Godhra

[Guest]

Three years after Godhra
By Saurabh Shah

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Gujarat is not what you see on your idiot box. Gujarat is not what the bespectacled editorial writers and political analysts of so-called national press want you to believe. Before the Hindu massacre in Godhra, Gujarat was safe for all the communities and even after Godhra, it continues to be safer for all communities, including the largest of all minorities, the Muslims.

<b>Remember Qutubuddin Ansari, the young tailor of Ahmedabad who was the poster boy for all ‘secular’ newspapers and journals? His bruised face and folded hands still haunt our memory. ‘Secularists’ sent him to Kolkata and made a big issue of migration. Within few weeks, he came back to Ahmedabad, his home, and nobody has reported as to why he chose to resettle in Ahmedabad if it was ‘unsafe for Muslims’. </b>

Gujarat has started attracting greater foreign investment than ever before. For the first time, top Indian CEOs like Ratan Tata and Mukesh Ambani have started gathering in Ahmedabad. Last year they had pledged to invest Rs 66,000 crore in various projects and this year again they have come and signed MoUs worth Rs 1, 00,000 crore.

Top-league businessmen and industrialists do not fear political or social disturbances in the BJP-led Gujarat; neither do they fear natural catastrophies like earthquakes. They have witnessed with awe how the Gujaratis were back on their feet in no time after the devastating Kutch earthquake of January 26, 2001 in shorter period than the time taken by the Americans after 9/11. 

Yes, Gujarat today is a safer place. Much safer than Bihar, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Jammu & Kashmir, etc. It is safe for everybody, except for a handful of ‘secularist’ traitors.

Three years ago the media played havoc with the image of Gujarat. Take a few examples:

Rajdeep Sardesai (at that time in Star News) reported in an hour-long report on May 2, 2002, barely two months after the blackest day of the Hindu calendar—27 February 2002—that burning of 59 Hindu karsevaks travelling by ‘Sabarmati Express’ was not a preplanned massacre but merely a spontaneous act of arson by some hooligans. He interviewed a few people to support his ‘Lalu theory’.

Mid-day (Gujarati) carried a story on May 7, 2002, which proved that Rajdeep Sardesai had selectively and mischievously quoted some of the interviewees. Neither Shri Sardesai nor Star News had any explanation for that.

Before Rajdeep Sardesai’s bogus report, the Indian Express published a front-page report on April 27, 2002 alleging that the Gujarat police had not registered six cases of rape/murder of Muslim females. Once again the Indian Express report was challenged and proved wrong by this writer in Mid-Day in Gujarati. Editor-in-chief and CEO of The Indian Express, Shekhar Gupta complained about the expose to the managing director of Mid-Day. Shri Shekhar Gupta was asked by Mid-Day to file a complaint against Gujarati Mid-Day before the Press Council, Editor’s Guild or in the court of law or at least prove his report’s authenticity in his paper. He chose to keep mum.

There are umpteen cases of misreporting and twisted analyses during the post-Godhra riots of Gujarat. One can come out with a white paper exposing the ‘secular’ media’s anti-Hindu stance and their role in maligning Gujarat.

Gujaratis know this. Their rage against the ‘secular’ media got the BJP two-third majority in the December 2002 Assembly elections. The Gujaratis of Godhra had stopped the pinup girl of media, Barkha Dutt and her cameraman, when they were instigating and spoon-feeding Muslim women voters to speak against Narendra Modi. Even Aaj Tak and Zee News teams had to run for the cover during the election coverage when they tried to send live reports, which were far away from ground realities.

Yes, Gujarat today is a safer place. Much safer than Bihar, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Jammu & Kashmir, etc. It is safe for everybody, except for a handful of ‘secularist’ traitors.
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[Guest]

Thanks for posting this Viren. The above article is absolutely accurate. If one was to believe the internet reports on Gujarat one would think people were waiting on all corners looking out for burqa clad women to rape them. Reality is, there is no such thing. Hindus and muslims move around very freely, watch movies, eat pani-puris (gol-gappe for northerners) and chill-out with multiple chai cuttings (small cup of chai)..

Nothing will stop a gujju from making (and sadly these days spending) money.. <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Guest]

Boss log...

what is the GDP/GNP of GUJARAT?

[Guest]

Nikhil/Rajesh:
Check the link:
Spotlight on Gujarat 2005
Might shed some light on latest in Gujarat. Most articles are written by Gujaratis living in Gujarat, not some cut-throat Cheaterji living in cozy California.

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->If one was to believe the internet reports on Gujarat one would think people were waiting on all corners looking out for burqa clad women to rape them<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Boss, if you are read daily bile put out by the FOIL, Sabrang and secularvadis, it would be hard to comprehend that a muslim lady can be Mayor of Ahmedabad, Gujarat or some local Muslim lad of Gujarat can be a top bowler in India or for that matter some Paki muslims strolling peacefully to those Dandi beaches of Gujarat as they recently did.
It's in the interest of a few to create division where none exists and unfortunately not many are asking as to what the real agenda of these people?
I'm glad that Gujaratis of Gujarat are forging ahead and proving these fools wrong.

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->some local Muslim lad of Gujarat can be a top bowler in India<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

2 actually. Irfan & Zaheer. Both play for Baroda.

[Guest]

<b>Delhi police to question Teesta Setalvad</b> <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Guest]

Whats the deal with the travel itinery between July 7 and August 9 ? Anybody knows ?

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The committee has asked Setalvad to produce a copy of the compact disc (CD) showing the statement of Zahira before concerned citizen tribunal on May 11, 2002 as well as a copy of the passport showing her travel itinerary during July 7, 2003 and August 9, 2003.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

Could not find this in online version(s) of any newspaper, wonder why BJP does not splash such things all over its website or newsletters or something. Perhaps there is nothing new in this..

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->BJP picks 10 holes in Banerjee report

Posers to Banerjee

Did you consider the evidence that two meetings took place on the night of 26.2.2002 at the  Aman Guest house at Godhra, where the conspiracy to set fire to Bogie No. S-6 of the Sabarmati express was hatched?

Did you consider the evidence that 140 liter of petrol was purchased from a nearby petrol pump on the night of 26.2.2002 and kept at Aman guest house itself?

Did you consider the evidence that one of the conspirators Salim Badam was verifying the movement of Sabarmati express at 1:30 AM on 27.2.2002 from the Godhra railway station? Since the train was running four hours late the conspirators reassembled at the Aman Guest house at 6 AM?

Did you consider the evidence that chain pulling was simultaneously executed from various compartments to get the train stopped so that the mod at the platform could indulge in stone throwing?

Did you consider the evidence of workers who have deposed about the transportation of petrol from  Aman guest house to the station?

Did you consider the evidence that the conspirators entered bogie No S-7, cut open the vestibule cord between S-6 and S-7?

Did you consider the evidence the fact that burning rags were thrown into Bogies No. S-6?

Do you realise that the "accident theory" was propounded by the accused in the case and repeated by Lalu prasad yadav, you have merely stamped "lalu theory"?

Do you accept that a committee appointed by the Railways cannot go into the issue of "Consiracy"? Policing is a state subject and prevention and detection of crime on Railways is the constitutional responsiblity of the state government. Did you not realize that your report is an "extra constitutional" interrerence in the administration of justice since the trial is pending in the court?

Do you now realise that the functioning of the committee and its recommendations will eventually  act as the defence for the culprits?<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

BJP also asked 6 sub questions of the judge on his own functioning

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Why did you accept to head a departmental inquiry of the Raiulways on a matter where a criminal trial and a commission of inquiry are pending?

Why was the chief justice not consulted to suggest a name?

Why did you give an interim report during the election period though your term is extended till March 3
2005?

Why did you address a press conference to release your report, when a judge only submits his report and it is upto the government to release it?

How did Lalu get an advance copy of your report, who released it simultaneously from his residence in  Patna?

Do you expect anyone to believe that you are unware of the fact that elections to three assemblies are being held?<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[utepian]

Ram, Arun Jaitley wrote these questions right the day when the UCB report came out. I was in India and it was all over TV. bjp.org carried it on its first page. I think some papers also carried them.

Anyway, you are right these need more exposure.

This is the link from bjp.org:

http://www.bjp.org/Press/jan_1805.htm

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>'Congress workers burnt train at Godhra'</b>
Press Trust of India
Vadodara, May 13, 2005

Gujarat Law Minister Ashok Bhatt on Friday alleged Congress workers along with some anti-social elements were responsible for burning of S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express at Godhra on February 27, 2002.

When the Nanavati Commission is inquiring into this, how can Congress leader in state assembly Arjun Modhvadia hold Chief Minister Narendra Modi responsible, Bhatt said.

He also lashed out at Congress for opposing the Krishi Mahotsav, which began on Thursday<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Pradeepsingh B. Thakur, who drives the city's only fire engine, said he roared toward the train station by 8:20, only to be waved down by Bilal Haji, a member of the town council. Mr. Thakur pulled over, figuring that the elected official was going to give him directions. Instead, Mr. Haji signaled the crowd to begin stoning the fire truck, then raced off on his motorcycle, the firefighter said.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

From NY Times article (Need subscription so pasting in full)

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->GODHRA, India, March 5 — While the nation's attention has been riveted on the deadliest Hindu-Muslim riots India has seen in almost a decade, investigators here have been trying to fathom the unspeakable crime that ignited them.

Last Wednesday morning a train loaded with Hindu activists coasted into the densely populated heart of a poor, tough Muslim neighborhood here. Minutes later, a Muslim mob materialized from the ether and descended on it. The mob sent Coach S- 6 up in flames, and with it cities, towns and villages across the western state of Gujarat.

Fifty-eight people — mostly Hindu women and children — were burned alive here in a matter of minutes, while 519 people, mostly Muslims, have been burned, stabbed, beaten and otherwise killed in the vengeful bloodletting that has followed.

A week later, this city of 120,000 is under a curfew so complete it has left hardly more than policemen slouching languorously in lawn chairs and goats, pigs, dogs and cows on the streets.

There are still many unanswered questions. Was there an altercation on the platform that sparked the rage of the Muslims? Was the attack planned or spontaneous? Was India's favorite nemesis, Pakistan's military intelligence agency, pulling the rioters' strings?

The Muslim mayor of Godhra and two Muslim city council members have been arrested in connection with the train attack, as have 38 Muslims who lived along the railway tracks, officials here say. The officials could not be reached for comment because they are in police custody.

In Ahmedabad, another city here in the western state of Gujarat, the police are said to have filed reports accusing local Hindu politicians and leaders of the World Hindu Council — the group that rolled into town last week — of encouraging the attacks against Muslims that followed.

However unclear the particulars of what happened in Godhra remain, the context for the crime is etched in this small city's history.

In a predominantly Hindu country where Muslims are a minority of about 12 percent of the population, Godhra is almost evenly divided between Hindus and Muslims.

It patently lacks the kind of social, civic and workplace integration that blesses more peaceful cities, says Asutosh Varshney, a political scientist who has studied both India's riot- prone and harmonious cities in his book, "Ethnic Conflict and Civil Life" (Yale University Press, 2002).

Rioting is a habit that Godhra has been practicing for more than half a century. The clashes began around the time known as partition, when India and overwhelmingly Muslim Pakistan were carved from the British Empire in 1947.

A legendary episode came in the early 1980's when the district administrator imposed a day-and-night curfew that lasted six months. The violence reignited in 1992 when Hindu fanatics, including many from the World Hindu Council, tore down a northern Indian mosque with their bare hands, crowbars and other implements.

Today, the mutual contempt and mistrust with which Hindus and Muslims regard each other here is remarkable for its openness.

Gopalsinh G. Solanki is a member of Parliament from the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party that governs this state and leads the government at the national level. Without self-consciousness, Mr. Solanki, a prosperous lawyer, described the Muslims of his city as pro-Pakistani people who do little work except to steal.

Gujarat borders the Pakistani province of Sindh and Mr. Solanki asserted that "ladies and gents" from the Muslim community here marry Pakistanis, establishing a linkage that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency can exploit.

"Many people are spies," he said.

Senior leaders of the national government from his party said the possibility of a link to Pakistani or outside groups was being investigated.

But for the poor people of the Signal locality that stretches along the railway tracks, the trouble was caused by the great, oppressive "they" — the Hindus on the train and the Hindus in their town.

"They created some trouble, then arrested all Muslim leaders to break the back of Muslims, to make Muslims slaves," said Mohammad Salim, a truck driver, as dusk fell and swarms of mosquitoes rose from fetid puddles of still water in the muddy courtyard. "They themselves burned the bogies," meaning the train cars.

The fateful events of Wednesday morning unfolded in the span of 15 minutes. The Sabarmati Express pulled into Godhra station at 7:43 a.m., according to the station superintendent, Jaisinh Katija.

Most people agree that some scuffle ensued in the five minutes the train paused at the station. It was probably between the Muslim tea and pakora vendors and Hindu activists who had just returned from the northern Indian town where the World Hindu Council is trying to build a temple on the site of the 16th century mosque razed in 1992.

Rajendrasinh Patel, a state assemblyman from the Congress Party, said a witness told him that a worker from the World Hindu Council, known for its virulent anti-Muslim rhetoric, demanded that a tea vendor say, "Jai Shri Ram" — or "Victory to Ram" — the incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu — before the Hindu would pay him.

There are dozens of Muslim tea and snack vendors who work the platform and the trains — and they may have helped rouse a mob to avenge the insult, some officials say.

Seventeen minutes after the train arrived at the station — and after someone twice pulled a chain to stop the train as it eased away from the platform — a mob variously estimated at 500 to 2,000 people engulfed the train, stoning and burning it.

Pradeepsingh B. Thakur, who drives the city's only fire engine, said he roared toward the train station by 8:20, only to be waved down by Bilal Haji, a member of the town council. Mr. Thakur pulled over, figuring that the elected official was going to give him directions. Instead, Mr. Haji signaled the crowd to begin stoning the fire truck, then raced off on his motorcycle, the firefighter said.

"I was delayed 8 to 10 minutes because of the crowd," Mr. Thakur said.

Jayanti Ravi, a decisive, commanding district administrator who wears a thick braid down her back, was the first to enter the still smoldering coach.

Determined not to give in to emotion, she was nonetheless moved by the horror of what she witnessed.

The fire must have been most intense on the sides of the sleeper car.

"There was a heap of bodies in the middle," she said. "People ran to the middle to save themselves. There on the top was what must have been a lady with an infant sheltered in her hands. I saw skulls black and charred."


<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Sunder]

HAJI BILAL ISMAIL SUJELA
<img src='http://www.the-week.com/23mar09/godhra4.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
Sujela is an independent member of the Godhra Municipality and chairman of its planning committee. He was arrested within a month of the train burning, for allegedly leading the mob. <b>He is stated to have visited Pakistan twice in 1992 and once in 1993. In March, investigators were confident of unearthing his ISI links.</b> But in the interim chargesheet, all that Bilal was accused of was stopping the fire tenders from reaching the railway station. Subsequent investigations maintain that he was part of the core group that burnt coach S6.

[Guest]

When somebody has time, we need to look into the funding sources for the defense of these barbarians .. I have heard big money is being spent to defend these pigs.

[Guest]

Rajesh: This criminal is/was Congress Nagarpalika official and there are enough google links that can be dug up to show that Congress distanced itself from him in March 02.

[Guest]

Gujarat - Facts that Scream in silence-I

[Guest]

Pioneer
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Key Godhra witness turns hostile </b>
Ahmedabad
The team investigating the Godhra riots are faced with another roadblock. Their key witnesses has turned hostile and has accused the police of forcing him to give a statement.

The witness, Anwar Abdul Sattar, was crucial to the Gujarat police's investigation of the Godhra riots.

Based on Anwar's statement, which had been recorded in front of a magistrate, the police claimed that the Sabarmati Express was stopped from outside at the Godhra station.

But today, Anwar did a complete u-turn and alleged that the Special Investigating Team (SIT) illegally kept him in custody for 21 days in 2002 and forced him to make this statement.

"They kept me in custody for 21 days. They used to beat me every night. They gave me 3-4 sheets of paper to mug up," said Anwar Abdul Sattar, witness.

<b>But after living in fear for three years, Anwar claims he finally approached the Banerjee Commission and filed an affidavit in the Nanavati Commission to complain about the Gujarat police.</b>

"If I say something, the police will refuse to believe me. <b>When the Banerjee Commission was set up, I thought there was some hope</b>," said Anwar. 
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

<b>Gujarat Govt rejects POTA Review Committe recommendations</b> <!--emo&:cool--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/specool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='specool.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Rlys to Godhra judge Justice Banerjee: go on foreign study tour</b>
VINAY JHA    
June 15, 2005
Indian Express
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story....t_id=72641

Justice Banerjee NEW DELHI, JUNE 14: In January this year, he rubbished any conspiracy behind the Godhra train attack—which touched off one of the worst communal riots in recent memory—claiming that the Sabarmati Express fire was ‘‘accidental,’’ had no ‘‘external input.’’ And was possibly caused by cooking inside the S-6 coach, even cigarette stubs.

Now Justice (retd) U C Banerjee is set to take off for a 10-day, four-nation tour in Europe and Japan to look into ‘‘advanced rail systems.’’ And even ‘‘overcrowding’’ and ‘‘unauthorised passengers’’ in countries such as the <b>UK, France, Germany and Japan</b>. The Japan leg is for later, ‘‘if necessary,’’ sources said.

The trip—awaiting an OK from the Committee of Secretaries—is scheduled from June 29. Officially, it came as a suggestion from the Railway Board.

In a note to Justice Banerjee, a copy of which is with The Indian Express, Secretary, Railway Board, M K Agarwal, wrote that the committee’s role was not restricted to investigating the cause of the fire. But also to look into issues like ‘‘overcrowding and unauthorised passengers in the train, remedial and preventive actions needed to avoid such incidents in future.’’

‘‘Before finalising its report, the committee may take a view as to whether it would be necessary to visit some railway systems abroad to have a first-hand knowledge,’’ Agarwal said.

In his response, Justice Banerjee left it to the Ministry of Railways to decide on the countries that could be visited, the itinerary and the list of persons who would travel with him if the ministry felt it “desirable” that the committee conduct a “comparative study.’’

The Banerjee committee was constituted on September 4, 2004, following a UPA Cabinet decision to inquire into the Sabarmati Express fire. Its three-month term was twice extended by another three months.

For the BJP and the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat, this couldn’t have been better timed. Just last week, the state government rejected the POTA review committee’s recommendation that the Godhra accused shouldn’t be tried under the terrorism law. Also, it has alleged that Banerjee’s clean chit had come without talking to police officers dealing with the Godhra case.

In his interim report, Banerjee had found it “unbelievable that kar sevaks (to the extent of 90 percent of the total occupants) armed with trishuls (tridents), would allow to get themselves burnt without a murmur by miscreant activity like a person entering S-6 coach from outside and setting the coach on fire”.

The Gujarat police said that the committee did not take into account the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report which said that 60 litres of inflammable liquid were used in the fire.

Justice Banerjee visited Godhra twice during the inquiry but failed to go to Signal Falia, where the mob allegedly attacked the train. He also did not meet the state’s Special Investigation Team.

So far, 10 chargesheets have been filed in the Sabarmati attack case, the last one on January 4, 2005. The trial has been stayed by the Supreme Court. As many as 106 were arrested in the case, 14 were released by the POTA court as police failed to submit evidence and chargesheet them, and 16 have been released on bail. The 76 others are in Sabarmati Central Jail, where they have been for the last two and a half years. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--> <!--emo&:thumbdown--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Laloo pay off to traitor liar Banerjee.

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Godhra train carnage accused arrested </b>
Agencies/ Ahmedabad
In a major catch, a key accused in the Godhra train carnage was arrested in the wee hours from Godhra town, official sources said on Tuesday.

<b>"Irfan Abdul Majid Kalandar alias Bhobho, a 'core group' member that torched the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati express train has been arrested on Tuesday morning following a tip-off.</b> He will be produced before the court for police remand," Deputy Inspector General of Police Rakesh Asthana said.

With this, police has arrested 107 persons in connection with the train carnage, where 59 kar sevaks were killed on February 27, 2002.

Kalandar, a resident of Satpol area of the town, has been on the run since the incident and the Gujarat police had formed a Special Investigating Team to nab the accused persons.

The SIT claims that most of the core group members have been arrested including the key-conspirator, a Godhra-based cleric Maulvi Hussain Umarji.

The SIT and the anti-dacoit squad of the Godhra police have arrested several of the absconding accused periodically but one of the key-accused Salim Panwala is yet to be nabbed.

Gujarat government is trying to conduct the trial of the Godhra train carnage case under POTA and has booked all the 131 odd accused persons under the anti-terrorism law.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

Via email..
Please note that this film was used by Justice Buy-me-now-ji as evidence.
And here's what he has to say about the internal fire
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> <span style='color:red'>We can only speculate on this, of course. One possibility is that there was petrol or some other inflammable substance being carried by the Hindutva activists in the compartment. Some say that that maybe they were carrying stoves to cook food, and these may have caused the fire. A forensic expert I interviewed in Gujarat said that he had seen a television programme in which a girl who was travelling in S-6 revealed that when she was crossing into S-7 she felt a cold liquid on the floor of the compartment. This may have been petrol, which may have been carried inside the train, rather than having been thrown from the outside. Another theory, which, again, is only speculative, is that the coach may have been deliberately set on fire by someone travelling in the coach, who might thereafter have escaped or else died in the fire, in order to set off a wave of attacks on Muslims. Who knows?
</span>
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->


Entire interview:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Delhi-based freelance journalist Shubhradeep Chakravorty is the director of ‘Godhra Tak’, a documentary film on the burning of the train coach in February 2002 at Godhra, that set of a wave of murderous attacks on Muslims in Gujarat. In this interview with Yoginder Sikand he talks about his film and the reactions that it has evoked.

Q: What made you decide to make ‘Godhra Tak’?

A: When the Godhra incident in February 2002 happened what struck me was the contradictory theories that Hindutva leaders and government officials were putting out. Some said it was a conspiracy hatched by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence. Some others said the Students’ Islamic Movement of India or a Kashmiri militant group was behind it. Yet others said it was a result of a conspiracy of local Muslims in Godhra. These contradictory theories puzzled me and so I decided to investigate the incident for myself.

So, I began visiting Godhra in May 2002. It was not possible for me to go there earlier as the whole town was under a sort of siege. I had to visit Godhra seventeen times before I could start using my camera because it was obviously difficult to gain the confidence of the people for them to talk to me. The local Muslims were naturally too scared to speak out, fearing that they might be harassed for whatever they said. Many Hindus and Muslims were also suspicious of my intentions. But finally I got down to filming in December 2002, and after months of work finished the documentary.

Q: Basically, what exactly is your film all about?

A: The film focuses only on the burning of coach S-6 of the Sabarmati Express at Godhra, which was then used by Hindutva groups to launch murderous riots against Muslims in Gujarat. Piecing together evidence from local people, survivors of the incident, social activists and forensic experts I have tried to show that, in all probability, the coach was not set on fire from the outside by a Muslim mob, as the Hindutva-walas claim, an argument that they deployed to justify the mass killings of Muslims in Gujarat. Rather, it seems, given the evidence that the film highlights, that in all likelihood the fire started from inside the train itself. Hence, to claim that it was the handiwork of the Muslims seems to me to be completely false.

Q:  If, as you say, the fire started from inside, what could have set it off?

A: We can only speculate on this, of course. One possibility is that there was petrol or some other inflammable substance being carried by the Hindutva activists in the compartment. Some say that that maybe they were carrying stoves to cook food, and these may have caused the fire. A forensic expert I interviewed in Gujarat said that he had seen a television programme in which a girl who was travelling in S-6 revealed that when she was crossing into S-7 she felt a cold liquid on the floor of the compartment. This may have been petrol, which may have been carried inside the train, rather than having been thrown from the outside. Another theory, which, again, is only speculative, is that the coach may have been deliberately set on fire by someone travelling in the coach, who might thereafter have escaped or else died in the fire, in order to set off a wave of attacks on Muslims. Who knows?

Q: But your film does not explore the possibility of this theory.

A: No, it doesn’t. I deliberately left that out as I did not want to be seen as biased or be branded as an ‘anti-Hindu’ communist or a ‘pseudo-secularist’ or whatever. I did not want to step into the realm of the speculative. I wanted to highlight only the confirmed evidence that I could gather, because otherwise ‘soft’ Hindus whom I wanted to reach out to would have dismissed the film as ‘propagandistic’ and ‘anti-Hindu’. After all, I didn’t want to preach to the already converted, to those Hindus and others who are already opposed to Hindutva or communalism.

Q: Your film has been used as evidence before the Banerjee Committee that is investigating the Godhra incident. What are your views about the Committee?

A: Yes, the film has been used as evidence before the Committee, and the members of the Committee have watched it. I myself deposed before the Committee in December 2004. Although the Committee has its merits, I feel that it is toothless. Being a Committee, and not a Commission, it has no judicial powers to call people to depose before it. I am also pained at the way the interim report of the Committee has been politicised. It was used by Laloo Prasad Yadav in his election campaigns to garner Muslim votes. This is as bad as the BJP using the Godhra incident to get Hindu votes in Gujarat and elsewhere. I really am opposed to this use of dead people, whether the Hindu victims in Godhra or of the Muslims killed elsewhere in Gujarat, for political purposes.

Q: What has been the response to your film?

A: The film has been screened in different places in India and abroad, and the response, on the whole, has been very encouraging. As a friend of mine put it, if a neutral or a ‘soft’ Hindu sees the film he would probably be convinced that the fire was not pre-planned or engineered by a Muslim mob outside, and if a hardcore Hindutva-wala watches it he would be confused. This is because, as I said, I deliberately focussed on the available evidence that seems to be difficult to refute.

I have been travelling across the country to screen the film and to organise press conferences to discuss it. We organised two such screenings in Gujarat as well, one with NGOs and the other with the press. As you can imagine, it was really difficult to do this, and I was even attacked by some VHP activists in Ahmedabad for this. NGOs in other parts of the country have invited me to show the film and address press conferences, and so far I have visited seventeen state capitals to do this. The purpose of the press conferences is to get the press to send out the message that the Godhra fire was not a pre-planned conspiracy. If they can do at least this, it’s enough for me, as that is really what the film is all about.

The film has also been screened by NRI activist groups in Europe and America in different universities. It was also screened at the South Asian Film Festival in Kathmandu and will be taken by them to various countries.


Q: Do you have any other films in the pipeline?

A: Having worked to promote this film for the last almost two years, I think I am ready to do another one. My next film would seek to explore the rise of right-wing groups in India and the multiple ways in which people from different classes, castes and communities are seeking, in their own ways, to challenge the politics of communalism and fascism<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->