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BJP Government Wins Gujarat Vote, But Loses Face, Two Ministers
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School children participate in a rally in New Delhi, protesting anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat
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By
Zafarul-Islam Khan, IOL South Asia correspondent
NEW
DELHI, May 1 (IslamOnline): A badly bruised BJP-led National
Democratic Alliance (NDA) government won the Gujarat vote on numbers,
but a walkout by the 28-member key ally Telugu Desam Party before
voting, a key minister's resignation and the offer to quit by another
minister soured the victory early Wednesday, May 1.
The
censure motion in the lower house of Parliament was defeated after a
marathon 16-hour discussion which started at 12 p.m. Tuesday, April
30, and ended 4.30 am Wednesday morning. 276 members voted against the
censure motion while 182 voted for it. There were eight abstentions,
including four (Kashmir) National Conference members led by Minister
of State for External Affairs Omar Abdullah, who has tendered his
resignation for not voting with the government.
Ram
Vilas Paswan, the central minister for coal and mines, had already
resigned Monday, April 29, over the government's mishandling of
Gujarat which has already claimed 905 lives according to the official
count.
Human
rights organizations say at least 2,000 have died. About 250,000
remain in refugee camps, unable to go back to their homes, amid
official attempts to close down the camps by force in order to show
that 'normalcy' has returned. People are still streaming into the
camps from various areas as the violence continues.
Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee tried to assuage the agitated opposition
by announcing a rupees 1500 million (U.S. $30.6 million) package for
Gujarat to help the state government undertake reconstruction and
rehabilitation work.
The
implementation, to be done within four months, would be monitored by
the cabinet secretary, he said. In his speech Vajpayee said Hindu
fundamentalism also posed a challenge, adding he never supported
proponents of hard line Hindutva. Vajpayee conceded that he failed to
anticipate the violence.
The
rehabilitation package would include assistance for reconstruction and
repair of damaged houses and shops, both in rural and urban areas and
to self-employed categories who lost their earning assets and
financial support for recommencing business, commercial and industrial
activities. It would also include revival of educational, medical and
other institutions in the affected areas and special programs to
benefit widows and children, Vajpayee said.
Vajpayee
said the riots might not have happened had the political parties of
the country stood united and condemned the attack on the Sabarmati
Express, which triggered the communal violence in the state. Echoing
his party's stand he placed much of the blame for Gujarat riots on the
media, saying it did not show sensitivity.
Central
Home Minister LK Advani asserted that the removal of his protégé,
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, would not resolve the issue.
Congress
leader Sonia Gandhi made a sharp attack on the Prime Minister when she
said" "his shifting statements have shocked us."
Referring to Vajpayee's lecture to Modi on "rajdharma"
(statecraft) on April 4 and his speech at a public rally in Goa when
he said that Muslims did not know how to live in peace, she said,
"Such doublespeak — what does it say to the nation?"
Sonia
Gandhi recalled that Vajpayee had said if Parliament had condemned the
Godhra carnage the subsequent violence in Gujarat would not have
followed. "What stopped him, as Leader of the House and the Prime
Minister, from taking the initiative? The Prime Minister’s failure
cannot be portrayed as Parliament’s dereliction."
She
accused the chief minister of Gujarat of being partisan and said that
large-scale transfer of police officials in the state was clear
evidence of the administration’s bias. She reminded the house that
Gujarat still continues to burn and bleed two months after the riots
broke out.
Initiating
the debate, Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, said he did
not understand how the government could take umbrage at western
criticism of the Gujarat violence. "Don’t you raise the issue
of Hindus in Fiji or Bangladesh? It is no longer an internal matter,
when you have shamed India in front of the world by your Hitler-like
behavior."
Defense
Minister George Fernandes ruffled many a feather when he callously
claimed that "Stories are being told about Gujarat violence as if
it was happening for the first time. Did it not happen in 1984 on the
roads of Delhi?"
Congress
leader Mani Shankar Aiyar accused the state government of inciting the
Gujarat violence and the center of not deploying the army to contain
the violence in time. "Why is it that where the deployment of the
army has restored normalcy in a matter of few hours in previous
years...in all those 54 years that Mr. George Fernandes was talking
about ...We have seen this disaster continuing. The reason is that on
the 27 of February it became completely clear that the local
non-secular forces in collaboration with the government were
determined to promote a pogrom," Aiyar said.
The
shaky victory came as violence continues unabated in Gujarat. Three
persons, two in Vadodara and one in Ahmedabad, were killed late Monday
night. In Ahmedabad, one person was killed in police firing in the
Ranip area when an irate mob set a plastic factory on fire which led
to stone-throwing.
In
the current, third phase of violence, Muslim commercial establishments
and large Muslim localities are being targeted. Mobs are roaming
around in thousands while police protects them or watches in
helplessness. Mobs are even today controlling major highways,
searching for and lynching Muslims.
According
to exclusive information from Ahmedabad, at about 1:30 am early
Tuesday, April 30, a grave incident of police atrocity took place in
Taiwada, Wadi area in Vadodra city. A few Muslims were sitting in
front of their homes, keeping vigil against possible attacks. Suddenly
about five policemen entered the area on foot and opened fire
indiscriminately, killing two Muslims on the spot. These have been
identified as Abid Delawala (29 years) and Noorbhai Karvania (45
years).
After this brutal killing the police party fled the area and a short
while later it re-entered the same locality under the leadership of
the area deputy commissioner of police escorted by about 25 policemen.
They took the two dead bodies in a push-cart and claimed that the
victims were rioters attacked police with stones. The police have
registered a false case claiming that these people were trying to
attack the police and were in turn fired upon.
Police have been playing a clear partisan role in the on-going riots
of Gujarat. Most of the people killed and injured by police firing are
Muslims, according to media and human rights organizations reports.
Police officers who refused official instructions to side with the
rioters have been sidelined and transferred.
The
police also arrested 40 Muslim women, who organized a rally through
the main streets of Vadodra yesterday to protest against the
government and police failure to contain violence and attacks on the
minority community in the city.
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