The Hindu Business Line : Why derail Lalu's Godhra probe?

TRUST the Bihar strongman and Railway Minister, Mr Lalu Prasad, to know how to rattle the BJP and its allies. When it comes to settling political scores by attacking the Achilles heel of his opponent, he rarely misses the mark.

So, after being taunted by the entire Opposition lobby on the issue of "tainted ministers" from the Rashtriya Janata Dal in the Manmohan Singh Cabinet , he struck back by ordering a fresh probe into the Godhra carnage of February 2002.

In his reply to the discussion on the Railway Budget last fortnight, Mr Lalu Prasad said that the previous NDA regime had not taken the trouble to get to the truth behind how Coach S-6 of the Sabarmati Express was burnt on February 27, killing 59 persons.

This is certainly the right thing for the new Government to do, particularly because there is still no satisfactory answer on what exactly happened at Godhra station that night. In the last two years all we have got, as far as the Godhra carnage is concerned, is a plethora of conflicting reports on how the fire actually started.

Time and again it has been reported that forensic science experts, deposing before various inquiry teams, had stated that it was not possible to pour from outside the huge amount of inflammable material that was required to burn the coach.

Deposing recently before Justice G. T. Nanavati and Justice K. G. Shah, the two-member judicial commission probing the Godhra carnage, the Assistant Director of the Ahmedabad-based Forensic Science Laboratory, Mr M. S. Dahiya, said that when "re-enacting the scene of February 27 we found that it was not possible to pour the liquid from outside as the compartment was seven feet above the ground level". Responding to questions from Mr Justice Nanavati, he said no evidence of any acid was found and a minimum 60 litres of combustible liquid would have been used to torch the coach.

Some Railway officials and passengers present at the scene testifying before the Nanavati Commission said they had not seen any Muslims enter S-6 during the fracas which erupted at Godhra station, leave alone pour more than 60 litres of petrol, as alleged by the Gujarat police.

And the forensic report says that the samples taken from S-6 contained no trace of petroleum hydrocarbons.

On June 29, 2004, the Nanavati Commission interrogated Mr K. C. Bawa, a deputy superintendent with the Railway Protection Force, at the time of the tragedy. Mr Bawa, who had headed the initial inquiry into the incident, told the Commission that the panchanama (spot inquiry report) was delayed by almost two months.

More damaging to the administration was his submission that the bodies were not sent for advanced forensic tests, nor photographs of the bodies taken. He also ruled out a conspiracy to set fire to the coach — something that BJP leaders, including Mr L. K. Advani, have been insisting — and that the incident was the result of a clash between a tea vendor and kar sevaks.

Is it not a matter of concern that over two years have passed and we are still clueless about what really happened at Godhra? Forget rules and regulations and legal tenets being cited by the Sangh Parivar representatives who are up in arms at the Railway Minister's decision to order another inquiry. Is it not the moral responsibility of the Gujarat Government and the Indian Railways to the relatives of the 59 victims of this carnage to get at the bottom of the incident?

It was disturbing to find the BJP and its friends disrupting Parliamentary proceedings on July 15 protesting against Mr Lalu Prasad's ordering a fresh inquiry. In a country where inquires are ordered at the drop of a hat, why should the Opposition MPs be up in arms at an attempt to find the truth, whatever the political motive behind it?

Watching the tamasha that took place inside and outside Parliament that day — BJP and Shiv Sena MPs storming the wells of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, shouting slogans like "Aatankhwad ko samarthan dena bandh karo; Lalu hatao, desh bachao (Stop supporting terrorists; remove Lalu and save the nation) — one wondered why there was so much of fuss being made over one measly inquiry. After all, had not the BJP, the VHP and the RSS claimed all along that Godhra was a conspiracy hatched by Islamic terrorists? So why not make one more attempt to find out the truth?

At the moment, and particularly to the BJP and its allies, the fresh probe into the Godhra tragedy might look like witch-hunting, which it probably is. But even if there is the remotest chance of the truth emerging, there is yet hope that justice will be done.

Not only by the Supreme Court, which has till now made unprecedented attempts to get at the truth in a bid to get justice for the victims. But also by the people's court, which will decide in the next Assembly elections whether it needs the administration that ruled the State in 2002.

Of course, Mr Narendra Modi led his party to a landslide victory in December 2002. But that was due to the propaganda that Hindu lives and welfare were safe only in his hands. Or those of his ministers, many of whom were indicted by the National Human Rights Commission team in its report, submitted after its visit to Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Godhra from March 19-22, 2002.

It alleged that senior ministers monitored the progress of the riots from the City Police Control room and the Police Bhavan in Gandhinagar; and quoted an eyewitness telling the team that he saw one Minister moving around in the worst riot-affected areas, displaying the `victory' signal.

When even after 30 months, the riot victims are yet to get any semblance of justice; or worse, those suspected of instigating the rioters roam freely and without being charged of any crime, a fresh attempt to get at the truth should be welcome.

(Response may be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in)