<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Attempted subversion of justice
The Best Bakery case is getting curiouser by the day, as is evident from a recent affidavit filed by Zaheera Sheikh in the Supreme Court. This star witness and former mascot of the hate-India brigade has turned out to be a major embarrassment for assorted groups masquerading as secularists, NGOs (flush with funds from dubious sources) and human rights organisations. No less than the National Human Rights Commission backs these worthies. We have seen how a badly rattled Teesta Setalvad ran for cover when Zaheera suddenly surfaced in Gujarat and told an astounding tale about her abduction and illegal confinement. The vocal âhuman rightsâ activist was reduced to speechlessness. So no one heard what she had to say in her own defence against the charge that she had sought to subvert the course of justice. Ms Setalvad thought she could hit back by starting a witchhunt against Zaheera. The move has backfired, with the Best Bakery witness demanding a probe into the antecedents and source of funding of Ms Setalvadâs organisation. If what Zaheera has revealed is true, then so-called rights activists have tried to make a mockery of the judicial system, apart from attempting to take the apex court for a ride. The SC, after all, has been shown in poor light for having acted prematurely in the riots-related cases. It has already been said that the apex court should not have allowed itself to be influenced by organisations and individuals with suspect credentials and subversive agendas. It is equally disappointing that the NHRC chairman, himself a man of law, could have been taken in by the propaganda of such people related to extremely tenuous and, as it has now been revealed, doctored testimonies. An unjustified diatribe against the Gujarat Administration and judiciary led to the wholesale transfer of cases outside the State, even while recourse to higher courts was not taken. This did irreparable damage to Indiaâs image. Foreign collaborators of rights-championing axe grinders have used the NHRCâs stand and the propaganda of a motivated media to telling effect: They succeeded in getting the US to deny a visa to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Such an insult to national honour should have evoked strong condemnation rather than meek protest from the Government. The highest judiciary acted with alacrity in the matter of the supposed sins of omission and commission by the Gujarat Administration. Equity demands that it now act on the prayer of a victim who has exposed the attempted subversion of justice by an unscrupulous bunch of ârightsâ champions.
BK Verma
Rajender Nagar, Lucknow <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Best Bakery case key witness Zahira Shaikh and social activist Teesta Setalvad, who have been trading allegations, have been asked to appear on April 18 before a high-powered committee set up by the Supreme Court to examine the veracity of their claims.
<b>No affidavit filed before Godhra panel: Zaheera</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Prime witness in the Best Bakery case, Zaheera Sheikh, on Wednesday <b>told the two-member Godhra inquiry commission that she had not filed any affidavit before it in May 2002.</b>
Zaheera made the statement before the commission after she was summoned for cross-examination on the affidavit reportedly filed by her.
The commission issued a copy of the affidavit to Zaheera, following which she denied that it was filed by her but said the signature on the affidavit was hers.
..............
Later talking to reporters, Mistry asserted Zaheera has not filed the affidavit dated May 20, 2002 and said<b> it was possible that the signature could have been tampered with.</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--> <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<b>The strange case of Zahira & Teesta</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->. Because while political analysts admit that the post-Godhra riots were no worse than riots that had previously rocked the state after Independence, social activists in Gujarat claim that media reports of 2,000 dead are false since compensation claims filed by next-of-kin of those who died number around 700.
The possibility that 1,300 'victims' never existed certainly calls for a rethink on the Gujarat imbroglio
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->When Zahira Sheikh turned against Teesta Setalvad last year and insisted she had not signed any affidavit before the NHRC seeking transfer of the Best Bakery Case outside Vadodra, the NHRC discovered that the 600-odd pages of documentation filed by Setalvad's Citizens for Peace and Justice, did not contain a single signature by Zahira<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Zahira is therefore within her rights to demand the right to cross-examine the NHRC chairperson on this matter. She claims she visited the Commission along with Setalvad, who 'tutored' her on what to say there, and that she made an oral submission which was recorded by the chairperson and two other members. Zahira wishes to examine them because she says her oral testimony differs from the record which NHRC has presented to the Supreme Court. This is a serious charge and the probe committee would do well to summon the NHRC records and permit examination of the chairperson and members, if justice is to be seen to be done.
In this connection, Zahira is justified in demanding a probe into Teesta Setalvad's post-Gujarat assets, particularly since Setalvad and her NGO-media friends have spared no efforts in maligning Sheikh, insinuating that she had been 'purchased.' That Zahira is an intelligent and educated woman is obvious.<b> She has compelled Setalvad to admit that Communal Combat is not an NGO, but a business venture of a privately-owned company called Sabrang Publications</b>.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Now that the hullabaloo over the US denial of a visa to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has died down, it would be worth our while to scrutinise the actions and motivations of Narendra Modi's tormentors, which resulted in this denouement. Because while political analysts admit that the post-Godhra riots were no worse than riots that had previously rocked the state after Independence, social activists in Gujarat claim that media reports of 2,000 dead are false since compensation claims filed by next-of-kin of those who died number around 700.
<b>The possibility that 1,300 'victims' never existed certainly calls for a rethink on the Gujarat imbroglio.</b>
Indeed, with hindsight one can discern an NGO-media synergy in targeting the Modi regime throughout the riots and thereafter, and taking considerable liberties with the truth while doing so. With opinions being paraded as facts, it is time to ask some hard questions, especially since the issue has been internationalised in a manner detrimental to national dignity.
Aside from the actual number of victims in the riots, we must begin our quest for truth by scrutinising 'facts' we have not been allowed to question hitherto. The most critical of these is the so-called 'Face of the Riots,' which has been splashed across the national and international media for three long years.
Media reports claim the Rehmatnagar chawl of Gomtipur, Ahmedabad, was attacked by a mob on March 1, 2002 (after the Godhra carnage). One tailor, Qutubuddin Ansari, was immortalised as a cameraman took a picture of him standing with folded hands, tears in his eyes, pleading for mercy. The bloodthirsty mob supposedly threatening him is never shown in any picture of this incident, though it is inconceivable that a cameraman would shoot any a single frame of such a poignant event.
Yet the picture was so powerful that it silenced many who felt that the widespread nature of the Gujarat rioting indicated deeper societal tensions and could not be explained as State-sponsored violence against minorities. Hence it was something of a shock to discover that Mr Ansari was alive and well, and was desperate to evade continuing media publicity and usage of his picture. Far from perishing in the riots, he made his way to Mumbai, lived there for three years, and in February this year returned to his native city to resume his old way of life.
The media has never told us how Qutubuddin Ansari made it out of the chawl alive, why he alone from his family fled to Mumbai, who settled him there, and who indicated it was safe to come back. Since the Ansari family has also survived, and now wish to spurn the media, the question may legitimately be asked: was there a mob at all?
The second sensational, and international, face of the riots is Zahira Sheikh, who lost several family members in the attack on the Best Bakery, owned by them. Zahira famously damned Narendra Modi when she surfaced dramatically in Mumbai, claiming that her testimony in the Vadodra fast track court that led to the acquittal of 21 accused persons was inspired by fear.
A combined media-NGO synergy whipped up such a campaign that the National Human Rights Commission jumped into the fray, roundly condemned the state government and petitioned the Supreme Court to transfer the riot cases out of the state. The apex court sent the Zahira and Bilkis Bano cases to Mumbai, and asked the Gujarat government to re-examine all other cases.
Now, however, it seems that the Gujarat government may have the last laugh as Zahira Sheikh accuses Mumbai activist Teesta Setalvad of physically controlling her from July 6, 2003 to November 3, 2004 and tutoring her to give a certain type of testimony in the court. The state government also pounced upon the fact that an affidavit submitted to the NHRC in the name of Zahira was actually signed by Teesta Setalvad.
When Zahira Sheikh turned against Teesta Setalvad last year and insisted she had not signed any affidavit before the NHRC seeking transfer of the Best Bakery Case outside Vadodra, the NHRC discovered that the 600-odd pages of documentation filed by Setalvad's Citizens for Peace and Justice, did not contain a single signature by Zahira.
They were, as Zahira sneered, mere pamphlets, and it is truly shameful that the NHRC was so swayed by NGO-cum-media rhetoric that it moved the Supreme Court to take the cases out of Gujarat without scrutinising the records placed before it! The apex court has appointed a probe committee headed by Registrar General B M Gupta to ascertain the truth.
Zahira is therefore within her rights to demand the right to cross-examine the NHRC chairperson on this matter. She claims she visited the Commission along with Setalvad, who 'tutored' her on what to say there, and that she made an oral submission which was recorded by the chairperson and two other members. Zahira wishes to examine them because she says her oral testimony differs from the record which NHRC has presented to the Supreme Court. This is a serious charge and the probe committee would do well to summon the NHRC records and permit examination of the chairperson and members, if justice is to be seen to be done.
In this connection, Zahira is justified in demanding a probe into Teesta Setalvad's post-Gujarat assets, particularly since Setalvad and her NGO-media friends have spared no efforts in maligning Sheikh, insinuating that she had been 'purchased.' That Zahira is an intelligent and educated woman is obvious.<b> She has compelled Setalvad to admit that Communal Combat is not an NGO, but a business venture of a privately-owned company called Sabrang Publications.</b>
I think things went wrong for Setalvad because Zahira was a 'bad' victim. She just did not know how to act oppressed. Not satisfied with having made mincemeat of her former benefactress, <b>Zahira has gone on to take potshots at the US State Department for calling Best Bakery a 'notorious case' in communalised Gujarat in its 2003-04 report.</b>
<b>As America has assigned millions of dollars to fund litigation on behalf of Gujarat Muslims, the riots' most irrepressible witness quipped: 'I am applying to this programme for aid and assistance so that I may be able to explain to the world at large the exploitation in the name of secularism and protection of Muslims.'</b>
Zahira's guts and gumption give us much to think (rethink) about. Those who lament that well organised NGOs made the Bush administration deny Modi a visa should ponder if it was the other way round, namely, that the White House nudged certain groups to protest so that it could act in a pre-decided manner. The latter strikes me as far more likely, for if genuine public anger could not stop the invasion of Iraq, a couple of well-heeled NGOs could hardly make President Bush wag his tail on the Modi issue if he didn't want to.
via email
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>The controversial Best Bakery case</b>
(Justice on trial)
There have been many cases in which criminals have been acquitted for want of evidence, thanks to the law in our land. However, in the case of the similarly placed Best Bakery case, the Supreme Court took an exceptional view and transferred the case for its retrial in Mumbai. Many luminaries in the legal circles have vehemently criticized this landmark judgement. The decision may have extremely serious consequences on the judiciary, secularism, communal harmony and democracy in the country. Two prominent individuals involved in the case, Zaheera Sheikh, a key witness in the case and Teesta Javed (Ansari) Setalvad, a controversial activist, were friendly at the beginning of the case but have now turned foes.
 Â
Being a Gandhian and an Ambedkarite human rights activist, I, cannot remain a silent spectator of the happenings regarding the case and have, therefore, filed a PIL in the Supreme Court for review of its landmark judgement of transferring the Best Bakery case from Gujarat to Maharashtra, for investigating the role of Teesta Setalvad and her NGO, Citizens for Justice and Peace and also for censuring the National Human Rights Commission and a section of the media.
The latest developments in the case like Zaheera Sheikh turning hostile and her allegations that Teesta Setalvad threatened her to change her testimony for the sake of religion ( âkaumke liyeâ ) have vindicated the Gujarat High Court observations: â There seems to be a definite design and conspiracy to malign people by misusing this witness, Zaheerabibi, who is hardly 19 years old and can easily fall a prey to anyone and play into the dirty hands of anti-national elements.â The Supreme Court has, therefore, erred in not believing in the High Court judges, but believing in Teesta Setalvad, her NGO Citizens for Justice and Peace and the National Human Rights Commission and was swayed by media reports. In the petition, I have illustrated at length, how the above persons, the above organizations and the above institutions have lost their credibility in many ways. Teesta Setalvad, according to the petition, is not a true social activist, but an anti-Hindu and anti-BJP politician engaged in maligning Hindu organizations. One of the many examples, cited in the petition is her attending a Sunday mass in a church and blaming Hindu organizations for rape of nuns though the heinous act was committed by Christians.
I have similarly illustrated anti-Hindu outbursts of other members of the NGO, Citizens for Justice and Peace, and said that though the word âcitizenâ adorns its name, the organization is not open for all citizens, has no Constitution and has very few members- about ten. The president of the NGO is the famous Marathi writer Vijay Tendulkar, who had threatened to shoot Narendra Modi, if given a gun, and who said very recently that Mahatma Gandhi was most violent person.
The petition contains many examples to illustrate how the NHRC is anti-Hindu, but pro-Muslims, pro-Pakistan and pro-terrorists. An example is that the NHRC issued a suo moto notice to the Gujarat government when its police killed Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists Ishrat Jahan Sheikh and her two accomplices with AK-56 guns, ammunition and dreadful RDX explosives. This bias against the Gujarat government made the NHRC not to apply its mind and make a petition to the Supreme Court to transfer the Best Bakery case outside Gujarat.
The petitioner has prayed the Supreme Court that the perjury of Zaheera Sheikh not only after her estrangement from Teesta Setalvad, but also before that must be investigated by the CBI or a Special Investigating Team (SIT) monitored by a retired Supreme Court or High Court judge. The petitioner has also questioned the credibility of a section of the media for extra-judicial trial of a sub-judice matter. He has quoted the former High Court judge P.B.Sawant, former Chairman of the Press Council of India, who had remarked that many journalists are on the pay roll of foreign intelligence agencies. In democracy the people are more supreme than the Supreme Court and therefore they must consider cases of vital national importance. In particular, the people must think whether it is proper for the Supreme Court not to pay any heed to this petition dated 17 December 2004 and subsequent reminders. That the Supreme Court ordered its Registrar General, subsequently, on January 10, 2005 to investigate who is telling the truth, whether Zaheera Sheikh or Teesta Setalvad and to complete the report within 3 months. This order suggests that it had erred earlier in believing in Teesta Setalvad.  It is also worth consideration that the Registrar General is yet to take note of the following vital information to find out the truth as to who, of the two women, is telling the truth:
It is reported in the media that Teesta Setalvad helped Zaheera Sheikh to open a bank account in the Syndicate Bank, Bhayander, near Mumbai, on May 21, 2002. In the bank, an amount of Rs 2.9 lakh was deposited from November 11, 2003 to March 4, 2004. This is the period in which Zaheera Sheikh was under the alleged confinement of Teesta Setalvad. Zaheera has denied that she deposited the money in the Bhayander bank.
At about the time, when Zaheera Sheikh had a press conference in Vadodara on November 3, 2004, in which she made various allegations against Teesta Setalvad, the bank was burgled twice on Nov. 2 and Nov. 12 by breaking open the grills at night. Robbers rummaged through records without touching the cash. This is very significant. This shows that robbers wanted to destroy the evidence as to who helped Zaheera to open the account and who deposited the money to the Bhayander bank etc.
It must be also noted that though it is very difficult to get a ration card, some Asghar Ali helped Zaheera to get a ration card as a proof of residence, which is necessary for opening the bank account. The needle of suspicion in these incidents regarding the Bhyander bank account of Zaheera points to Teesta Setalvad, who is influential and capable enough to do such things.
The Supreme Court had ordered investigation of bank accounts of Zaheera Sheikh, though she had submitted her bank papers to the trial court in Mumbai earlier. It is surprising that the apex court has not so far asked Teesta Setalvad to submit her bank papers also, though Zaheera Sheikhâs counsel, senior advocate P. N. Lekhi has requested the Supreme Court for that. The apex court has , thus, not placed the two women on the same level field. P.N. Lekhi had alleged in the Supreme Court that Teesta Setalvad, alias Teesta Javed Anand ( alias Ansari) had minted money by selling the Best Bakery case abroad. This allegation is surely more serious. It is believed that Teesta Setalvad had used this money to pay for Zaheeraâs expenses when the latter was in Teestaâs confinement and influence for about two years, and arranged to deposit some part to the Bhayander account of Zaheera Sheikh.
--------------------Â Concluded--------------------------
K. G. Acharya<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=272971
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Police investigating into bank accounts of Zaheera
MUMBAI, JAN 12 (PTI)
The police is investigating into media reports of a bank account in the name of Zaheera Shaikh, the prime witness in the Best Bakery case, wherein large amount of money was deposited over a period of time, a senior police officer said today.
Thane (rural) Suprintendent of Police Ramrao Pawar said police was probing to determine whether money was deposited into the accounts of Zaheera and her brother Nafitullah.
"We are acting on the media reports about money being deposited and that two robberies wEre attempted in the same bank," Pawar told PTI adding that a police officer, Senior Police Inspector Rajendra Ghule, has been conducting a preliminary inquiry into the reports.
A prominent news channel had said that various deposits were made in the two accounts with Syndicate bank in suburban Bhayander between December 2003 and March 2004. TherE were, however, no withdrawals made by either Zaheera or her brother.
Bank officials were immediately not available for comments.
Meanwhile, the special public prosecutor in the case Manjula Rao, talking to PTI, denied they would be summoning bank officials for examination in this regard.
Defence counsel D S Jambaulikar dismissed the reports saying the deposits of money were irrelevant to the case as it was done much before the re-trial into the case began in Mumbai.
The fog of communal venom hangs heavy over Rajasthan, no thanks to the brazen anti-minorityism being propagated by the sangh parivar over the past couple of months. The Vasundhara Raje government, which has the responsibility to protect the democratic-secular ethos of the Constitution, has reportedly been using every subterfuge to renege on its role.
That is alarming. Rajasthan shouldn?t become a second Gujarat. The sangh parivar has had considerable influence, traditionally, in the state?s southern parts.
What is worrying now is the impunity with which the RSS and the Bajrang Dal have used two local incidents of murder to whip up communal passions in Bhilwara.
The consequent violence has forced Muslims to migrate from the district, and a few brave souls, who have dared to come back, live amid social boycott and fear. That is disgraceful.
Even more reprehensible is the patronage reportedly extended by the state home minister to purveyors of communal hatred. That underscores the complicity of the BJP government in office, which, incidentally, has revoked the ban on the practice of trishul diksha.
Replacing primeval custom with modern contract is part of political evolution. Rajasthan is characterised by archaic social relations inherited from its earlier avatar of Rajputana, a region that even ancient reformist currents like Buddhism had passed by. An abysmal sex ratio and back-breaking poverty testify to stunted social development.
The national movement and social reform had passed this region of princely states by. Mainstream parties came to the region only in the early ?50s, bringing with them the politics of mobilisation based on caste, community and feudal loyalties.
This has provided a receptive ambience for the sangh parivar?s communal ideology, which, however, is irreconcilable with governance in a constitutionally-ordained secular polity. Does the BJP want Rajasthan to become another Gujarat?<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Press Trust of India
Posted online: Wednesday, May 11, 2005 at 1345 hours IST
Updated: Wednesday, May 11, 2005 at 1354 hours IST
New Delhi, May 11: The government on Wednesday informed the Rajya Sabha that <b>254 Hindus and 790 Muslims were killed in Gujarat in the post Godhra riots of 2002</b>.
Stating this in a written reply, Minister of State for Home Affairs Sriprakash Jaiswal said a total of 223 people were reported missing, 2,548 sustained injuries, 919 were rendered widows and 606 children were orphaned during the riots.
He said an amount of Rs 1.5 lakh was paid by the government to the next of kin of each person killed and Rs 5,000, Rs 15,000, Rs 25,000 and Rs 50,000 to those injured up to 10 30, 40 and 50 per cent respectively.
In addition, he said relief was also extended by the state government to the victims of the riots under the heads of cash doles and assistance for household kits, foodgrains to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families in affected areas, housing assistance, rebuilding earning assets, rehabilitation of small business, assistance to indusries/shop and hotel and so on.
The state government, he said has informed that a total of Rs 204.62 crore has been incurred by it towards relief and rehabilitation measures. The Gujarat government has also informed that they had published the data as recommended by the NHRC, he added. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Now CAG, DDM and other pinkoos should hang their head in shame by calling this genocide against Muslims.
Hindus
Godhra + Post Godhra + A Asharam = 61 + 254 + 21 = 336 plus other sundry blast in Bombay and other part of India.
Muslims
790
Rediff: Gujarat riots killed 254 Hindus, 790 Muslims
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The Central government on Wednesday informed the Rajya Sabha that 254 Hindus and 790 Muslims were killed in the post Godhra riots in Gujarat.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Sriprakash Jaiswal said a total of 223 people were reported missing, 2,548 sustained injuries during the riots in 2002.
He said the government paid Rs 1.5 lakh to the next of kin of each person killed and Rs 5,000, Rs 15,000, Rs 25,000 and Rs 50,000 for the injured. The amount for the injured was based on the extent of injury, the minister added.
Jaiswal added that the state also extended monetary relief to the victims and families living below the poverty line were given household kits, food grains and rehabilitation of small-scale businesses.
According to the minister, the state incurred Rs 204.62 crore towards relief and rehabilitation measures.
The Gujarat government also informed that they had published the data as recommended by the National Human Rights Commission, he said.
I think people like Prof Ramesh Rao, Sandhya Jain were the first to highlight the issues about this inflated figures by NGOs and rent-a-cause activisits.
Brutal destruction of life, through rape, quartering of bodies, urinating on them and incarcerating them so that there is no trace or evidence of their remains; attempting and partially succeeding in economically annihilating the community (the primary loss through systematic targeting of businesses and properties that the community estimates is at Rs 4,500 crores) and desecrating over 270 religious and cultural shrines belonging to the community---all this took place through systematic planning and targeted action by armed militias ideologically driven by the vision of a supreme and exclusive Hindu rashtra (state). <b>Over 2,000 lost their lives,</b> 500 are missing and 250-300 girls and women were gang-raped before being quartered, burned and killed.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You think anyone would have paid for Teesta's trip if the figures weren't exaggerated? Or maybe they did as other member Bin Mao put it <!--emo&:unsure:--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/unsure.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='unsure.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Communal tension grips Gujarat town
RK Misra/ Gandhinagar (Gujarat)
The north Gujarat town of Sami was in the grip of communal tension after the <b>Bajrang Dal president of the town in Patan district was brutally stabbed to death</b>.
Thirty-year-old Prahlad Thakore, who was brutally stabbed by five persons <b>belonging to a different community</b>, succumbed while on the way to hospital. As news of Thakore's death spread there was both panic and tension as shops closed shut and police reinforcements were summoned to prevent the situation from flaring up.
Thakore died of injuries en route to the hospital. The Bajrang Dal leader was stabbed five times in the abdomen, in the town's main bazaar, while he was engrossed in a conversation with a friend.
The area superintendent of police B R Pandor said the situation was tense but under control. Five persons have been accused in the case: <b>Two main culprits Saiyyed Jabbar Noorpir and Saiyyed Maqbool Miraji, who stabbed Thakor, and Saiyyed Lala Abdul Master, Saiyyed Munna Saiviya and Saiyyed Umar Noor Tunda, pinned the victim down.</b>
One of the accused has been caught while four are at large. Special police teams have been created to track down the four.
The police did not divulge the name of the person arrested.
A top police official did not rule out the communal angle and said the incident could be in retaliation to the Gujarat 2002 riots.
<i>The victim and the accused are known to have entered into brawls and fights over petty issues in the past.</i>Â <!--emo&:blink:--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='blink.gif' /><!--endemo--> On May 18, 2004, they were involved in a stone-pelting incident in which cross complaints of rioting were registered later.
This is not the first incident where Bajrang Dal and VHP activists have been targeted in the state. In Ahmedabad, after the 2002 riots, VHP leader Jaydeep Patel was shot at in Bapunagar and local VHP leader Jagdish Tewari was shot at in his shop in Soni ni Chali, but both had survived the attack. www.dailypioneer.com<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
There was someone on BRF that mentioned - the first occurance of the figure 2000 appeared in a report by the British High commision. Since then the number has been bandied about like Sachin Tendulkar's batting stats.
If one gages the sincerity of DDM and assorted NGOs, dont look further than Bihar and Assam. In Assam, some 250 Biharis were hacked to death just a year after Godhra-kand. Farm workers, construction workers, shopkeers, students, women raped. Did any of the worthies even visit Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Bongaigaon, Dhubri and Nalbari? Forget visit, do they even know how Biharis got massacred in these places as they slept? Has anybody so far raised how long Congress CM Tarun Gogoi took to call para-military forces to quell the fury? Has anybody investigated what Prafulla Kumar Mahanta exposed? That Gogoi and Congress paid 50 lakhs to the ULFA not to target Congress leaders during the assembly elections?
The high preist of secularism - native son of Bihar nontheless - showed videos of mussalmans being attacked in faraway Gujarat - not one of them a Bihari. While Gogoi goes about hacking Biharis in broad daylight just one state away.
Only Gujarat it is! <!--emo&:mad--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='mad.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>BJP uses Govt statistics to defend Modi</b>
Agencies/ New Delhi
BJP on Thursday sought to defend the Narendra Modi Government against charges of "genocide" and said the killing of 254 Hindus, mostly in police firing, showed how the state authorities took "effective steps" to check the violence.
In a written reply, Minister of State for Home Affairs Sriprakash Jaiswal had informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday that 254 Hindus and 790 Muslims were killed in Gujarat in the 2002 riots.
Â
<b>"Congress President Sonia Gandhi in her poll campaigns had repeatedly termed the violence as a genocide.</b> While any casualty is unfortunate, the figures given by the Government in Parliament does not constitute any genocide, like the manner in which millions of Jews were killed," BJP Parliamentary Party spokesman VK Malhotra said.
He said most of the <b>254 Hindus were killed in police firing and "this showed how effectively the state Government had dealt with the situation</b>. It exposes the baseless allegations that the BJP Government did not act".
<b>The BJP deputy leader in Lok Sabha claimed that not a single person was killed in police firings in riots which occurred during earlier Congress regimes including the Bhagalpur violence and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.</b>
Malhotra, however, took exception to the Government naming communities with regard to violence and alleged that the question was "deliberately asked and answered".<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Only Gujarat it is!<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Well, to elaborate this a bit, it's only Gujarat under CM Narendra Modi. Ask any psec about the thousands who died when Congress Cheif Ministers ruled the state and you'll get deer-in-headlight look.
Bottom line boss, is that <b>Gujarat '02 riots under Modi sells</b>.
Check other thread and you'll clearly see that sagging careers of all these rent-a-cause activists suddenly took turn for better after '02. Collection of riot propoganda material of about 6 CDs are made available by these psecs for less than $15. US Congressman who had never set foot in India suddenly found time and money to visit riot affected areas of Gujarat. Some two bit academics in US found platform and their 15 minutes to exaggarate not only the figures and facts from Godhara but also their academic credentials as pointed in the online petition.
Another member of this forum had made the right call about these scam artists was right 400% - if these shysters are lying about one, there's a pretty good chance that they are lying about other issues too.
One fiction award winner lent her fiction writing capabilites to emphatically state in Outlook (I believe) that murder and abuse of Jafri's feotus when this Jafri was cooling her heels about 10,000 miles west in US. Of course, the recant appeared in following months - small print.
Biju one of the vocal "2000+ died theory' propaganda mouth piece of FOIL, lied about access to certain conversation in CM Modi's household in late Feb 02 - was confronted by students in a university here. From what I know he's yet to back his claims.
And the Teesta, believe SC is still looking into claims by likes of Zahira and some other who were intimated by her.
All those who have exploited this tragic episode <!--emo&:thumbdown--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:thumbdown--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' /><!--endemo-->
05-13-2005, 12:34 AM (This post was last modified: 05-13-2005, 12:39 AM by ramana.)
Any breakdown as to how many were killed in law and order incidents?
The Nazification of Modi was a step in the process of checking the BJP led NDA. It is another matter that the NDA stubbed its toe in the elections by not having the right poll strategy.
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