It has been twenty years since 59 Hindus returning from Ayodhya after performing Karseva at the Ram Mandir were burnt alive at railway station in Godhra, Gujarat. Subsequently, riots broke out in the state, hundreds died. However, within 48 hours the army was called in and with curfew imposed, situation slowly got to normal.
Over the years, there are many, many lies that are published about the carnage and riots. All of them have been busted but they are so often repeated that some refuse to accept facts for reasons best known to them. Remember the ‘foetus ripped open and swung on a sword?’ story that invariably comes up every year and is presented as one of the most horrifying truths of Gujarat? The postmortem of the women revealed her foetus was intact. Despite doctor who performed postmortem coming on record to say it, some people refuse to acknowledge the truth.
One more such lie is that the ‘dead bodies were paraded’.
So here is what had happened. On 27th February 2002, an Islamist mob set a train on fire killing 59 people in Gujarat’s Godhra. These people were returning after pilgrimage in Ayodhya. Few hours later, when the train was leaving again, with remaining alive passengers, mob came again to kill them all. Somehow, the train left before attack could take place and those survived. From Godhra, train went to Vadodara and from there to Ahmedabad as per the route of the train.
On 28th February, 2002, during the wee hours of morning at 3:35 am, the bodies of the deceased were brought to Ahmedabad’s Sola civil hospital. Sola civil hospital is on the outskirts of the city in an isolated area. The decision to bring bodies there instead of main civil hospital in Asarwa was to avoid further escalation of communal tension. The Times of India report from that day mentions that the bodies were brought in a convoy of five trucks being piloted by a Police Gypsy.
Small bundles, bodies of children, were handed over to their relatives and the atmosphere was sad. Remains of some victims were placed on ice slabs and they were charred beyond recognition. Emotions were high, obviously, as they saw the disfigured corpses of their loved ones burnt alive. Their fault? They were Hindus on pilgrimage to Ayodhya.
Things to note here:
Bodies were brought in at 3:30 am, not during daytime. They were brought in middle of the night to avoid further escalation of tension. They had to be brought to Ahmedabad because most of the passengers were from Vadodara and Ahmedabad and surely they deserve a more dignified cremation. They were brought quietly without any ceremonial procession, so that further tension is not escalated.
That is one of the first reports on bodies being brought to Ahmedabad. Nowhere it mentions they were ‘paraded’. But eventually someone, somewhere lied, and the lie continues to shame Hindus even in their death.
No parade was done? I know his entire political career is based on falsification of facts, and they have tried to remove videos from Youtube, but this is well documented. The charred remains were handed over to the VHP and Togadia, Bajrangi, Modi made provocative speeches. https://t.co/nZwbmdVEVt
— Subir Sinha (@PoMoGandhi) June 25, 2022
One Subir Sinha, an academician based out of London, on Sunday very confidently said that the politicians tried to remove the videos from YouTube but it is ‘well documented’. He claimed the charred bodies were handed over to the VHP and provocative speeches were made. As we have seen from initial media reports, before the propaganda kicked in, the mood was sombre and bodies were handed over to relatives. In past 20 years, not a single video of ‘dead body parade’ has surfaced. Surely, someone would have evidence somewhere, since the ‘fact-checkers’ of today were busy running propaganda back then. How come they have not released any video evidence?
When someone asked Sinha if he has evidence for the claims he is making on charred bodies being paraded, he shares a link of an article where former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri’s video made the claim.
As per reports, yes:https://t.co/SQ2A12q0UI
— Subir Sinha (@PoMoGandhi) June 25, 2022
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed Zakia’s petition and accused ‘activist’ Teesta Setalvad, one of the co-petitioners, of keeping the pot boiling for years just for their political agenda. These people were playing politics over dead bodies of Hindus.
The Supreme Court has categorically rejected allegations that the post-mortem of bodies was conducted in the open in a railway yard and the bodies were paraded from Godhra to Ahmedabad and called it proof of larger conspiracy, terming them “pure conjectures and surmises” and “devoid of merits”.
So, Sinha cites a ‘source’ to prove that bodies were paraded, the source which is rejected by Supreme Court and he has no video evidence to prove.
Sinha, however, isn’t the only one.
RT "@anumayhem: Reminds me of Godhra when bodies paraded too "BJP parades ashes of Patna blast victims before Modi meets families "
— Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) November 2, 2013
Here is Washington Post columnist Rana Ayyub amplifying this falsehood. People still believe the falsehood.
Completely wrong dead bodies were taken into procession to charge the atmosphere and administration was directed to be inactive
— Md. Arshad, मो0 अरशद, محمّد ارشد, (@MdArshad1966) June 25, 2022
Here are some more.
Arent there Video Proof of all this?
— L!ve & Let L!ve (@Hr1514k) June 26, 2022
How Is He Blatantly Lying over here?
If Gujarat has No Law & Order Situation then Where was the Police?
I believe you had knew of Unrest before hand,
So why was there No Curfew when you knew there were Possibilities of Unrest? https://t.co/vTuCSHsHFE
This Twitter user is asking why was Home Minister Shah lying when there is video proof of this. I would really, really like to see the video proof of bodies being paraded.
It is truly unfortunate that not only those Hindus returning from Ayodhya were burnt alive by an Islamist mob high on revenge for demolition of disputed structure called Babri Masjid, their dead bodies were used and abused by the so-called activists to continue to further their careers.
Hindus are dispensable. But dead Hindus are kept alive and brought back from the dead and used as political pawns to set the country on fire over and over.
