NEW DELHI, 20 January 2005 — The Election Commission yesterday accused Railway Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad of giving a political color to the U.C. Banerjee report on the 2002 carnage in Godhra, Gujarat, in which 59 people burned to death.
Not only did Lalu distribute pamphlets on Godhra, he also raised the issue at election rallies on Tuesday in Belagunj in Bihar’s Gaya district.
The Election Commission had earlier reprimanded the RJD chief for distributing money to voters.
Warning of strict action against those exploiting religion to influence the electorate, the commission said it would be “unfortunate” if parties raked the Banerjee report during election campaign.
The poll body said it would be unfortunate if such things were used for political purposes.
“We are certainly disturbed and quite unhappy if such things are used for personal acrimony and vendetta,” it said and appealed to all political parties to concentrate on issues of development and good governance. “Political parties must learn good democracy and good governance,” the commission asserted.
Meanwhile, the interim report on the Godhra riots is now threatening to snowball into a major controversy between New Delhi and the Gujarat government.
Lalu has accused the Gujarat government of not cooperating with the commission probing the Godhra incident.
According to Lalu, the inquiry commission had issued six notices to top police officers including Raju Bhargav, the then Godhra superintendent of police, J.K. Bhat, then railway SP, and R. Srikumar, who was the director general of police intelligence at the time of the incident. The commission will get tough if the men do not respond to the summons, he stressed.
Lalu’s rhetoric comes at a time when elections in Bihar are just round the corner. In fact, the timing of the report has kicked up a huge political storm.
Campaigning in the rural areas of Gaya and Aurangabad districts yesterday, Lalu referred to the Banerjee report and alleged that the BJP and Sangh Parivar were “deeply involved” in carrying out a misinformation campaign after the train tragedy which led to riots in which hundreds of innocent people were killed.
The opposition in Bihar has also asked the election commission to ban the use of the report during poll campaigning.
In a related development, the Election Commission has pledged to make adequate security arrangements for voters in Jharkhand in the wake of a fresh call for boycott of the state’s assembly elections set for Feb. 3.
Addressing a press conference, Chief Election Commissioner T.S. Krishnamurthy said: “ No voter will be prevented from coming to the polls. Proper vigil will be maintained.”
