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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