Godhra final report: CPI (M)'s stand vindicated, says Yechury

Bangalore, Mar 4 (UNI) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) today said the Banerjee Committee's final report on the Godhra incident had vindicated the party's stand that communal forces had used the incident to whip up religious passions in Gujarat and demanded the immediate resignation of its Chief Minister M Narendra Modi.

Addressing a press conference here, CPI (M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury pointed out that the Committee, appointed by the Railways to ascertain the cause of fire in the Sabarmati Express on February 27, 2002 in which 59 people lost their lives, had in its report said the fire in one of the coaches of the train was accidental and not deliberate and demanded a CBI inquiry into the conspiracy angle.

Stating that a genocide had occurred in Gujarat post-Godhra incident, he said the Committee's report had proved that the Modi Government was guilty of whipping up communal passions and causing the death of several innocents in that state.

Referring to the Mumbai special court's verdict in the Best the Best Bakery case, he said the Modi Government had no moral right to continue in office. However, the Left Parties would not urge the Centre to invoke dissolve the Gujarat government by invoking Article 356 of the Constitution, he added.

To a question, the CPI(M) leader said the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre would have to face the wrath of the Left parties, extending outside support to the Alliance, if it deviated from the National Common Minimum Programme (CMP). ''We have set a Lakshman Rekha to the UPA government in the form of the CMP and any violation will be at its own risk,'' he added.

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