Last seen there were 58 dead bodies and some injured persons in Godhra by 9 a.m. on 27 February 2002; one of the injured would die later. They had been headed to Ahmedabad. Four of the dead got claimed by their relatives in the course of the day. The Government decided to have the remaining 54 bodies shifted to Ahmedabad.
It is well known, that the decision to do so was taken at a meeting chaired by Mr. Modi in Godhra. Mr. Mitta confirms that Mr. Modi has said so himself to the SIT headed by R K Raghavan.
The other option would have been to keep the bodies in Godhra until their families could be located and ferried in to claim possession per prescribed procedure, presumably after filling the paperwork in triplicate and establishing their bona fides!
The latter option is the one Mr. Mitta says Mr. Modi should have opted for. This is getting interesting. Maybe we will get a discussion on how that might have changed the course of events and how it would have helped cool tempers all round before they got to a boiling point.
No such luck. A whole chapter is instead devoted to the hapless Justice Nanavati commission's failure to pin the blame for the decision to shift on Mr. Modi.
How is Nanavati's failure relevant any longer, Mr. Mitta, after Raghavan's SIT asked Mr. Modi the question and got the answer?
Then there is the VHP functionary, Jaydeep Patel, to whom the dead bodies were released. Mr. Mitta can not understand how, from among the hordes of people he met that day, Mr. Modi does not recall meeting this all important person. Whom he has acknowledged knowing. And who was also present in the same building! Same building, dammit!!
How is this meeting so important, Mr. Mitta? They could well have conspired on the phone! Or through an intermediary! Or through a note written in vanishing ink! Or through a wink and a nod!
Mr. Mitta does not like the fact that the bodies were handed over to the VHP. Or that a low level factotum of the government signed the release letter. Was it to misdirect attention away from the 'highest levels' that approved the transfer? Much verbiage is expended on the letter. However, in what way this letter being drafted or typed or signed differently would have influenced history remains a mystery.
Why was the VHP involved? VHP was not responsible for the dead or the injured, Mr. Mitta tells us. The fact that the kar sevaks were VHP volunteers is not relevant. That VHP was best positioned to identify and locate their families is besides the point. They should have waited for the families in Godhra, as per the bureaucratic procedure.
Mr. Mitta demands an explanation for this departure from the norm. What were the exceptional circumstances, he wants to know, that warranted it?
Mr. Mitta deserves an answer.
Next: The Post-Godhra Mayhem
Previously: Modi:Mitta::The Godhra Incident
First: Modi:Mitta::Fact &:Fiction
It is well known, that the decision to do so was taken at a meeting chaired by Mr. Modi in Godhra. Mr. Mitta confirms that Mr. Modi has said so himself to the SIT headed by R K Raghavan.
The other option would have been to keep the bodies in Godhra until their families could be located and ferried in to claim possession per prescribed procedure, presumably after filling the paperwork in triplicate and establishing their bona fides!
The latter option is the one Mr. Mitta says Mr. Modi should have opted for. This is getting interesting. Maybe we will get a discussion on how that might have changed the course of events and how it would have helped cool tempers all round before they got to a boiling point.
No such luck. A whole chapter is instead devoted to the hapless Justice Nanavati commission's failure to pin the blame for the decision to shift on Mr. Modi.
How is Nanavati's failure relevant any longer, Mr. Mitta, after Raghavan's SIT asked Mr. Modi the question and got the answer?
Then there is the VHP functionary, Jaydeep Patel, to whom the dead bodies were released. Mr. Mitta can not understand how, from among the hordes of people he met that day, Mr. Modi does not recall meeting this all important person. Whom he has acknowledged knowing. And who was also present in the same building! Same building, dammit!!
How is this meeting so important, Mr. Mitta? They could well have conspired on the phone! Or through an intermediary! Or through a note written in vanishing ink! Or through a wink and a nod!
Mr. Mitta does not like the fact that the bodies were handed over to the VHP. Or that a low level factotum of the government signed the release letter. Was it to misdirect attention away from the 'highest levels' that approved the transfer? Much verbiage is expended on the letter. However, in what way this letter being drafted or typed or signed differently would have influenced history remains a mystery.
Why was the VHP involved? VHP was not responsible for the dead or the injured, Mr. Mitta tells us. The fact that the kar sevaks were VHP volunteers is not relevant. That VHP was best positioned to identify and locate their families is besides the point. They should have waited for the families in Godhra, as per the bureaucratic procedure.
Mr. Mitta demands an explanation for this departure from the norm. What were the exceptional circumstances, he wants to know, that warranted it?
Mr. Mitta deserves an answer.
Next: The Post-Godhra Mayhem
Previously: Modi:Mitta::The Godhra Incident
First: Modi:Mitta::Fact &:Fiction
Very interesting! There have been some other reports by an investigating journalist of the role of the MOdi/VHP in the ensuing days of the riots!
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