The Hindu : Cong. denies links with Godhra case-accused

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 04, 2002

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National

Cong. denies links with Godhra case-accused
By Our Special Correspondent

AHMEDABAD, MARCH 3. The All-India Congress Committee general secretary, Kamal Nath, has denied that any of the councillors of the Godhra Municipality arrested by police in connection with the Sabarmati Express tragedy had any links with the Congress as alleged by the BJP Government in Gujarat.

Kamal Nath, who was leading a six-member fact-finding committee of the party to look into the spate of violence in the State in the aftermath of the Godhra train tragedy, said the BJP was in control of the Godhra Municipality earlier with the support of the same councillors and even now they were not Congress members.

He said the State Government did not allow the Congress committee to visit the riot-torn areas and provide moral support to the affected people. He said this also indicated that the situation was still far from being normal and the Government was trying to hide things from the people.

He accused the BJP of politicising the issue and said when the State was burning, the Government should rise above politics and take effective measures in co-operation with all to bring the situation under control. He said his party strongly condemned violence in any form and both the Godhra tragedy and what followed in other parts of the State were equally reprehensible.

Mr. Nath, however, said the BJP Government had totally failed to handle the situation or to provide protection to the ``Ram sevaks.'' The Government should have taken precautionary measures in view of the surcharged atmosphere during the bandh called by the VHP, but did not. It also delayed calling out the Army and even after the personnel came, they were not deployed in the affected areas which could have brought the situation under control faster.

The delegation, which included Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, Mohsina Kidwai, Balram Jakhar, Eduardo Faleiro, and Ahmed Patel later visited the civil hospitals to call on the patients injured in the current spate of violence. The delegation later called on the Governor, Sunder Singh Bhandari, and urged him to instruct the State Government to immediately seek police force from the neighbouring States and open relief camps with adequate police protection to the people affected.

The Gujarat Congress president, Amarsinh Chaudhary, and the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Naresh Raval, described the situation as ``Government-sponsored'' disturbances and accused police of inaction. Mr. Chaudhary said that as per his information, not less than a 1,000 people had lost their lives.

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