The Hindu : Gill's stand partisan, says VHP

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 12, 2002

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Gill's stand partisan, says VHP

By Manas Dasgupta

AHMEDABAD JUNE 11. The controversy over the appointment of the former Punjab police chief, K. P. S. Gill, as Security Adviser to the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, has taken a strange turn with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad holding his "pro-minority partisan stance'' responsible for the latest round of violence in Ahmedabad and the State Government refusing to come to his defence.

Mr. Gill's meetings with the representatives of the minorities, his visits to the minority-dominated areas and his comments against the chargesheets filed by the State police in the Gulmarg Society and the Naroda-Patiya incidents — where minorities had been indirectly blamed for "provoking" violence — had come under sharp criticism from VHP sources.

The VHP state general secretary, Kaushik Mehta, claimed that Sunday's attack on the Juhapura police outpost to get two of the accused released, which sparked off a fresh round of violence, was the result of Mr. Gill's ``overt partisan attitude.'' Ever since his appointment as the Security Adviser, Mr. Gill had only been visiting the minority-dominated areas and meeting the minorities affected by the riots. This had not only emboldened the "fundamentalist forces" among the minorities, but had also given them the encouragement to attack the police outpost, he alleged.

The VHP had submitted a memorandum to the Governor, Sunder Singh Bhandari, Mr. Modi and the Ahmedabad Police Commissioner, K. R. Kaushik, demanding action against the "Muslim fundamentalists" responsible for the renewed violence. Short of blaming Mr. Gill, it said the police failure to arrest the known "anti-social elements" among the minorities was responsible for the latest spell of violence.

On the other hand, Amit Shah, BJP member of the State Assembly representing the Juhapura locality, also considered a close confidante of Mr. Modi, directly blamed the Muslim leader, Syed Shahabuddin, for the violence. Mr. Shah claimed that during his recent visit to the city, Mr. Shahabuddin had organised meetings in Juhapura and ``instigated'' violence. Even on Sunday, the local residents did not first react to the police arrest but after Mr. Shahabuddin "instigated'' them, they had attacked the police outpost, he claimed.

While the Government sources shared Mr. Shah's views on Mr. Shahabuddin, the Minister of State for Home, Gordhan Jhadafiya, declined to be drawn into a "controversy''. Mr. Jhadafiya, like many other members of the State Cabinet and Mr. Modi himself, was known to be displeased with Mr. Gill's appointment.

The renewed violence, however, was condemned by various Muslim organisations though some of the minority leaders felt that the "partial'' attitude of police was responsible for the minority "retaliation" in Juhapura. Mohsin Kadri, who ran the Shah Alam Roza relief camp, said police should have launched the combing operation in the Naroda-Patiya locality before doing so in Juhapura. But the All-Gujarat Muslim Federation president, Mufti Shabbir Ahmed, said the attack on police could not be justified and appealed to the people to contribute to the peace process instead of taking the law into their hands.

The situation in the curfew-bound Vejalpur and Sarkhej localities remained tense but peaceful today. No incident was reported during the phased relaxation, given to women and children. Police have declared a general seven-hour curfew relaxation from 9 a.m. tomorrow in a bid to restore normality at the earliest, particularly in view of the reopening of schools after the summer vacation.

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