People's Democracy

THE delegation sent to Gujarat by the West Bengal Left Front for distribution of relief among the carnage victims (See People's Democracy, June 16), also studied the situation in Ahmedabad and other parts of Gujarat. The delegation came to the conclusion that although the situation appears normal, in fact the violence is very much on the surface and can erupt any time. This is mainly because in most cases the accused have not been arrested. The two FIRs filed in the worst cases of violence in Ahmedabad, namely in Narodia Patia where over 100 people including women and children were burnt to death and in Gulbarg Society where a former Congress MP and scores of others were burnt to death, blame the victims for their own deaths. This has greatly demoralised the thousands of other victims. The demand for justice and arrest of the accused is therefore very crucial if normalcy is to return. In spite of the statements by many women of rape, FIRs in rape cases are not being filed. The FIRs filed are so-called group FIRs that cover a radius of 5 km. Thus all acts of violence have been lumped together. This is a travesty of justice and was challenged by the inmates of the Himmatnagar camp in the Gujarat High Court. The court accepted the group FIRs but directed that individual statements made under section 162 should be separately investigated. However even this is not being done.

The Left Front delegation also pointed out that in almost all the areas, victims once again raised the issue of the removal of the Narendra Modi government. They said his continuation in office was ensuring that the tensions remained.

According to the delegation, the refusal to arrest the main accused has also resulted in continuation threats to the Muslims who want to go back to their areas. This is true not only of Ahmedabad but more so in rural areas. In Ahmedabad, a most important issue is the resettlement of the families of Naroda Patia area. At present, most of these families are living in the Shah Alam camp. Families who went back to see their burnt houses or to recover belongings have been threatened not to come back or else they would once again be attacked. This was reported to the Left Front team. They have appealed to the government to give them land in any more secure locality which they have identified. However, the government has flatly refused to give them any alternative place or even to provide them security to go back.

In the rural areas, the Left Front team was told that in Sabarkantha district where two months ago approximately 18,000 people were in the camps, about half of them have been able to go back to their villages. However, for the remaining 9000-odd people, it is absolutely impossible to go back as the VHP/Bajrang Dal leaders in their villages have told the Muslims that they can go back only if they accept the most humiliating conditions. The collector of the district had tried to take some families back but even he failed to stop the threats of violence from the communal criminals in the village. Outside Khedbhrama village a board has been put up, forbidding the entry of Muslims. The people in the camps have appealed to the government to allot them government wasteland. But the government has refused. There are some cases where the land and houses of Muslims are being taken over. For example, in the Himmatnagar camp there were two families so affected. One of them said that his house was demolished, a new one constructed in its place and occupied by the aggressors. The owner got a stay order from the court but even then his house remains illegally occupied. In another case, a Muslim house had been turned into a temple.

Another aspect of the issue of rehabilitation is that of compensation. The Left Front team pointed out that the government has issued compensation forms that clearly state that the maximum to be given is Rs 50,000 for damaged property, regardless of the amount of losses suffered. Even this amount has not been given in a single case in any of the camps the team visited. The amounts given in many cases range from just Rs 50 to Rs 2000. Everywhere the team was told that the surveys of damaged property by the government was arbitrary and in no cases were the actual victims allowed to accompany the official survey team. This is, evidently, highly unjust and is an issue that must be taken up. The demand from many areas is for a resurvey with the involvement of the actual victims.

The Left Front team came to conclude that the official death toll is a gross underestimate. In one camp in Modarsa the team was given a list of 62 people who have been declared missing since the first week of March when the tempos in which they fleeing from their villages were attacked and burnt. The few survivors from Kidiyad village testified that everyone in these tempos was burnt to death, but their testimonies have not been accepted. In one case, the mother of a one-day old infant who was snatched from her arms and burnt has been asked to provide evidence that her child is indeed dead. Such inhuman stories are common. The victims believe that one reason behind all this is to deny them compensation. There are many widows who have not been given compensation by the government because it wants "proof’ that their husbands or family members are dead. At the time of the earthquake when bodies were buried under rubble, the need for such proofs was waived. This is what should be done in the present cases also.

As far as the running of the camps is concerned, according to the report of an NGO, the Gujarat High Court has given a stay on the closure of the camps by June 30. However, everywhere the team was told that, whether in Ahmedabad or in rural areas, even the meagre supplies of foodgrains and of the dole of Rs 7 per family had been stopped since the last week of May. Since each camp has not less than 800 to 1000 people and the number is as high as to as many as 10,000 inmates as in the case of Shah Alam Camp, the stoppage of help is virtually imposing a starvation regime. The day the team visited Shah Alam camp, it was informed by the organisers that the government had been informed that it was no longer possible to run the camp and that therefore the government should take it over. The main reason is the refusal of the government to provide the minimum supplies and to accuse the organisers of inflating the number of inmates in the camps.

The Left Front team also came to know that the government surveys of the camps are conducted at a time when most of the male members are out, and their absence is taken as their non-existence. The situation in the rural camps is even worse than in Ahmedabad. Many of the camps are being run in schools. With the scheduled reopening of the schools therefore, the camps will have to be shifted to tents. The current heat wave in Gujarat makes it almost impossible to stay in the open tents. The fear is that the coming monsoons will make things even more difficult. The immediate need is to ensure that the supplies to the camps continue and that the government takes responsibility of properly maintaining the camps until there is security for the inmates to return home or until the government makes alternative arrangements.

As is recognised, the carnage has broken the economic spine of the community. However, even efforts to rebuild their businesses are being thwarted. All those affected who require loans should be granted the same on easy conditions by the banks.

In Sabarknatha district, the Left Front team was given a list of 105 Muslim primary school teachers, 70 of them women, who are being asked to join schools in areas which have seen terrible cases of atrocities. They have been asked to resign if they are scared to go to the schools allotted to them. Clearly, this is a move to drive them out of their government employment. In most of the areas, the large majority of people the team met were women and children. The team met five orphan children --- four in Sabarkantha and one in Ahmedabad --- whose parents were killed before their eyes. The plight of the widows is desperate as most of them are unable to go home and are somehow managing in the camps. The team therefore demanded that arrangements for urgent and special rehabilitation for the widows must be made. It will be recalled that at the time of the anti-Sikh riots, such a rehabilitation programme was started by the central government for the widows in Delhi and it included the provision of housing as well.