Exposing opposition hypocrisy on Godhra train carnage yet again

New Delhi 

The double standards and hypocrisy of Indian opposition parties - who love to be called the secular brigade - came to the fore once again in Rajya Sabha.

During the proceedings in the Upper House on Wednesday, April 6, when the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said there was "an attempt" to give the Godhra train carnage a "different angle".  

The Gujarat politics had taken a different turn since Feb 27, 2002 Godhra platform mayhem.

“There is a judgement of the Supreme Court now. It was an attempt to save the seven accused who had 

killed people. This is what Brij Lal (BJP MP) wanted to tell us,” Shah told the Upper House.

The Home Minister also made a veiled attack on former railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav of trying to 

paint the Godhra train carnage of 2002 as an 'accident' and not a conspiracy by appointing a new 

committee to probe into it when a Commission of Inquiry was already on.

The issue started after BJP MP Brij Lal mentioned the Godhra issue during the debate on the Criminal 

Procedure (Identification) Bill and questioned formation of the U C Banerjee Commission by then railway 

minister Lalu Prasad Yadav in September 2004 to investigate the incident.

Lal, a former police officer, said a coach of the Sabarmati Express was set on fire on February 27, 2002, 

killing 59 people.

"The then railway minister of RJD formed one U C Banerjee Commission and it had submitted a report on 

January 17, 2005. The report said the fire was accidental and the coach was not put on fire," he said.

The commission report had said there were sadhus in the coach who were smoking weed and the 

fire broke out accidentally from that.

Mr Lal, a former Uttar Pradesh-cadre IPS officer, said the lower court had awarded the death penalty to 

11 convicts in the case, and accused some of the opposition parties of sympathising with the terrorists.

Later the high court had commuted the death sentence of 11 convicts to life imprisonment while upholding 

the earlier life sentence of 20 others.

The House also witnessed an uproar for a while.

RJD MP Manoj Jha said any such incident, whether it had happened in Kashmir or Godhra or in Delhi, 

“we all are collectively responsible for that... You cannot blame it on someone.” 

On this, Home Minister Amit Shah was up on his feet and said, perhaps, Jha has not 

listened to the speech of Lal who has not said anything illogical.

“The Railway minister of that time had tried to give a different angle to the incident in which people 

were burnt alive,” Shah said.

Without naming Lalu Prasad Yadav, Shah said he, despite knowing the fact that an inquiry by a former 

judge appointed by the Supreme Court was going on, appointed a new committee by using the Railway Act.

“The committee had suggested that it was an accident and not a conspiracy. The Supreme Court had rejected 

this,” Shah said, adding that “hence he (Brij Lal) said that an attempt was made to give it a different angle.” 

ends 

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