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News : Archive (September 1-30, 2002)
- BJP chief sends VHP a stinker
‘Your remarks compromise anti-terror battle, stop slamming Govt’
Pradeep Kaushal, Venkaiah Naidu New Delhi, September 30, 2002
Signalling tension between the BJP and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, party president M Venkaiah Naidu today issued a written statement slamming recent ‘‘utterances’’ by some VHP leaders.
- Gaurav yatra politics is out
Neerja Chowdhury, The Indian Express, September 30, 2002
Narendra Modi has given the credit to the ‘pseudo secularists’ and their restraint in the choice of language for the comparative peace in the wake of the attack on the Akshardham Temple. The truth, however, is that politics has undergone a change in the post-Akshardham phase. Today, BJP’s compulsions are very different from what they were in the post-Godhra period.
- Competitive bandhs
By Dipankar Gupta, The Hindu, October 1, 2002
Political demonstrations of grief are often a smokescreen to avoid performing public responsibilities.
- Temple opens with healing touch - Modi Takes Cue, Issues Appeal for Brotherhood
By Basant Rawat, Monday September 30, 2002
Gandhinagar, Sept. 29: The walls still showed the scars of the bullets that ricocheted off them five days ago, but the message that came from within did not speak of the wound as Narendra Modi has been doing from a rath.
- Gujarat and value education
V. K. Tripathi, The Indian Express, September 28, 2002
The Supreme Court had a limited issue before it — to examine whether the National Curricular Framework (NCF) violated the secular character of our constitution or not — in the PIL filed by Aruna Roy and others. It has ruled that the NCF proposal on value education does not violate it. The judges, however, have issued a word of caution that the programme be implemented in a spirit of equal respect for all religions. This implies that value education has the danger of being misused for reinforcing sectarianism.
- A query for the CM
Thank heavens, September 26 was peaceful. So what happened on February 28?
Editorial, The Indian Express, September 28, 2002
The contrast is simply too stark to escape unremarked. Gujarat went up in flames during the VHP-sponsored bandh on February 28, the day after Godhra; on September 26, the bandh called by the VHP after the Akshardham Temple outrage passes off peacefully, except for a few relatively minor incidents. And the explanation won’t be fudged. It was not, as Modi has insisted, thanks to the ‘pseudo-secularists’ who ‘did not use a particular language to describe the event’.
- Vajpayee neglecting Hindu sentiments, says VHP
Press Trust of India, Lucknow, September 28, 2002
Asserting that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's stand on the Ram Temple issue had not been in accordance with the sentiments of Hindus, VHP on Saturday said the decisions taken by Vajpayee with regard to the temple movement have caused a severe damage to his credibility.
- Striving for social justice
By Ram Puniyani, The Hindu, September 28, 2002
The rise of Hindutva politics is the reassertion of pre-modern hierarchies... the main point being to push back any gains in the process of social transformation.
- ‘Pseudo secularists’ stand change helps maintain peace: Modi
Press Trust of India
Ahmedabad, September 26, 2002
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the there was no communal backlash after the terrorist attack on the Swaminarayan temple due to "changed" stance of "pseudo secularists" who had been responsible for the post-Godhra violence.
- And in the SC, it’s becoming clearer: Modi set to remain as caretaker CM
Manoj Mitta,The Indian Express, Ahmedabad, September 26, 2002
Though the Centre and the BJP have come out in the Supreme Court in support of the Election Commission’s view that the Constitution will be violated in Gujarat on October 6, there is little prospect of President’s Rule being imposed then.
- Terrorising the economy
Peace and calm: essential ingredients for any kind of investment flows
Editorial, The Indian Express, Ahmedabad, September 27, 2002
Will the terrorist attack on the Akshardham Temple at Gandhinagar on Tuesday, and the resultant fear of communal tension getting fuelled, result in the Gujarat economy slowing down, and in investment pulling out of the state? Any prediction, clearly, is foolhardy, more so since this time around the chief minister appears to be taking care to ensure there are no post-Godhra type of incidents of mass communal violence in the state. It helps that this time around, the political leadership in Delhi has unambiguously reinforced this message.
- BJP to observe October 1 as anti-terrorism day
Times News Network, September 27, 2002
NEW DELHI: Thanks to the attack on the temple, terrorism has forced its way back into political discourse.
- Modi Versus India
Modi has become the symbol of the party’s new way forward
Mahesh Rangarajan, The Telegraph,September 26, 2002
The author is an independent researcher and political analyst This article was written prior to the attack on the Swaminarayan temple
A fortnight is a long time in politics. But it is enough to show how far a ruling party out to win at all costs can stoop. It also reveals the mood of panic in the Bharatiya Janata Party’s managers that drives them to inculcate deeper divisions among the people at large.
- Reprisal fear triggers exodus again
Times News Network, September 26, 2002
AHMEDABAD/VADODARA: It is back to relief camps on the eve of another VHP-sponsored bandh on Thursday.
People from areas like Naroda-Patia, which witnessed a massacre during the last VHP-backed bandh on February 28, have started moving to camps fearing another round of reprisals.
- Indian troops ordered to Gujarat
Associated Press, September 25, 2002
Gandhinagar, India — India deployed thousands of troops to prevent an eruption of Hindu-Muslim rioting Wednesday after attackers besieged a major Hindu temple complex in a raid that left 32 people dead, most of them worshippers.
- Terrorist outfit identified for temple attack
Times News Network, September 25, 2002
Documents found in the possession of the two slain terrorists has led officials to believe that they belonged to a militant outfit called Tehreek-e-Qisas-Gujarat. Roughly translated, the organisation would mean 'Movement for Revenge in Gujarat'.
- Hindu march postponed after Indian temple attack
GANDHINAGAR, India, Sept 25 (Reuters)
India's ruling Hindu nationalists delayed on Wednesday the last phase of a controversial political march in the western state of Gujarat after an attack on a Hindu temple left 33 people dead.
- Temple siege ends, three terrorists killed
Gandhinagar/New Delhi, September 24, 2002
Elite Black Cat commandos early on Wednesday gunned down the three heavily armed terrorists after fighting their way through to the Akshardham temple complex in Gandhinagar amid intense gunbattle. The storming, however, led to the death of two commandos, including one Black Cat.
- Provide security to minorities: K P S Gill to Gujarat government
September 24, 2002, Rediff.com
The former director general of the Punjab police, K P S Gill, on Tuesday night asked the Gujarat government to provide security to minorities in the wake of the attack on the Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar.
- Godhra vs Temple: Carnage blot makes govt, BJP tread wary
Cops fan out across city, BJP not supporting VHP bandh
Janyala Sreenivas & Meghdoot Sharon, September 24, 2002
Given Modi’s track record and the sensitive nature of the temple attack—terrorists are yet to be overpowered—few here want to predict how today’s strike will play out over the next few days. But one thing is clear: the Government and the party’s reaction to Akshardham is very different from that to Godhra, at least on Day One.
- 30 die as terrorists attack Gujarat temple, siege on
Times News Network & Agencies, September 24, 2002
GANDHINAGAR/NEW DELHI: Thirty people were killed and another 40 seriously injured in a deadly attack by terrorists on the Akshardham temple complex here on Tuesday evening.
- For Vajpayee & Advani, Modi is a pariah
Times News Network, September 24, 2002
NEW DELHI: Even as the BJP’s Big Two — Prime Minister A B Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani — are finding constrained to distance themselves from the Gujarat chief minister, a significant section in the party has decided to stand by Narendra Modi.
- Modi reminds tribals about Godhra
Times News Network, September 24, 2002
Modi told TNN that the Gaurav Yatra was essentially to create a real picture of the state of affairs as many still believe that Gujarat is still burning and not safe. However, he admitted these kind of exercises become part of election campaign as well.
- Rioting in Bavchavad, police open fire
Times News Network, September 24, 2002
VADODARA: While the areas where trouble broke out on Friday remained calm, rioting was reported in Bavchavad locality of Panigate area of the city on Sunday night. Stone pelting took place in the area again on Monday afternoon.
- Modi reinvents arithmetic of hate
By Basant Rawat, September 23, 2002
Navsari (south Gujarat), Sept. 22: An unrepentant Narendra Modi today replayed the infamous 'hum paanch, hamare pachchis' speech, adding more inflammatory words and ignoring an uproar.
- Curfew continues in riot-hit Borsad town
PTI, September 22, 2002
The curfew, imposed in Borsad town of Anand district of Central Gujarat on Tuesday last following group clashes and subsequent police firing in which one person was killed, and where one person was killed in police firing, continued for the sixth day today.
- Flirting with Hindutva
Parvez Ghiasuddin, September 22, 2002
The resort to the temple tactics by Congress leader Shankarsinh Vaghela is ominous (September 4). This non-secular approach by the Congress must be out of pragmatic considerations and not as a result of Vaghela's RSS upbringing.
- Hate yatra
Editorial, The Hindustan Times, September 22, 2002
As the renewed communal outbreaks in Vadodara show, Gujarat is still a long way from recovering from the violence which continued virtually without a break for two-and-a-half months from the end of February.
- 'Wooing tribals won't be easy for Modi'
Amarendra Jha, Times News Network, September 21, 2002
Breaking the ice in the tribal region for political gains by Modi would certainly be an uphill task as in the last decade, their demand for more autonomy have gained ground.
- Vadodara calm is broken: 3 dead in riots, curfew again
Express News Service, September 21, 2002
Vadodara, September 20: The calm was shattered in Vadodara on the last day of the Ganesh festival after incidents of rioting claimed three lives and injured 24 others. One person was killed in police firing and two stabbed to death when clashes broke out during a procession in the Hathikhana locality.
- After being raped in riots, Gujarat women face police inaction
Praveena Sharma, Malaysiakini.com, September 20, 2002
AHMEDABAD, India — Months after communal mobs rampaged in India's western state of Gujarat, many women who were raped by the zealots have seen no action taken against their aggressors, with police unwilling to take their complaints seriously.
- The Hindutva experiment
Tavleen Singh, cybernoon.com, September 20, 2002
Despite their protest that the Sangh Parivar's role is a cultural one, it is a fact that they have used Hindutva for political purposes.
- Quiet civil servant unlikely Indian hero
By Myra MacDonald, NEW DELHI, Reuters, Sept 19, 2002
James Lyngdoh, a soft-spoken and unassuming civil servant, is an unlikely hero in the world's biggest democracy.
- Finally, Naroda-Patiya boy gets cheque to a new life
Palak Nandi, The Indian Express, September 19, 2002
Ahmedabad, September 18: Six months after he lost his family at Naroda-Patiya, Javed Ismail Sheikh, 14, received some compensation for the irreversible loss. He watched silently today as the cheque for Rs 1,80,000 was handed over to elder brother Aslam Sheikh.
- Bumpy road ahead for rath
By Our Correspondent, The Telegraph, September 20, 2002
Ahmedabad, Sept. 19: When Narendra Modi's Gaurav Yatra rolls again on Saturday through south Gujarat, it will have to barrel through a wave of protest and negotiate a slippery stretch of scam-induced muck.
- Gujarat split on gaurav in yatra
By Radhika Ramaseshan, The Telegraph, September 20, 2002
Ahmedabad, Sept. 19: Narendra Modi's Gaurav Yatra — which has Gujarati asmita (self-pride) and swabhimaan (self-respect) as its thematic leitmotifs — meant different things for different people.
[...]
Although a representative of the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry claimed that none of the 104 MoUs signed by overseas companies before the violence was affected, industry sources said two major collaborators had pulled out.
- Saeed Mirza to highlight unsung heroes, common man
By Indo-Asian News Service, September 19, 2002
Ahmedabad, Sep 19 (IANS) India has a future because its multitude of ordinary people live on hope despite the many problems confronting them.
- VHP to use Modi's tape to create awareness on family planning
Press Trust of India, Ahmedabad, September 19, 2002
Notwithstanding the controversy set off by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's reported anti-minority remarks during Guarav Yatra, the VHP state unit on Thursday said it would use the audio tape of the same to create public awareness on family planning.
- Modi shifts 3 IPS officers for speaking the truth
The Hindustan Times, September 19, 2002
Late on Tuesday night, the Gujarat government passed orders to transfer three senior officers of the state intelligence bureau. Additional DG Intelligence R.B. Shreekumar, DIG P. Radhakrishnan and SP Sanjeev Bhatt were the victims.
- SC should not answer presidential reference on Gujarat poll: EC
Press Trust of India, New Delhi, September 18, 2002
The Election Commission on Wednesday pleaded before the Supreme Court to decline giving an opinion on the presidential reference on the issue of Gujarat elections since the questions framed in it were hypothetical.
- Gujarat Govt. ready to make Modi tape public
The Hindu, September 19, 2002
AHMEDABAD SEPT. 18. After consistently maintaining that there was no audio tape of the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi's controversial anti-minority remarks, the State Government said today that it was willing to make it public.
- PM urged to check anti-Muslim propaganda
Times News Network, September 18, 2002
NEW DELHI: A prominent Muslim organisation has demanded that the district authorities entrusted with maintaining law and order be penalised in case they fail to control any communal flare-up within three days.
- VHP announces major plans to revive Ram temple movement
Press Trust of India, New Delhi, September 18, 2002
In a major attempt to revive the dormant Ram temple movement, VHP on Wednesday announced plans to recruit 8,000 full time volunteers besides launching 15,000 'yatras' across the country to create "religious awareness".
- No room for BJP Muslims in yatra
Vitusha Oberoi, Tuesday September 17, 2002
New Delhi: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is not keen to have the Muslim leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) aboard his bandwagon.
- At home, Narendra Modi rewinds old tapes
On last day of phase II, he plays to the crowd in BJP bastion
Janyala Sreenivas, The Indian Express, September 18, 2002
Narendra Modi Bhanvad, Dwarka, September 17: On the concluding day of the Gaurav Yatra’s second phase, Narendra Modi made his pride more than apparent. Using the religious card to whip up sentiments, Modi went on the offensive in Rajkot and Jamnagar districts.
- Gujarat's Gendered Violence
by Ruth Baldwin, Posted on September 16, 2002, The Nation (New York)
Women's bodies were central battlegrounds in the worst bout of Hindu-Muslim bloodletting to grip India in over ten years, in the western Indian state of Gujarat beginning on February 27. After an enraged Muslim mob allegedly set a train packed with Hindus on fire in Godhra, killing fifty-eight, a wave of retaliatory violence was unleashed on the minority Muslim population in the region, leaving up to 2,000 dead and 100,000 homeless. Under the indulgent gaze of the state government, and against a backdrop of ransacked houses and desecrated temples, at least 250 women and girls were brutally gang-raped and burned alive.
- Fascism's Firm Footprint in India
by Arundhati Roy, from the September 30, 2002 issue of the Nation (New York)
Gujarat, the only major state in India with a government headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has for some years been the petri dish in which Hindu fascism has been fomenting an elaborate political experiment. In spring 2002, the initial results were put on public display.
- Gujarat: SC presses fast forward
Says it will wrap up hearings Sept 26 as Centre plugs Modi’s cause again
Express News Service, September 18, 2002
Supreme Court New Delhi, September 17: Having already put the Gujarat reference on the fast track, the Supreme Court today raised the possibility of giving its opinion before October 6, sparing the Centre the burden of deciding by itself whether it was obliged to impose President’s Rule in the state on that date.
- Curfew after fresh Gujarat violence
BBC News Online, September 17, 2002
Curfew has been imposed in part of the western state of Gujarat after the death of a man during police shooting on Monday night.
The authorities say three people, including a policeman, were injured in the incident in the town of Bosad in Anand district
- VHP proud of riots, BJP mum on Modi
OUR BUREAU, Telegraph India, Tuesday, September 17, 2002
New Delhi, Sept. 16: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad today said what happened in Gujarat after the Godhra killings was a matter of pride, cocking a snook at Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who had said in New York that “Gujarat was not good for us” and “Gujarat was a shame for the country”.
- VHP flays PM for calling Gujarat riots a shame
Press Trust of India, Shimla, THe Hindustan Times, September 17, 2002
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Monday criticised the remarks of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in New York that Gujarat riots were a "shame" for the country and said what had happened in the State after the Godhara killings was "not a matter of shame but a matter of pride".
- Powerloom owners to boycott Gaurav Yatra
Times News Network , September 17, 2002
SURAT: The Gaurav Yatra, about to commence in the city next week, is most likely to face the ire of thousands of powerloom unit owners in the textile city and around following a decision by the Federation of Gujarat Weavers Association (FOGWA), in a meeting held near Bhathena to boycott the coming Assembly polls.
- Saeed Mirza kicks off search for ‘insaniyat’
Times News Network, September 17, 2002
AHMEDABAD: Film maker Saeed Mirza kicked off a nation-wide search for ‘insaniyat’ in the city on Monday.
“I started here because Gujarat, especially Ahmedabad, has been through traumatic times. This is a threemonth pilgrimage of my own which will culminate in a documentary. I believe there is enough compassion among the masses to override the reign of hate unleashed by the self-serving politicians and celebrities”, said Mirza.
- ‘We can’t resolve Gujarat tensions just by preaching love’
Syed Khalique Ahmed Interviews Prof J S Bandukwala, The Indian Express, September 16, 2002
Gujarat’s caretaker Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s alleged offensive remarks about Muslims during his Gaurav Yatra provoked a storm of protest from several quarters, and prompted the National Commission for Minorities to demand tapes of his speech from the Gujarat government. The government, of course, has claimed that it neither has the tapes, nor any transcript of Modi’s speech. But Modi-watchers aren’t exactly surprised: noted Gujarati activist Prof J S Bandukwala, who teaches nuclear physics at the M S University in Vadodara, tells Syed Khalique Ahmed that Modi’s speech only reflects his ‘‘deep-seated bigotry and hatred’’, and that as long as Modi is in the chief minister’s chair, peace will remain elusive in Gujarat.
- Tape nails Modi lie
REMARKS | TV replays audio tape of CM’s remarks, officials run for cover
Bashir Pathan, The Indian Express, September 16, 2002
Narendra Modi Gandhinagar, September 15 Finally, the tape was unspooled. After repeatedly denying that Chief Minister Narendra Modi had made any anti-Muslim remarks during his Gaurav Yatra, the Gujarat government was caught on the backfoot on Sunday when a TV news channel played what it said was an audio tape of the CM’s speech.
- Advani pats Modi on Gaurav Yatra
By Special Correspondent, September 16, 2002
New Delhi, Sept. 15: Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani today came out in strong support of Narendra Modi's Gaurav Yatra by not only describing the massive turnout in Gujarat as a major success for the chief minister, but also by asking BJP supporters to use it as an example to be followed during mass contact programmes.
- Rath rolls to cheers & jeers
By Radhika Ramaseshan, September 16, 2002
Visvadhar (Saurashtra), Sept. 15: Narendra Modi could not have asked for more: his Gaurav Yatra made a dream debut in Saurashtra.
- Gujarat events a shame: PM
By Amit Baruah, The Hindu, September 15, 2002
NEW YORK Sept. 14. The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, has reiterated that the Gujarat riots were not a "good thing.'' Addressing members of the Indian community at a reception on Friday night, Mr. Vajpayee said that wherever he went, there was a discussion on Gujarat. The Gujaratis themselves said that they indulged in riots every two years, but this was "not good."
- Riot victim's daughter in peace plea
By Special Correspondent, September 15, 2002
New Delhi, Sept. 14: Ehsan Jaffrey would have been a proud father had he survived the riots.
"Gujarat is an aberration. The rest of the country is with me," his daughter Nasreen said at a joint news conference hosted by a group of US-based Gujaratis leading a sadhbhavna mission to their home state.
- VHP plans yatra in Gujarat
Times News Network, September 14, 2002
AHMEDABAD: As if Narendra Modi’s gaurav yatra was not enough, the VHP has also chalked out a plan to organise a yatra of sadhus to propagate Hindtuva and educate the society against sinister designs of ‘‘anti-Hindu fundamentalists, who were out to create disturbances all over the country’’.
- NHRC urged to probe 'misuse' of children for 'yatra'
By J. Venkatesan , NEW DELHI , SEPT. 14, 2002
The National Human Rights Commission has been moved to order an inquiry into the alleged misuse of the State machinery in forcibly closing schools and mobilising children to line them along the route of the `gaurav rath yatra' of the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi.
- NRI mission meets Kalam, urges action on Gujarat
Times News Network [ Sunday, September 15, 2002
NEW DELHI: A high-profile delegation of US-based non-resident Indians met President Kalam to urge legal action against all those accused of orchestrating the communal violence which broke out in Gujarat on February 27 this year.
- Lies and Silence
Mukul Dube, September 14, 2002
In New York on 12 September 2002, Shri Atal B. Vajpayee, Prime Minister of the Republic of India, declared that Gujarat was "an aberration". The gentleman was perfectly correct: never before in this land had anything so monstrous occurred. It was a new page written in our history, in the blood of hundreds of our fellows.
- Facts on 'appeasement'
By C. Rammanohar Reddy, The Hindu, September 14, 2002
Official data tell us that during a decade which saw a growing geographical ghettoisation of the Muslim community, it was also living in economic ghettos.
- Finally, they get a roof over their heads
Express News Service, Ahmedabad, September 12, 2002
Home, at last! This is exactly what the 50-odd riot-hit families felt
when they were handed over houses — built specially for them by the
Gujarat Sarvajanik Relief Committee — in Vatva on Thursday. For the past
six months, all the members of these families were sheltered by relief
camps. Most of them were refugees at the Dariyakhan Ghummat Relief Camp,
and were later shifted to the Qureshi Relief Hall.
- Jains apologise for Gujarat communal riots
Times News Network, September 13, 2002
AHMEDABAD: A section of Amdavadis recently apologised for the communal riots that had gripped Gujarat.
'Michchhami Dukkadam' (beg forgiveness for the wrong done) proclaimed a written statement with signatures of over 1,000 Jains of the city. The statement was made public at the recent Amrut Mahotsav celebrations organised by Gujarat Yuvak Kendra to mark Paryushan (period of abstinence for followers of Jainism). The week-long programme was inaugurated by city Mayor Himmatsinh Patel.
- Narendra Modi's long haul
Dionne Bunsha in Ahmedabad, Frontline online, Vol. 19 :: No. 19 September 14 - 27, 2002
OLD-FASHIONED caste seems to be making a comeback against new-fangled Hindutva on Gujarat's retrograde political stage. By appealing along caste lines, newly-appointed Congress(I) president Shankarsinh Vaghela has called the wily Bharatiya Janata Party Chief Minister Narendra Modi's bluff. Even in communally polarised Gujarat, caste ties seem to be stronger than communal biases, judging by the response to Vaghela's rallies in the past month.
- Violence in Gujarat an aberration: PM
Press Trust of India, New York, September 13
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said the recent communal violence in Gujarat was an "aberration" and that the situation there is "now under control".
- Tracking the Divide - II
The gap widened during the 1990s
By C. Rammanohar Reddy, The Hindu, September 13, 2002
The differences in socio-economic development between Hindus and Muslims did not narrow during the 1990s, in at least one important respect the Muslim Indian on the average was worse off at the end of the decade than he was at the beginning.
- Tracking the Divide - I
Deprivation affects Muslims more
By C. Rammanohar Reddy, The Hindu, September 12, 2002
Muslims in India suffer from substantially greater economic deprivation than Hindus. The divide is far greater in urban India, where a proportionately larger number of Muslims reside.
- Junagadh residents boycott yatra
Times News Network, September 13, 2002
RAJKOT: The people of Junagadh have issued a veiled threat to the BJP, and have said that unless their city is accorded a corporation status by September 15, they would not allow the Gaurav yatra to enter the city.
- Musharraf rakes up Gujarat killings
By Amit Baruah, The Hindu, NEW YORK, Sept. 12, 2002
The Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, today targeted "Hindu fanaticism" at the United Nations General Assembly and called on the international community to hold accountable those responsible for the murder of 2,000 Muslims in Gujarat.
- VHP cooks up a treat for riot accused
Radha Sharma, Times News Network, September 12, 2002
The gastronomic responsibility has been assumed by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), which has decided that the infamous jail food is not for those behind bars for rioting! “Providing food to the under-trials accused of rioting was decided in the meeting chaired by key VHP leaders, Pravin Togadia and Jaydeep Patel. The under-trials are expected to work very hard in jail which is not possible eating the jail food.
- Gaurav Yatra to pass through Godhra
Times News Network, September 11, 2002
AHMEDABAD: BJP's Gaurav Yatra, which was launched from Phagvel last week, would also pass through Godhra, said yatra convenor Jayantibhai Barot here on Wednesday.
- Why not a ‘lajja yatra’?
Chitra Padmanabhan, The Hindustan Times, September 12, 2002
Despite a pall of fear, a huge turnout of victims of the two-month long carnage finally spoke out at the ‘Sah Nirman Rally’, walking a five-kilometre stretch they had not dared step upon these last few months. Organised by the Society for Promotion of Rational Thinking (SPRAT) with groups, including the Citizens’ Initiative, Swaraj, Darshan, Prawah, Democratic Youth Federation of India, Action Aid, Abhikram, MKSS, Janpath, and Gujarat Sarvajanik Relief Committee, and supported by 120 organisations across Gujarat, the rally in Ahmedabad was like an underground stream that gushes to the surface with an awesome purity of purpose.....
There cannot be a better beginning to a long fight against injustice than a ‘Lajja Yatra’ transforming into a Gaurav Yatra honouring the humanist spirit of individuals like Deepak.
- Modi’s hate bytes and barks
NCM wants text, state BJP defends remarks
Express News Service, September 10, 2002
Gandhinagar, New Delhi, Sept 10: Gujarat state BJP chief Rajendrasinh Rana today justified Narendra Modi’s remarks ridiculing Muslims claiming that the Chief Minister was only ‘‘stating a fact.’’
Yesterday, during his gaurav yatra at Becharji in Mehsana, Modi
reportedly distorted the family-planning slogan Hum do hamare do to Hum
paanch, hamare pachchis’’ in an apparent reference to Muslims in refugee
camps.
- NRI team made to beat retreat
Times News Network, September 11, 2002
GANDHINAGAR: An NRI delegation on a 'Sadbhanva Mission' to Gujarat after the communal riots, had to beat a hasty retreat after it was gheraoed by an angry crowd of 300 villagers on Tuesday evening at the residence of the sarpanch of Delol village in Kalol taluka of Panchmahals district. When the delegation tried to persuade the villagers to allow the 400-odd Muslims to return home, its cars were stoned and the leader of the 10-man team, Srikumar Poddar, was threatened with death in case he returned to the village.
- Jafri’s daughter at Gulbarg home
Express News Service, Ahmedabad, September 10, 2002
Nishrin Hussain, daughter of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, on Sunday overcame fear, anger and pain to fulfil her mother’s wish and visit the Gulbarg home where her father was killed in riots six months ago.
Fighting back tears after visit to the Gulbarg Society apartments in
Ahmedabad, Nishrin said: ‘‘The first thing I remembered on entering the
house was my father’s vast collection of books. They were all over the
house.’’
- Modi rath: Gujarat BJP on a roll again
Express News Service, Ahmedabad, September 10, 2002
Whether it helps Narendra Modi win the elections or not, the Gujarat BJP
says the first leg of its Gaurav Yatra has scored at least one
achievement: Lifted the morale of its cadre after it hit a low over
uncertainty about poll dates.
After the first phase ended at Chanasma in Patan district on Monday
night, yatra convenor Jayantibhai Barot said: ‘‘The Gaurav Yatra has
pepped up all party workers. Their enthusiasm could be seen at all
places from where the Yatra passed.’’
- Bigotry will fail here
Murthy, not Modi, has sketched the real India
Kuldip Nayar, The Indian Express, September 10, 2002
This happened in Delhi. It was a memorial lecture. The man who delivered it was Narayana N.R. Murthy, chief of Infosys, an icon in the software world. Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi, one of the BJP’s trimurti, was in the chair. The minister did not know the topic was secularism.
- BJP critical of Modi's anti-Muslim remarks
PTI, September 10, 2002
NEW Delhi: In a damage-limiting exercise, the BJP on Tuesday sought to distance itself from the reported anti-minority remarks of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi with party president M Venkaiah Naidu urging him to refrain from making such comments.
- A Fine, Upstanding Symbol
Mukul Dube, September 10, 2002
All social groupings which seek to be different from others, use visible marks of identity. Across India, Hinduism has a bewildering variety of marks placed on the forehead to denote caste and sect and so on. The Roman Catholic has the crucifix, and in the same way the Sikh has the kada. In most parts of India, Hindu and Muslim women and men wear distinctively different clothing and accessories.
- Riot relief: Gujarat scraps solvency bonds for missing kin
Stavan Desai, The Indian Express, September 8, 2002
At least some good news from Gujarat. The state government has scrapped the condition of furnishing solvency bonds to claim compensation for persons who went missing during the riots. According to a September 2 order, the claimant will now have to furnish an indemnity bond on a Rs-100 non-judicial stamp paper that binds the family to repay the amount if the person returns or is found to be alive later.
- Modi's sinister designs
Editorials, The Hindu, September 10, 2002
THE TONE ADOPTED by the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, and the issues he raised in the course of his `Gaurav Rath Yatra' from Phagwel, have established so clearly that the BJP as a party is bent upon consolidating the "gains" made by the terror campaign unleashed by other Sangh Parivar outfits post-Godhra. The presence of an array of the party's leaders (including Rajnath Singh from the central leadership) at Phagwel is indeed a pointer that the BJP is clearly unwilling to acknowledge the pogrom across the State since February 27 as a blot (as described by the Prime Minister, A.B. Vajpayee, at that time).
- Gujarat won't accept Congress rule: Modi
Agencies, Phagvel (Kheda), September 08
Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday virtually kick-started its election campaign for Assembly elections in Gujarat with a Gaurav Yatra, a rally and powerful speeches of Narendra Modi and party General Secretary Rajnath Singh here eyeing the crucial vote bank of kshatriyas.
- ‘A nightmare that won’t end’
Ehsan Jafri’s NRI daughter hasn’t had the courage to visit Gulbarg home
Janyala Sreenivas, The Indian Express, September 8, 2002
Nishrin Hussain, daughter of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri Ahmedabad, Sept 7: I grew up here. I got married, raised kids. This is my home. Look what it is now. After coming here, you don’t want to believe all this happened in your own city, to your own home.’’
- ‘Why can’t I choose where I want to live and yet not be afraid’
Janyala Sreenivas, The Indian Express, September 7, 2002
Very people will understand the emotion with which Nishrin Hussain, daughter of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, remembers her Gulbarg Society home in Ahmedabad. But very few people outside Gujarat would have gone through what she did — to learn, while she was away in Britain, that her father was surrounded by a mob and killed as he kept calling the police for help.
- Gujarat prepares for Hindu march
BBC News Online, September 8, 2002
Tight security arrangements are in place in the western Indian state of Gujarat ahead of a march later on Sunday by the state's governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
- Gaurav Yatra to be flagged off today
Times News Network, September 07, 2002
AHMEDABAD: Though the Gujarat government claims there is no possibility of confrontation, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Rajnath Singh will be flagging off the controversial Gujarat Gaurav Yatra on Sunday at Phagvel village, about 100 km south-west of here, amidst unprecedented security.
- RSS snubs VHP, wants no Godhra repeat
Express News Service, New Delhi, September 6, 2002
The RSS today distanced itself from VHP chief Ashok Singhal’s description of the Gujarat violence as a ‘‘successful experiment’’, saying it did not want a repetition of either Godhra or its violent ‘‘reaction’’.
- ‘They slit open her stomach. I think I heard my child cry’
The Indian Express, September 6, 2002
The story of Kausarbano, and Suphiya Bano and S... And many more.
Geeta Seshu reports on the affidavits filed by witnesses of rape and sexual violence during Gujarat riots.
In an act of exemplary courage, perhaps bordering on the desperation of those who have lost everything, 42 victims of the Gujarat riots have come forward to file affidavits with the Justices Shah and Nanavati Commission of Inquiry about atrocities they have experienced or witnessed. The affidavits affirm facts everyone knows but are slowly slipping from public memory: that sexual assaults against women was the most devastating weapon used in Gujarat.
- Responsibility and Revenge
Mukul Dube, 7 September 2002
To Hindutva, however, every Muslim represents all Muslims, and every collectivity of Muslims, no matter when in history or where in geography, is represented by every living Muslim. Every Hindu alive today is sought to be made to feel personally every harm that may have been done to any Hindu at any time or at any place. Since the meta-history concocted by Hindutva is bereft of anything remotely resembling truth, what this means in effect is that every Hindu has the right to avenge, in any way he pleases, any crime which he chooses to claim as having been committed against anyone anywhere.
- Riots over, trauma still haunts them
Radha Sharma, Times News Network, September 07, 2002
AHMEDABAD: It’s over six months since death ruled the streets of Gujarat, but life just doesn’t seem to be getting back to normal for many riot-affected women in Ahmedabad.
- BJP's Gaurav Yatra from Sunday
Press Trust of India, New Delhi, September 06, 2002
The BJP would kick off its election campaign in Gujarat with the flagging off of Chief minster Narendra Modi's controversial Gaurav Yatra on Sunday by party general secretary Rajnath Singh from Phagvel in Kheda district.
- US Muslims snub Advani, embrace PM
Chidanand Rajghatta, Times News Network, September 06, 2002
WASHINGTON: Non-resident Indian Muslims in the United States turned down the Indian government's offer to meet with Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani during his aborted trip here last month, but sought and accepted with alacrity an invitation to dialogue with Prime Minister Vajpayee next week, according to community representatives.
- President's rule not to be imposed in Gujarat: Venkaiah Naidu
Press Trust of India, Bhopal, September 05, 2002
President's rule would not be imposed in Gujarat even after October 6 when Narendra Modi's six-month term as caretaker chief minister comes to an end, the BJP president, Venkaiah Naidu said on Thursday.
- Godhra tragedy: No attempt to nail the big shots
Sourav Mukherjee, Times News Network, September 06, 2002
The saga of double-standards in dealing with the Godhra train carnage case and the post-Godhra riots in the state continues six months after violence broke out. It all began with the police invoking Pota only against the Godhra accused, only to drop it later under pressure.
- High Commissioner for Human Rights Expresses Concern on the Plight of the Displaced in Gujarat, India
Press Release, September 4, 2002
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, called on the Government of India to ensure that those persons internally displaced since the outbreak of violence on 27 February in Gujarat, are not cut off from life-saving assistance, including
adequate shelter, as a result of the ongoing closure of relief camps.
- BJP tight-lipped over Singhal's comment on Gujarat
Press Trust of India, New Delhi, September 04, 2002
BJP on Wednesday declined to comment on the reported remarks by Vishwa Hindu Parishad international working President Ashok Singhal terming Gujarat as a "successful experiment" which will be "repeated" all over the country now.
- Gujarat Muslims not being allowed back into tribal villages
Rajiv Pathak (Indo-Asian News Service), Chhota Udepur (Gujarat), September 02, 2002
They fled their homes in tribal-dominated villages to escape death when Gujarat was in the grip of communal frenzy.
Hundreds of such Muslims who found refuge in camps for the violence-displaced have been rendered homeless again as the temporary shelters have wound up. And they are not being allowed back to their own villages.
- 6 months later, nagging doubt: Whodunnit at Godhra?
The Indian Express, September 5, 2002
Six months after the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express was set on fire at Godhra railway station, a special investigation team is poring over the evidence, preparing to a supplementary chargesheet. Rohit Bhan examines the twists and turns in the Godhra carnage investigation, of which there have been many—from an ISI string-puller behind the scenes to a SIMI shadow to an FSL report claiming that the fire started inside the train.
- Kalam expresses concern over growing religious intolerance
Press Trust of India, Bhopal, September 05, 2002
In just over a fortnight, President APJ Abdul Kalam on Thursday again expressed concern over growing "intolerance and contempt" for others' religions and spoke out against justification of "lawless violence".
- BJP can no longer claim providing riot-free Govt: Advani
Press Trust of India, Bhopal, September 04, 2002
Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani on Wednesday said because of the violence in Gujarat after the Godhra incident, the BJP can now no longer claim that it always provided riot-free Governments.
- Modi puts off yatra, Vaghela signals halt
By Our correspondent, September 4, 2002
Ahmedabad, Sept. 3: Narendra Modi today postponed his Gaurav Yatra by a day yet again, even as Congress chief Shankersinh Vaghela gave a call to stop the caretaker chief minister from entering Phagvel, from where the yatra is now scheduled to be launched on September 8.
- Govt gives VHP general secy Z-plus security cover
Times News Network, September 04, 2002
GANDHINAGAR: The state government has provided Vishwa Hindu Parishad international general secretary Pravin Togadia the highest-level Z-plus security cover.
- ‘We’ll repeat our Gujarat experiment’
Express News Service, September 04, 2002
Amritsar, September 3: Vsihwa Hindu Parishad international working president Ashok Singhal today termed Gujarat as a ‘‘successful experiment’’—and warned that it would be repeated all over India.
- Poll can wait, Mr. Modi must go
Editorial, September 4, 2002
FOR THOSE WHO hoped that the Supreme Court would order an early election in Gujarat, the word is out — polls in the riot-hit State will take place exactly as the Election Commission wanted and at the end of this year.
- Polls on Backburner
Times News Network, September 04, 2002
In the event, the judiciary has stood firm. Refusing to be hustled by the government into making a quick-fix decision on the presidential reference regarding the timing of the Gujarat polls, the Supreme Court has held that “it is impossible for all practical purposes” to arrive at a decision on the matter before October 6.
- Gaurav Yatra to be launched on Sunday
Times News Network, September 03, 2002
AHMEDABAD: The BJP's Gujarat Gaurav Yatra will be now launched from Phagvel on Sunday instead of Saturday as announced earlier.
- Modi's agenda
Editorial, September 3, 2002
BY STICKING TO his plans to conduct the `Gaurav Rath Yatra' on a date later than the original schedule (rather than drop the entire programme), the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, has only revealed the BJP's intention to pursue its cynical game of polarising society on communal lines even if the postponement brings some immediate relief.
- President’s rule now
In reality, there has been no government in Gujarat for a long time
Editorial, The Indian Express, September 2, 2002
By stating it will not be able to give its opinion on the presidential reference by the October deadline for reconstituting the Gujarat assembly, the Supreme Court has neatly lobbed the ball back into the Centre’s court. The question before the NDA government now is: what happens once the six-month period has expired? What will be the nature of the dispensation in Gujarat till assembly elections are held, according to the Election Commission’s schedule, in November-December?
- Smeared campaign
Editorial, September 01, 2002
The Election Commission’s preference for a delayed poll in Gujarat was based on the belief that conditions were not yet right in the riot-hit state.
But if some of the latest moves of the Narendra Modi government and its fraternal organisations are an indication, then the saffron camp would not like the situation to improve in the near future. The proposed gaurav yatra (journey of glory) is one such move.
- Parties welcome SC views on election
Times News Network, September 03, 2002
AHMEDABAD: Both the ruling BJP and the Congress have welcomed the Supreme Court's observations on Tuesday that it will not interfere in the plans of the Election Commission of India to hold elections to the state assembly in Gujarat in November or December.
- Nothing wrong in holding elections in Gujarat: SC
Press Trust of India, New Delhi, September 02
The Supreme Court on Monday said there is nothing wrong in holding Gujarat poll in November-December, as stated by the Election Commission this year while expressing its inability to give an opinion on Presidential reference. also read: Conclusion and Directions of the Election Commission of India
August 16, 2002
- Gujarat Gaurav Yatra postponed till September 7
Press Trust of India, September 01, 2002
The BJP on Sunday put off its much-hyped Gujarat Gaurav Yatra from September 3 to September 7 to avoid possible violence at the launching point Phagavel village where Congress had threatened to hold a parallel function on the same day.
- Riots probe panel visits Godhra
Times News Network, September 01, 2002
AHMEDABAD/GODHRA: Justice G T Nanavati and Justice K G Shah Commission of Inquiry, which is probing into the February 27 Sabarmati Express carnage and the ensuing riots, visited Godhra for personal inspection of the railway station, platform and the adjacent area on Sunday.
- VHP miffed with President Kalam
Press Trust of India, New Delhi, September 01, 2002
Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Sunday indicated its feeling of being miffed of President APJ Abdul Kalam choosing to visit riot-hit Ahmedabad but not Godhra or the Kashmiri migrant camps.
- Survival Of The Fittest
Anita Pratap, Sep 09, 2002
Modi represents the nadir of Indian politics. It doesn't matter to him if his edifice of power is built on wrecked lives and homes.
- Gujarat: a citizen's perspective
The Hindu, Sunday, Sep 01, 2002
She didn't know what to expect when she went to Ahmedabad a few months after the violence in Gujarat, but in the end, SHYMALA came to a premise that the unprecedented levels of bestiality and violence unleashed were only because criminal acts have gone unpunished over the years by various political parties that have wielded power. An account of her experiences and a reconstruction of some of the events from discussions with the victims.
More - Archive One (August, 2002)
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