Opinion - News Analysis

Investigating Godhra

What triggered the attack? Officialdom has descended on Godhra to uncover the truth.

It's a wonder three-year-old Sabir Abdul Aziz can still smile.

THE POLITICAL leadership in New Delhi and Gandhinagar decided that the barbaric burning of the Sabarmati Express on February 27 was a ``terrorist attack''. They said it was ``pre-planned'', ``pre-meditated'' and engineered by the ISI, that there was a nexus linking Godhra, a town of some two lakh people, with Karachi, now home to some of India's most wanted underworld dons.

But, there is now a criminal investigation on and it is its business to catch the culprits and attach blame. Officialdom has descended on Godhra to uncover the truth and in the process ask: ``What triggered the attack?''

Despite the certitude of the political establishment, investigators in Godhra and Ahmedabad are keen on stressing that there is nothing open and shut about the case. But they said the ongoing investigation did not have the evidence to suggest there was pre-meditation or a "grand conspiracy to destabilise and break up the country".

Speaking on condition of anonymity, they said any suggestion that there was long pre-planning in the Godhra attack would need certain proofs: of a conspiracy, leaders of this conspiracy, proof of why the train was delayed, telephonic messages about the progress of the train. None of this evidence had yet turned up. Besides, there was nothing that appeared to link Godhra to a network of international terror.

There were many factors, they said, that had to be considered. Among them the fact that Godhra, which has a population split evenly between Hindus and Muslims, has a long history of communal strife. It is the only Indian town which, in 1980-81, had had a year-long curfew imposed on it following communal riots. A district civil servant with years of experience of the town said the communal divide was the town's defining feature and that communal, rather than caste, politics ruled. Given this background little sparks could light big fires.

In the context of the train attack, an investigator said the passage of kar sevaks left a trail of communal tension in its wake, that there was "always trouble when kar sevaks moved". The atmosphere in towns and railway stations through which they passed did get surcharged. In Godhra, where the area on either side of the railway station is home to a large Muslim population, and a very fragile peace is maintained, there was always a possibility of conflict. The passage of kar sevaks had vitiated this peace in 1990 and 1992 when the VHP was conducting Ram shila poojas and after the demolition of the Babri Masjid.

Given this situation, the local police had organised a proper bandobust when the kar sevaks set out for Ayodhya earlier last month. They were, however, unprepared for their return.

Officials say they are considering the possibility that an altercation on the station platform led to a clash that spiralled out of control. They were studying reports of an "altercation" at Godhra station between a tea vendor and a kar sevak. Words were exchanged. The train began to move. The vendor is believed to have hopped onboard and pulled the chain. As the train began to move again the chain was pulled for a second time. By now a crowd had collected.

The arguments for pre-meditation made by political leaders have thus far emphasised that the presence of some 1,000 people at Godhra station implied prior planning. There was no way a crowd of that size could have collected on either side of the track so early in the morning unless it was pre-planned, they say.

But, the members of the investigating team as well as local administrators say gathering a crowd in Godhra is not very hard. Especially not near the railway station where a large Muslim community resides, crowded together in narrow lanes. They say that unlike in a big city, in a small town like Godhra the smallest altercation can collect a crowd in minutes.

The time of the attack on the train was also just after the morning prayers and so, they said, people were already out in significant numbers. Adding to them was no great feat. The Deputy Superintendent of Police Bawa also said there were women and children in the crowd. Which, he admitted, hardly made for a pre-planned terrorist encounter.

From the information so far collected it appeared that the crowd that gathered pelted the train with stones and other brickbats. People from the train got down on to the track and retaliated. It was only when a crowd collected behind them that they went back on to the train bolting the doors from inside.

There is some suggestion that some in the crowd tried to enter the train in the belief (possibly rumour) that either the tea vendor or someone from their group was on the train. When they failed to get in, fiery missiles — possibly rags soaked with petrol or some solvent procured from the many garages or repair shops abutting the station — began to be thrown at the train.

There was no one to stop them. The police came too late.

Twenty-eight persons have been arrested in connection with the train attack, including the president of the Godhra Municipal Corporation, Mohammed Kalota, and corporators Bilal Haji and Farookh Bhana. Others arrested include Salim Sheik, Razak Doongeria, Kankatta and Altaf, who the district police chief, Rajeev Bhargava, said were all known for communal activities.

Anjali Mody

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