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Kin of Godhra victims feel neglected

By Manas Dasgupta

AHMEDABAD, Dec. 1. The Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, and the BJP are keen on making Godhra the party's main plank in the December 12 Assembly elections but no one seems to be bothered about the family members of the victims of the ghastly train carnage.

Mr. Modi had been accusing the Congress of playing a "partisan role". But he himself, nor his Home Minister, Gordhan Jhadafiya, who lived in the same area, have ever visited the family members of the 11 train carnage victims in the labour-dominated Ramol locality on the outskirts of the city.

They are feeling hurt at being used as the trump card for the elections by the ruling party and many are for "boycotting'' the elections. Even the "Panchal sisters", who were orphaned in the train carnage in which their parents and two other elder sisters were roasted alive, are a confused lot. They are not a willing partner to campaign for the BJP but do not know how to say `no' if asked to by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. They are divided in opinion whether to campaign for any party, but at least in one respect the family members of all the victims are united, "Godhra should not have been made an election issue''.

``The incidents of the last eight months have made our lives miserable. We want everyone to spare us and allow us to live in peace,'' they bemoaned.

To make full use of the Godhra card, the Panchal sisters, the 20-year-old Komal and her two years younger Avni were taken by the VHP leaders to Maninagar the other day and were surprised when told that they were brought to "inaugurate'' Mr. Modi's election office, the job the former Chief Minister, Keshubhai Patel, was originally scheduled to perform. That was the only time they saw Mr. Modi from close quarters.

``Neither Mr. Modi nor Mr. Jhadafiya or any of the BJP leaders have ever come to Ramol,'' said the 82-year-old retired government doctor, Girish Raval, who lost his wife, Sudhaben, in the train carnage. His only son, 42-year-old Ashwin, was killed in the riots in April within a few meters from his house, because he was a local VHP leader.

Nodding in unison with him was 50-year-old Bhairondan Barot, whose eldest of the three sons, 28-year-old Pratap Barot, was also killed along with Ashwin on April 17. Pratap was an activist connected with the Bajrang Dal.

They have reasons to be angry at the BJP Government because it did nothing for the protection of their sons. The residents of some 800 tenements of Janata Nagar in Ramol, which stood just opposite the Muslim colony of Jashnagar separated by a narrow lane, were feeling insecure since the Godhra train carnage. "We had moved hell and heaven asking for police security to our sons, because we knew that being VHP and Bajranj Dal activists they will be soft targets. But no protection was given to them, and even our request to start a police chowk in the vicinity was turned down,'' Dr. Raval said.

The VHP had promised to fight the court cases on behalf of the victims, but for the last six months "the files of our sons are pending in the VHP office; it has not even put up the case in the court''.

The promised compensation for the victims was also partly paid by the Government but Rs. 50,000 each the VHP had promised had never been paid. In view of the tension in the locality, the VHP promised to supply ration for six months, "but we got only once", Dr. Raval said.

The "Panchal sisters'', however, are comparatively luckier than most others. Because of their helpless condition, the VHP has helped them with an additional Rs. 1.5 lakhs to buy a house away from Janata Nagar.

Komal has secured a job in a school in place of her deceased mother and they have to survive on that meagre income.

``It is the VHP which has ruined the atmosphere in Ramol,'' rued Prakash Shah, whose son Rukesh was also in the same train compartment but survived miraculously.

"The area never experienced any communal tension in the past but the VHP's intensified Hindutva activities in the last couple of years have heightened communal passion.''

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• BJP cautions Cong. against raising Godhra
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• Kin of Godhra victims feel neglected

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