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'No delay in calling Army…': Shah defends Modi over Gujarat riots
“The primary reason for these riots was the Godhra train burning. Fifty nine people died in the train incident. I saw a 16-day-old child, sitting on her mother's lap being set on fire. I carried out the cremation with my own hands. The riots in the state started because of this incident," Union home minister Amit Shah told news agency ANI.
Union home minister Amit Shah said on Saturday that the primary reason behind the 2002 Gujarat riots was the Godhra train burning incident.
In an interview with news agency ANI, Shah said, “The primary reason for these riots was the Godhra train burning. Fifty nine people died in the train incident. I saw a 16-day-old child, sitting on her mother's lap being set on fire. I carried out the cremation with my own hands. The riots in the state started because of this incident.”
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Shah pointed out that the post-Godhra riots were politically motivated. “The agitation against reservation was converted into riots,” he added.
The Union home minister also told ANI that no parade of the bodies of the Godhra incident was done. “The bodies were taken to the civil hospital and were then taken by families back home in closed ambulances. I was there at the hospital,” Shah further said.
Shah's comments come a day after the Supreme Court dismissed the plea filed by Zakia Jafri, widow of slain former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, challenging the clean chit given by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to Narendra Modi (then Gujarat chief minister) and several others in 2002 riots.
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Ehsan Jafri was among the 69 people massacred at Ahmedabad’s Gulbarga Society during the riots.
Shah also said that the then Gujarat government did not delay in calling the army to quell the riots.
"The Gujarat government did not delay in anything. When the Gujarat Bandh was declared, we called the Army. The Army needed some time to reach. There was not even a day's delay by the Gujarat government and this was also appreciated by the court," Shah added.
“The state government made all the efforts to control the Gujarat riots and had taken the right decisions at the right time. The Supreme Court also said that the state government had controlled the situation with less damage,” the Union home minister also said.
