developments in the violence-hit state to the Commission.
- Politics after Gujarat
By Rajmohan Gandhi, The Hindu, June 25, 2002
Let the Congress and the Left attempt a partnership in the States and at the Centre and form a front that would exert a gravitational pull on the regional parties.
- Officials implicated in Hindu violence
By Alex Spillius , The Washington Times, June 24, 2002
The March riots marked the first time officials of a political party, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which controls Gujarat state government and leads the ruling national coalition in New Delhi, have been implicated in turning a blind eye to mass killings.
- Govt doles out bonds but riot victims can’t cash in
Shefali Nautiyal, The Indian Express, June 23, 2002
Ahmedabad, June 23: AS part of its compensation package for the riot-hit, the State Government recently announced that it will give Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited (SSNNL) bonds worth Rs 60,000 each which will mature in five years. But chances are that they may never mature. Just like the bonds hundreds of 1990 and 1992 riot victims received.
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Nowhere to go and no one cares
By Manas Dasgupta, The Hind, June 23, 2002
Narendra Modi's officials are on the prowl. Their target, the relief camps for the riot victims. They want them closed at the earliest.
- Dalit Muslims
Yoginder Sikand, Interview, June 20, 2002, Outlookindia.com
The national convenor of the All-India Backward Muslim Morcha (AIBMM), which was set up in 1994 as an umbrella group of over 40 Backward Caste Muslim organisations on the movement he leads.
- Under attack in Gujarat
June 19, 2002
We are scholars of South Asia and human rights advocates in the U. K. who are
deeply perturbed by the genocidal violence unleashed against Muslim citizens in
the Indian state of Gujarat.
- A shot at justice? ‘Truth drug’ for Godhra accused
Rohit Bhan, Indian Express, June 23, 2002
Vadodara: June 22: In a highly unusual and controversial procedure, seven of the prime accused in the Godhra train massacre were subjected to interrogation this week after being administered what’s called the ‘‘truth serum,’’ doses of sodium pentothal meant to ‘‘lower inhibition and resistance.’’
- A candle in the darkness
By Manas Dasgupta, The Hind, June 23, 2002
THOSE WHO wanted to "teach a lesson" to Gujarat's Muslims in the aftermath of the Godhra carnage, will never understand people like Om Prakash Sharma or Radhaben. They and their families live in the relief camps with victims from the minority community. Among the 800-odd inmates of camp number 45 in Ahmedabad's Saraspur locality are some 120 members of 24 Hindu families. They live under the same tattered piece of cloth passed off as a tent, eat the same food and share the same anxiety of an unknown future as the Muslim inmates.
- Gujarat: Muslims fear leaving relief camps
Reuters, June 22, 2002
Ahmedabad, June 22: More than three months after India's worst religious bloodshed in a decade, thousands of Muslims remain in relief camps because they have nowhere to go or fear for their lives if they return to their homes. Others in the relief camps say the government's compensation payments are not enough for them to return to their homes.
- Riot victims plan dharna in Capital on Sunday
Press Trust of India, June 22, 2002
Ahmedabad, June 22: Victims of Gujarat communal riots, led by Qaumi Relief Committee, have decided to stage a day-long dharna in New Delhi on June 27 to draw Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's attention towards "incomplete relief and rehabilitation work" in the violence-hit areas of the state.
- Don't close relief camps: Governor
By Manas Dasgupta, The Hindu, June 22, 2002
AHMEDABAD June 21. The Gujarat Governor, Sunder Singh Bhandari, has informed the State Congress that he had issued instructions to the State Government not to close down the relief camps for riot victims without making alternative arrangements for them.
- Riot victims denied compensation
Times News Network, June 22, 2002
VADODARA: They were hounded out by mobs. Some lost their loved ones. Their houses were ransacked, looted and torched. Three months after riots forced them out, the riot victims are still suffering.
- Rehab project for riot widows under way
Rajiv Shah, Times News Network, June 22, 2002
AHMEDABAD: Nearly four months after the riots, life continues to be at a standstill for some, especially the women who have been widowed during the disturbances. According to provisional figures provided by Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), the riots have widowed over 238 women.
- A ray of hope for 1992 riot victims
Express News Service, June 22, 2002
Ahmedabad, June 21: FOR several riot-affected persons — who were also victims of the 1992 Babari Masjid riots and given Narmada bonds as part of relief compensation — chances of them receiving the amount seems to have seen sunlight after all these years of gloom. Liyaquat Dodhia, former director of Minorities Griviences Committee, Surat, has taken up the issue of getting the riot victims their deserving compensation.
- Modi hands out perks to Godhra prosecutor
Amit Mukherjee, Times News Network, June 21, 2002
AHMEDABAD: The Narendra Modi government once again demonstrated the greater weightage it has given to the Godhra train massacre than to the communal riots that followed.
- Gujarat’s grim march
What a government — to fashion a triumph out of a tragedy
Editorial, June 21, 2002
The latest from Gujarat is that the ravaged state will be the staging post for grand religio-political yatras. The BJP is readying its state unit to sally forth, Narendra Modi at the helm, on the ‘Gujarat Gaurav Rath Yatra’, ostensibly to spread the message of peace. The Congress is preparing to launch parallel rallies, to counter the BJP.
- Another place, another riot and another divide
Rakshit Sonawane, June 21, 2002, The Indian Express
Rekchand Agarwal’s journey to hell typically started off in the most routine fashion possible, with a visit to the doctor in Nandurbar’s Kali Masjid area.
- Now playing in Ahmedabad: yatra after yatra
Janyala Sreenivas, The Indian Express, June 20, 2002
Ahmedabad, June 19: As Gujarat limps back to normalcy, it’s going to be treated to three yatras later this month, one religious and two political. And at least one of the yatras—the annual Jagannath rath yatra on July 12—has already set off the alarm bells in the Ahmedabad police department as intelligence reports warn of trouble.
- Rathyatra may get under way with altered route
Leena Misra, Times News Network, June 20, 2002
AHMEDABAD: Nearly a week after the debate on whether to go ahead with the Rathyatra or not in such communally surcharged times, the consensus seems to be that the 143rd Rathyatra will be conducted on July 12, possibly with a change in the traditional route. That is, if the proposals of the city police are accepted by the Jagannath Temple Trust.
- Drowning in rhetoric
Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, The Hindustan Times, June 20, 2002
In about six months, it will be the tenth anniversary of the demolition of the Babri masjid. Various shades of responses at that time would be determined by the manner in which the present India-Pakistan standoff gets resolved (or does not).
- Bye-bye Pampa
C Uday Bhaskar, Editorial, The Hindustan Times, June 19, 2002
A dear friend visited the relief camps in Ahmedabad as part of an NGO effort and came back with a heart-rending account of the prevailing conditions. Our children heard the tale in rapt attention. The distant tragedy seemed more real than what we saw on TV. The plight of the thousands of homeless kids deeply affected the children.
- Panel to probe riots up to Apr 30
Times News Network, June 19, 2002
AHMEDABAD: The state government has restricted the terms of reference of the judicial inquiry commission into the riots as only up to April 30.
- ID hospital sets example in harmony
Jahnavi Contractor, Times News Network, June 19, 2002
VADODARA: A city hospital is setting a rare example of communal harmony at a time when religious intolerance has reached its ugliest - with reports of doctors and patients found prejudiced.
- Sabarmati assault: Five politicians arrested, released on bail
BJP youth wing chief, two councillors and Cong leader held in morning swoop
Express News Service, June 19, 2002
Ahmedabad, June 18: Sabarmati police today arrested five people in connection with the attack on Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar at Sabarmati Ashram on April 7. Those arrested include BJP youth wing president Amit Thaker, two BJP councillors and a Congress leader.
- Pressure mounts on riot refugees to return home
Times News Network, June 18, 2002
AHMEDABAD: The government says the number of riot victims in relief camps is 14,378. The Qaumi Relief Committee of Gujarat - nodal agency for all relief committees in the city - alleges the figure is 33,000. The number game, on how many riot-affected still remain in relief camps, continues in the city.
- More relief camps ordered closed
By Manas Dasgupta, The Hindu, June 18, 2002
AHMEDABAD June 17. Even as the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, claimed "satisfactory progress'' in the relief and rehabilitation of the riot victims in the State, the Muslim victims have taken to agitational path to highlight the Government's "broken promises'' and their "unfulfilled demands.''
- Riot victims protest tardy relief work
PTI, June 17, 2002
AHMEDABAD: Members of Gujarat Qaumi Relief Committee on Monday staged a dharna in Laldarwaja area here to protest "non-completion of the rehabilitation work by the state government for the riot-affected people."
- A check on 'madrassas
The Hinud, June 18, 2002
Kolkata June 17. The Centre had directed the West Bengal Government to find out whether or not `madrassas', applying for Central grants, were involved in anti-national activities, the Minister for Primary Education and Madrassas, Kanti Biswas, told the Assembly today.
- No escaping accountability
Opinion - Editorials, The Hindu, June 17, 2002
THE `REFORMIST ZEAL' that the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, has displayed towards `madrassas' (Muslim seminaries) has nothing genuinely reformist about it. For all the seeming innocuousness and reasonableness, as projected by Mr. Modi's expressed desire to be guided by the reforms carried out in countries such as Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia, the `reforms' initiative has clearly a sinister design behind it.
- Hindus targeted in Kashmir attack
BBC News Online, 16 June, 2002
Five Hindus have been killed in an attack by suspected Islamic militants in the latest violence in Indian-administered Kashmir.
- Gaps in the chain of tragedy
Digant Oza, The Hindustan Times, June 17, 2002
Just as Godhra has a history of communal violence, it also has a past of arrested Muslims being acquitted by the court.
On September 18, 1928, when Purshottam Maganlal Shah, the president of the local branch of the Hindu Mahasabha, and Vamanrao Mukadam, a teacher at Godhra High School, were attacked by some ghanchi Muslims. A procession of baniyas was also attacked. Shah succumbed to his injuries the next day. Although 20 Muslims were arrested and tried three months later, all of them were acquitted as it was impossible to prove a case against them.
- Cornered Modi gets a clean chit from Advani
Express News Service, June 17, 2002
Ahmedabad, June 16: Union Home Minister L.K. Advani today expressed satisfaction over the rehabilitation of riot-affected victims in Gujarat, thus giving a clean chit to Chief Minister Narendra Modi. As reported in The Indian Express , the Prime Minister’s Office had recently written to the Gujarat Chief Minister and expressed anguish over the progress of the rehabilitation process in the state.
- Ray of hope for riot orphaned
Times News Network, June 16, 2002
VADODARA: There is a ray of hope for children orphaned due to communal violence in Vadodara city and district.
The National Foundation for Communal Harmony (NFCH) recently sent the first instalment of aid for the education of these children.
More - Archive One (June 1 - June 15, 2002)
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