Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Facts are sacred

This refers to the editorial "Facts are sacred" (March 7). Accidents are inevitable and can neither be prevented nor anticipated. But there is always a cause for an accident. The U.C. Banerjee Committee appointed by the Railway Ministry did not specify what triggered the fire in which 59 persons travelling in the S6 coach of the Sabarmati Express were killed. The fact that the Government felt compelled to appoint a commission when another was already on the job shows its move was motivated.

Pratibha Srivatsan,
Bangalore

The committee has categorically stated that the fire was an accident. The conspiracy theory, it is clear, was the canard spread by the Sangh Parivar against Muslims to target them. The panel's terms of reference should be widened to fix responsibility on all those who actively participated in or encouraged the gory killings. Only then will the Indian state be able to wipe the stigma of the outrageous pogrom.

Shahabuddin Nadeem,
Bangalore

Unless we acknowledge the gruesome nature of the Godhra carnage, we will keep the communal cauldron simmering.

Shalivahan Sharangpani,
Boston, Massachusetts

The media should not compare the findings of two independent inquiry commissions and pit one set against the other. It must be acknowledged that the judiciary is still independent and forthright and that the appointment of (retired) judges to such commissions is purely on the recommendation of the higher judiciary.

R.P. Mehrotra,
New Delhi

The Justice Banerjee panel's finding not only lacks credibility but is a cruel joke perpetrated on the memory of the victims as well as those who barely survived the tragedy. The report does not take cognisance of facts contained in the FIR. It ignores the eyewitness accounts of those who were lucky to escape. It disregards the fact that many who plotted the Godhra killings have been arrested. Finally, it has no convincing answer for the question: How did the coach catch fire?

J.S. Acharya,
Hyderabad

Both the Godhra train tragedy and the riots that followed were unfortunate and a shame on the secular fabric of our country. No doubt facts are sacred. But the nation wants to know the facts without any political motives behind them.

K.P. Ashok Kumar,
Thiruvananthapuram

Whatever the charges against the Gujarat Government, it would be facile to go by the Banerjee Committee report. The last word on this matter has not been said.

S. Thyagarajan,
Chennai

The contents of the report were a foregone conclusion. When the Gujarat Government had already appointed the Nanavati-Shah Commission to probe the incident, what was the need for a parallel inquiry by the Banerjee panel? It is ridiculous to suggest that the people in the S-6 coach were somehow responsible for the fire that killed them.

N. Yateesh Parikshit,
Guntur, A.P.

This refers to the demand that Narendra Modi resign in the light of the findings. Just as the conspiracy theory in the Godhra incident needs to be substantiated, Mr. Modi's alleged complicity in the post-Godhra riots needs to be proved beyond doubt. If politicians have to resign for indictment by commissions and courts, we will have very few of them left to rule.

B. Ramabhoopathy,
Sriharikota, A.P.

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