The Hindu : Gujarat violence nasty, says Lyngdoh

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Nov 12, 2002

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Gujarat violence nasty, says Lyngdoh

Ahmedabad Nov. 11. The Chief Election Commissioner, J.M. Lyngdoh, who hit the headlines a few months ago for his criticism of the bureaucracy in Gujarat, today came down on the violence in the State saying it was "certainly nasty".

``Kashmir was deadly in all sense where we ourselves were put on personal danger at times; Gujarat... it is not so dangerous but it is certainly much nasty,'' he told reporters here when asked at the end of his first day of consultations with officials and political parties' representatives in the State. Mr. Lyngdoh said there was an inherent difference in the kind of killings in the two States.

To a question on how he would assess the State bureaucracy's role as against that during his earlier visit in August, Mr. Lyngdoh, who had made strong remarks against a civil servant in Vadodara during his earlier trip, said in a lighter vein "Vadodara is a friendly place". On replacing the Ahmedabad Collector, he said the Commission had asked the State Government to provide a list of officers from which the EC would decide on the successor.

Report on VHP yatra

Mr. Lyngdoh said he had asked the Gujarat Government to submit a detailed report within a day or two on the proposed `vijay yatra' to be flagged off by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad from November 15. Any decision on banning the yatra would be taken only after the receipt of the report.

He said he had asked the DGP, K. Chakravarty, to prepare a detailed map ``showing places affected during the communal riots and which could be sensitive during the electioneering process''. Mr. Lyngdoh said the Assembly elections in the State would be closely monitored by the international community and the ``credibility of Indian democracy is involved''.

The other Commissioners, T.S. Krishnamurthy and B.B. Tandon, said the EC was in touch with the Chief Electoral Officers of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh to ensure postal ballot facilities for those people of Gujarat who had migrated during or after the riot.

4 killed in violence

At least four persons were killed and several injured in a fresh bout of communal violence in central and northern parts of Gujarat. While two persons were stabbed to death at Mahudha village in Kheda district in central Gujarat, another persons was killed late tonight, according to police sources in Vadodara.

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