Bull's Eye

On May27, ’02, Bull’s Eye observed: "Riots overwhelmingly suggest they were pre-planned. Human Rights Watch of America released a well-documented 70-page report stating that riots were planned prior to the Godhra carnage. This view was reinforced by a reported briefing of K.P.S. Gill by Gujarat’s police officers. On the night of the Godhra incident, officials were told to go soft on Bajrang Dal and VHP activists. Narendra Modi insisted on transporting 17 bodies of Godhra victims to Ahmedabad for their last rites. Later, the riots started."

On August 26,’02, Bull’s Eye said: "Six months after the Godhra carnage we still don’t know who was responsible for it. We don’t know who died in the fire. We don’t know how many, if any, kar sevaks were among the victims. The Ahmedabad forensic laboratory proved that the railway carriage was set afire from inside. The outside doors of the burnt bogie were locked. The arsonists could only have entered the compartment through the corridor from the adjoining bogie. How did a Muslim mob pass through unsuspecting kar sevaks and burn inmates of the adjoining bogie? Fifty-eight passengers died at Godhra. Only four among them were reserved passengers. Nineteen remained unidentified. Thirty-five charred non-reserved passengers were ‘identified’ by the government. Who were they? We still don’t know. Never mind the government, what about the media? Editors have armies of reporters under them. Can’t they track down reserved passengers and ask them how and why they were not in the carriage when it was burnt? Or is the truth too frightening to confront?"

Now more truth—even if not the whole truth—is coming out. It is coming from the killers themselves. They belong to theVHP and Bajrang Dal. They are targeting Modi after their leader Praveen Togadia switched sides to become Modi’s sworn enemy. This is not a sting operation. It is a pre-poll ‘hit’ operation. Will these self-incriminatory revelations amount to court evidence? Nobody can tell if anyone will be convicted. But polls will be affected.

The political class continues to destroy itself. That’s welcome! The system stays unreformed. That isn’t.

(Puri can be reached at rajinderpuri2000@yahoo.com)