IT OFTEN STARTS with a simple act. An act that unquestionably leads to disastrous results. And while that initial act is long forgotten amid the rising violence, it has served its purpose.
Take Ariel Sharon’s walk-through on the steps of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. The rest is a present day history. Similarly, the violence in Gujarat, India that has claimed so many innocent lives has had a simple beginning. It goes along the following lines.
The tragic incident of the Sabarmati Express, a train line, that occurred at about 1 km away from Godhra railway station and exploded into a national crisis started in the early hours one morning.
Compartment No. S-6 and two other compartments of the Sabarmati Express were carrying the kar sevaks (thugs) of the VHP. And it was due to these kar sevaks from Compartment No. S-6 that the incident occurred.
The actual story didn’t start from Godhra as is being reported everywhere but from a place called Daahod, 75 km before the Godhra railway station. At about 6:00 am the train reached Daahod railway station. These kar sevaks, after having tea and snacks at the railway stall, tore down the stall after having an argument with the stall owner and they returned to the departing train.
The stall owner then filed charges against the kar sevaks at the local police station about the incident. Then at about 7:15 am the train reached Godhra railway station. All the kar sevaks came out from their reserved compartments and started to have tea and snacks, at a small tea stall on the platform, which was being run by an old bearded man from the minority community.
There was a servant helping this old man in the stall. Purposely, the kar sevaks argued with this old man and then beat him up and pulled at his beard. This was all planned to humiliate the old man since he was from the minority community. These kar sevaks kept repeating the slogan, “Mandir ka nirmaan karo, Babar ki aulad ko bahar karo”. (Start building the Mandir and throw the sons of Babar, i.e. the Muslims out of the country.)
Hearing the chaos, the 16-year-old daughter of the old man, who was also present at the station, came forward and tried to save her father from the kar sevaks. She kept pleading and begging to them to stop beating her father and leave him alone. But instead of listening to her pleas, the kar sevaks lifted the young girl and took her inside their compartment (S-6) and closed the compartment door shut.
The train started to move out of the platform of Godhra railway station.
The old man kept banging on the compartment door pleading with these thugs to release his daughter. Just before the train could move out completely from the platform, two stall vendors jumped into the last bogey that comes after the guard cabin. And with the intention of saving the girl they pulled the emergency chain and stopped the train.
By the time the train halted completely, it was 1 km away from the railway station. These two men then came to the bogey in which the girl was in and started to bang at the door and requested the kar sevaks to let go the girl.
Hearing all these chaos, people in the vicinity of the tracks started gathering next to the train. The mob (that also included women) that had now gathered near the compartment requested the kar sevaks to return the girl. But instead of returning the girl, the kar sevaks started closing their windows. This infuriated the mob and they retaliated by pelting stones at the compartment.
The compartment adjoining compartment S-6 on both sides contained kar sevaks of the VHP. These kar sevaks were carrying banners that had long bamboo sticks attached to them. These kar sevaks got down and started attacking the mob with bamboo sticks. This was like adding insult to injury for the crowd gathered and their anger was now uncontrollable.
The crowd started to bring diesel and petrol from trucks and rickshaws standing at the garages Signal Fadia (a place in Godhra) and burnt down the compartment. They didn’t bring the fuel from any petrol pump as is being reported everywhere nor was this act of burning preplanned as is being mentioned by many people but it happened all of sudden out of sheer frustration and anger.
After hearing about this incident, members of VHP living in that area started burning down the garages in Signal Fadia; they also burnt down Baddshah Masjid, at Shehra Bhagaad (a small area in Godhra).
Due to their late arrival at the scene of crime, the police felt frustrated. This resulted in the harassment and arrest of innocent local people living in Godhra. Furthermore, the police started blaming the mayor of Godhra, Ahmed Hussein Kalota, for this incident.
And just like the shot that was heard around the world, or the steps on Al-Aqsa Mosque, this insignificant incident resulted in the loss of lives of countless innocent victims. Sadly, Hollywood could not have done it better.
— Tariq A. Al-Maeena, [email protected]
