To all readers of Communalism Combat our sincere apologies and an explanation. As we were
preparing to send the July 2005 issue of the magazine to press, Mumbai and the neighbouring
Thane and Raigad districts were hit by the worst deluge in living memory. The swirling waters
claimed over 1,000 precious lives, the death toll in Mumbai alone crossing the 450 mark. As
lakhs of families were marooned and stranded for days, the human crisis was made worse by a
near collapse of governance. As the floods washed away virtually everything from their
homes, tens of thousands of families were soaked to the bone, miserable, with no food to eat and no water to drink. Days later, the receding water left behind fears of an epidemic.

Newspapers and newsmagazines pride themselves on not missing an edition even in the most trying circumstances, we know. But given the very nature of our calling, finding ourselves in the midst of misery of such colossal magnitude, we were caught in a bind. Do we concentrate on our task as journalists, of putting to bed one more issue of this publication devoted to promoting communal harmony? Or do we respond as social activists to the overarching demand of human compassion whence springs our commitment to combating intolerance, hatred and violence? Before we knew it, every single member of our tiny team was plunged into relief work and for the next month and a half we did our little bit, reaching out to people in desperate need of help.

Beginning from the morning of July 27, we ran community kitchens, mobilised money and material through Citizens for Justice and Peace to rush drinking water, food grains and candlesticks, cooking stoves and utensils, bedsheets and chatais, medical teams and medicines to those worst affected in several localities in Mumbai city, as also to Mumbra, Kalyan, Panvel, Mahad and Chiplun towns and neighbouring villages. Later, we extended some help to children from poor families who had no pencils, notebooks or bags to take to school.

That is why we could not bring you the July issue of CC. For this we sincerely apologise and hope you will understand. Engagement in relief work proved to be both a learning and a humbling experience. In almost every place our team visited, they came across moving accounts of how while politicians, officials and policemen were mostly missing from the scene, individuals, small groups and local communities had rushed to the rescue of fellow human beings without distinction of caste or creed. The surging waters brought grief, misery and suffering on an unprecedented scale. But we may draw small comfort from the fact that alongside all the devastation and havoc they also broke down barriers and washed away the communal garbage that had cluttered many a mind and heart over the last decade or two. "Bahut nuksan hua magar saath saath dilon ka mael bhi dhul gaya," ("It caused huge damage, but alongside it washed away the dirt in many hearts") said a social activist from a western suburb in Mumbai.

So we thought we could do no better in this special, Twelfth Anniversary, double issue of CC than to draw public attention and pay our tribute to some of the individuals and groups who stretched themselves day and night, rescuing and reaching relief to the needy, caste or community no bar. Sadly, a few of them died while trying to rescue others or later succumbed to killer diseases that came in the aftermath of the deluge. To them we pay homage, as our hearts go out to their grieving families.

Regular readers of CC will recall that in a curious twist to the Best Bakery case retrial, on November 3, 2004, a day before she was to appear before Judge Abhay Thipsay at the Mazgaon court in Mumbai, prime eye-witness Zahira Sheikh addressed a press conference in Vadodara under heavy police protection and levelled serious charges of kidnapping, illegal confinement et al against Teesta Setalvad and some of her colleagues. Within days of these baseless allegations, Teesta, who has been handling the case as secretary, Citizens for Justice and Peace, filed a petition in the Supreme Court asking for a high-level inquiry into the backdrop of Zahira’s somersault. In end-August, the apex court released the the inquiry committee’s report. We are reproducing in this issue excerpts from the same. While giving Teesta and her colleagues a clean chit and calling Zahira ‘a self-condemned liar’, the report draws attention to the continuing attempt by certain forces in Gujarat to subvert the judicial process. For our part, we remain committed to doing our bit in bringing justice to the victims and survivors of Genocide 2002.