Vododara
Mayor Solanki Must Resign
SOCIALIST UNITY CENTRE OF
INDIA
GUJARAT STATE ORGANISING COMMITTEE
206/1 PATEL VAS , MADAL PUR, AHMEDABAD-380006
Ph.No. 079-26579962 [email protected]
MEMORANDUM
COMMUNAL VIOLENCE IN BARODA
SUBJECT- COMMUNAL VIOLENCE IN BARODA
To,
1-Shri Manmohan Singh,
The Prime Minister of India.
New Delhi
Fax No: (011) 23016857, 23019545
2-Shri Shivraj Patil,
Union Home Minister,
The Government of India.
New Delhi
Fax No : (011) 23093750, 23092763
3-Justice S. Anand,
Chairman,
National Human Rights' Commission.
New Delhi.
4-Shri Naval Kishore Sharma,
The Governor of Gujarat.
Gandhinagar.
Fax No : (079)23224268
5-The Chairman,
National Commission of Minorities.
New Delhi.
Fax No: (011)24693302
Sir,
The Socialist Unity Centre of India (S.U.C.I.) Gujarat State
Organising Committee is drawing your attention to the recent
communal
violence in
Baroda.
On the day of 1st. May the International working class Day as well
as the 47th. Foundation day of
Gujarat "The Maha
Gujarat day"
communal violence
erupted in Baroda walled city area. So far, six people are dead and
more than 100 people are injured. The
consecutive
curfews in three PS areas out of six PS areas could not curb the
riot. On 2nd of May man was burnt to death in his
car. The
repeated S.O.S. to Police Head Quarter went without any response.
This itself reflect the law and order situation and the
indifferent
attitude of the Police and the administration.
The Chief Minister of
Gujarat made a token
visit to the city after 48 hours of the riot. Of course, the Union
Minister of State for
Home Shri Prakash
Jaiswal made a quick visit to the city on 2nd of May.
The deployment
of military is an appropriate step by the Central Government.
However, the security is not handed over to military.
The known lack of political will of Gujarat Government headed by
Narendra Modi to tackle the riot as per the previous records cannot
be just be
ignored. The dubious role of Mr. Modi and his lip service to law and
order is a open truth.
The demolition drive, by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation(VMC), of
the Dargah of Fatehpura which is believed to be two hundred
years old could
have been handled by taking the minority community into confidence.
From the media report, it is known that the
minority
community was ready to comply with the situation. Before the
negotiation became fruitful, the dargah was razed and fresh
road was made
over the dargah in presence of heavy Police Bandobast, senior BJP
leader Mr. Nalin Bhatt along with the BJP
corporators to
ensure the razing of the Dargah.
As per the report in Times of India dated 2/5/06:
Why did Vadodara
Municipal Corporation (VMC) demolish the mazaar of Chishti Rashid-ud-Din
while still in consultation with Muslim
community
leaders for a compromise? Community leaders are feeling betrayed by
officials in the entire incident.
"Municipal
commissioner RK Pathak had himself visited that site on Saturday and
suggested cutting it by 2.5 feet so that it did not
obstruct traffic around Champaner Darwaja," said prominent advocate
Moin Rafai, one of the minority leaders negotiating for a
compromise.
The leaders say that
they had received the VMC notice three days ago and immediately
approached Mayor Sunil Solanki and Pathak.
Given that
Mandvi is a communally sensitive area with a history of violence,
Pathak had visited the mazaar and suggested the
compromise.
Local leaders had then convinced residents for the compromise
solution. "We took religious opinion of Kamal-ud-Din Bawa, who saw
nothing wrong
in slicing off a part of the mazaar according to Islamic law," Rafai
adds.
"But then by Sunday
morning, we found out that the VMC was planning to demolish the
entire mazaar." The community went back to
Pathak and Solanki on Monday morning, but by this time, the mood had
changed.
"The municipal
Corporators, most of them from the BJP, told us that if they could
demolish temples, there should be no objection to
removing a
mazaar," added Yunus Pathan, another community leader.
"We disagree
with this logic as the Muslim community never asked for temples to
be demolished. We told the officials to handle the
situation
sensitively, but the next thing we know, the officials started the
demolition."
To allegations that
the negotiations were mere delaying tactics by the community, the
leaders say they had even roped in structural
engineers and architects for the job.
Pathak says the Muslim
leaders had approached him three days back with their proposal. "I
had not promised anything," he said. "If I
agree to only a
partial demolition, it would have set a false precedent."
The armed police resorted to indiscriminate firing, killing and
injuring the people and there by ignited the communal fire, giving
free hand to
the communal elements to escalate the violence and communal passion.
The Gujarat
Govt., its administration and the police cannot shut their eyes to
the bare fact that the Gujarat state is sitting on a
tinderbox since
the last carnage2002. The confidence building measures of the
minorities is yet to be started. Rather a situation of
provocation is deliberately built-up to incite the minorities in
different ways and keep the flame of communal fire burning. Peace
and amity has
never been given a chance. It is highly deplorable that the Govt.
and its administrative machineries have never cared
for the law and
order situation, administrative neutrality and restoration of peace.
Different ways and means are maneuvered to keep
the frenzied
atmosphere alive. The administrative neutrality in Gujarat is a far
cry. Ironically, the Baroda riot co-incided with
the posting of
Mr. P.C. Pandey as the highest Police Officer of the State, the
then Police Commissioner of the 2002 carnage in
Ahmedabad.The atrocious act of Police in Baroda just reflect the
brutal act of Police of the last Carnage.
"Investigations by TOI
reveal that on April 13, Solanki and Swaroop had a spat over the
VMC's anti-encroachment drive. Swaroop
refused to
provide security to the encroachment team and Solanki widened the
rift by calling up law minister Ashok Bhatt and home
minister Amit
Shah to complain against Swaroop.
The cop was
worried that the drive would degenerate into communal violence if
religious structures were targeted. Swaroop had
anticipated
trouble but did not find it necessary to bring in additional forces
to handle a possible escalation of violence." (Times
of India
4-5-06)
It is also reported in
press that the Mayor Mr. Solanki went to the extent of uttering that
he will take the help of VHP and Bajrang
Dal to demolish
the Dargah. It is to inform you that most of the Civic Bodies are
controlled by BJP. When the Baroda BJP says,
razing the Dargah is a balancing act, they opposed the demolition of
temple in Rajkot. A mob of 3000 led by BJP councilors opposed
the demolition
of the temple and the Municipal Commissioner of Rajkot was attacked
by them. This is the double face of BJP.
Therefore, the BJP controlled VMC totally ignored the warnings of
the communal flare-up deliberately and went ahead with the
demolition
drive with utter disregard to the religious sentiment of the
minority.
Nowadays a dangerous
euphoria has been generated in the name of development and
prosperity with utter disregards to the
socio-cultural
and economic aspects in Gujarat of the people. The directives of
judiciary should be taken in proper social
perspective
with the social responsibility by the government and administration
but not as a ploy to fulfill its heinous motive in
the name of development, destroying the very fabric of communal
harmony. A peculiar fusion of communalism and parochialism is out
and out
promoted by the Govt. and it's machinaries and violation of human
rights has become a routine affair.
Under these circumstances, we request you to take immediate measures
to restore law and order situation and deploy military to save
the State from another repetition of 2002 carnage. Enough blood has
been spilled and many are injured. Loss of property is also no
less. The
normal life is disturbed in Baroda.The holocaust of carnage 2002 is
hunting Gujarat.We request you to take stringent
measures to
ensure peace in the State.We put forward the following demands for
quick redressal:
· Adequate compensation be given to the family of deceased,
injured and to those who have incurred loss of properties.
· The Mayor Mr. Solanki must resign, the Municipal
Commissioner must be dismissed and responsible police officials be
punished.
· A high power judicial committee be appointed whose
recommendation be made mandatory.
· Military be deployed over all sensitive areas of Gujarat
with order to act and without delay.
· Government relief camps be started immediately.
Thanking You
Dwarika Nath Rath
Secretary, S.U.C.I.
Gujarat State Organising Committee.
Date- 4-5-06