Parliament
adjourns over Godhra report
New
Delhi: Both Houses of Parliament adjourned proceedings
on Monday following the furore created by the Bahujan Samajwadi
Party (BSP), the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Samajwadi
Party (SP) members on Banerjee's Godhra report. The Treasury
bench has also asked for the tabling of the probe that was
launched against the Gujarat Government and its Chief Minister
Narendra Modi. They also sought the dismissal of the Modi
Government.
It
may be recalled that the Justice U C Banerjee Commission
declared the fire in the S-6 compartment of the Sabarmati
Express in Godhra an accident. Submitting the final report
of his findings, Justice Banerjee said the fire was not
a result of a deliberate act. The Gujarat riots of 2002
were seen to have been triggered by the death of karsevaks
returning from Ayodhya. Banerjee submitted the report to
Railway Board chairman J C Batra on March 3. The one-man
committee was appointed by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad
Yadav soon after he took charge of the ministry. In its
interim report on January 17, 2005, Justice Banerjee had
indicated that preliminary inquiries had revealed that there
were no indication that S-6 had been torched from outside.
The Banerjee panel's findings also contradict the initial
reports filed by the Railway Protection Force on February
27, 2002, which stated that the coach was attacked by a
mob which was later fired upon by Railway Protection Force
(RPF).
However,
speaking to the media, Justice Banerjee eluded giving the
exact reason behind the cause of fire. Commenting on the
report, BJP President Rajnath Singh alleged that the report
was politically motivated and demanded punishment for the
Minister who had constituted the committee. Criticising
the appointment of the Banerjee Commission when Justice
Nanavati was already working on the case, Rajnath Singh
said when one judicial commission has been constituted to
probe the incident, and then there is no legal provision
to constitute another body to inquire into the same matter.
Giving clean chit to the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra
Modi, Justice Banerjee said, "It was not Modi who had recommended
Justice Nanavati, but it was the Supreme Court which had
suggested Nanavatis name." On the others side, the Communist
Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) also asked Modi to resign,
with a judicial commission nailing the false propaganda
on the Godhra incident that led to the 2002 communal violence
in Gujarat. Pointing on the report, the CPI-M politburo
said Modi did not have any moral right to continue in office.
The CPI-M, which props Manmohan Singh's Government from
outside, said Modi's BJP and its ideological parent RSS
had claimed a conspiracy behind the Godhra train tragedy
in which 59 Hindu pilgrims were killed. The incident triggered
communal violence in which over 1,000 people were killed.
Injunction
against tabling Godhra report
by Pankaj Yadav
New
Delhi: The Justice UC Banerjee Committee Report over
the Godhra train burning incident remained the highlight
of the day, both inside the Parliament and the Gujarat High
Court where the VHP managed to get an injunction against
tabling the Report in the Parliament. In the fateful incident,
around 59 people (Hindus) were allegedly burnt alive, which
in turn led to communal violence across Gujarat claiming
more than 1000 lives (mainly the Muslims). Justice MR Shah
of the Gujarat High Court today asked the Centre and all
parties concerned not to table the report till the court
concludes hearing on a petition filed by a relative of a
survivor from the train carnage.
The
petition, filed on September 2005 by Nilkanth Bhatia, questioned
the formation of the Justice UC Banerjee Committee, since
another high-powered Commission (Nanavati-Shah Commission)
formed by the Gujarat Government was already in place and
was investigating the matter. On the basis of this plea,
the Gujarat Government had earlier managed to temporarily
prevent the three top Gujarat police officials from deposing
before the Banerjee Committee in November-December last
year after being summoned in connection with the case. Meanwhile,
the Lok Sabha witnessed unruly scenes over the Report, even
as the House was adjourned on as many as four occasions.
The findings of the Banerjee Report suggest that that it
was an "accidental fire" and that it was not caused by any
inflammatory material as maintained by the Hindu fundamentalists.
The Committee was formed by the Railway Ministry to look
into certain technical aspects of the train carnage, including
the cause of the fire in S-6 coach of the train. While the
Opposition members alleged that it was biased report, and
should not be allowed to be tabled in the Parliament, the
Treasury benches wanted its contents to be made public and
action taken against the culprits. Lok Sabha members belonging
to Treasury benches, from the Congress, Left, RJD, SP, demanded
the immediate dismissal of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra
Modi. They also urged an appropriate action against the
"perpetrators of the carnage" that lasted for over two months.
Raising the issue during the Zero Hour, the Samajwadi Party's
Ramji Lal Suman said: "The report shows that the guilty
are roaming free and innocents are booked under POTA (Prevention
of Terrorism Act)." Roopchand Pal of the CPI-M said that
the report had negated the plan built by the RSS and the
BJP to perpetuate a pogrom in Gujarat in connivance with
the Modi government. The MP demanded a public trial of Modi.
Demanding Modi's dismissal, Madhusudan Mistry of the Congress
said the government should decide whether such a chief minister
should continue in office for "even a minute". "If you have
shame, expel him," he shouted at the Opposition benches.
The main Opposition party, the BJP alleged that the Congress
and the ruling UPA had intentionally brought out this report
at a time when elections were announced in five states,
with the idea of garnering Muslim votes. On one of the occasions
after the Lower House was adjourned, BJP's Karbala Swain
was heard as telling the Treasury benches: "Let there be
50 political parties caring for the 13 percent Muslims in
the country, and let us remain with the remaining 87 percent
population."
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