The Hindu : Gujarat incidents indefensible: Advani

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 24, 2002

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Gujarat incidents indefensible: Advani

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON AUG. 23. The Deputy Prime Minister, Lal Kishen Advani, has apologised for the Gujarat incidents, calling them a "blot'' on the Bharatiya Janata Party Government, "outrageous'' and "indefensible.'' And he was "sorry that this happened.''

In remarks widely noted here for their disarming tone and welcomed by the Council of Indian Muslims (U.K.) as a "step in the right direction,'' Mr. Advani was unambiguous in his condemnation of what happened in Gujarat and, significantly, did not attempt to link it with the Godhra incident, which the State Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, has consistently maintained provoked the violence that claimed about 2,000 lives, according to a British Government report.

Mr. Advani, whose three-day visit to the U.K. was dogged by protests from Asian civil rights groups over the "genocide'' in Gujarat, admitted that it had damaged the Government's image and blotted its "riots-free'' record since 1998 when the BJP first came to power at the Centre.

"It is indefensible. I can't defend it. I feel sorry that this happened,'' he told journalists on Thursday as protesters raised angry slogans for the second consecutive day outside the Indian High Commission.

The issue also figured in his talks with the British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, who has been inundated with representations from Britain's Gujarati Muslims urging him to press New Delhi to prosecute the perpetrators of violence in which three British Muslims, holidaying in Gujarat, were killed.

Mr. Straw said he had raised these cases with Mr. Advani. "I raised several consular cases with Mr. Advani and we spoke about the situation in Gujarat,'' he said after the talks.

A "key point'' of the discussions, he said, was the "close cooperation we share with India on counter-terrorism and the difficulties between India and Pakistan over Kashmir.''

A spokesperson for the South Asia Solidarity Group, which led the protests over Gujarat, said the "test'' of Mr. Advani's remarks lay in whether they would be matched by action against those who were behind the violence — "not just those at the lower level but those at the highest levels of the Modi Government, including the Chief Minister himself.''

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