BJP plays majority card

Incidentally, the BJP was not included in Shah8217;s list. The police, though present in large numbers, put up little resistance to the onslaught.

8220;Why have you come to peaceful Surat instead of visiting Jammu and Kashmir, where Hindus are being slaughtered? Where were you in 1993?8221;, the saffron brigade demanded to know of the commission. 8220;Wherever the commission has gone, passions have been whipped up and riots triggered8221;, they alleged.

Even as the NMC allowed the team to make its closed-door representation, other activists thumped on the doors, demanding entry. While the mayor was permitted to sit through the entire proceedings, the Press was shown the door.

The BJP representation, which took up all of 45 minutes, reportedly included the parading8217; of three girls allegedly enticed by Muslim men.

The visiting team, comprising Rev James Massey, John Dayal, Marzban Patrawala and Yusuf Muchhala, at one point threatened to wind up the meeting if the din persisted.

While dismissing the commission as 8220;politically motivated8221;, the BJP said it was submitting the memorandum to allow the team to consider the 8220;facts8221;. It listed a number of alleged elopements involving Muslim men and Hindu women and alleged atrocities perpetrated by minorities on Harijans and submitted vernacular press clippings on unlawful activities by minorities in and around Surat.

It also named Muslim leaders, all members of the Congress, who were allegedly involved in smuggling of RDX, hand grenade and AK-47s, saying, 8220;We strongly believe that leading organisations like the VHP and the Bajrang Dal raised their voice against unlawful activities of Muslims to ensure social security. But they are being stamped as fascists.8221;

Objecting to the presence of the Mayor in the room, the Congress alleged that ever since the BJP had come to power, the RSS campaign against conversion had received a boost. 8220;The Sangh Parivar is targetting minority leaders and their religious organisations without any fear of the law and the ruling party is colluding with them8221;, its memorandum alleged.

A handful of intercommunity marriages had given the communal forces a handle to allege a conspiracy of forced marriages, the memo claimed, adding that the matter had never been placed before the people in its true perspective.

Mandvi MP Chitubhai Gamit submitted a separate memorandum citing instances of attacks on minorities and the attempts of the BJP and its allied organisations to whip up passions, especially during religious festivals. A communal angle had been given to a simple intercommunity love affair in Bardoli, he said, requesting the NMC direct the State government to ensure the safety of minorities.

Principal of St Xavier8217;s School Fr John Kappa said the present government was instilling a sense of insecurity among Muslims and Christians, and accused the district administration of being sympathetic towards the Sangh Parivar.

He attached to his memorandum a copy of a leaflet stating, O Hindus, do you want to make your children Christians by sending them to St Xavier8217;s and Lourdes High Schools?

A memorandum by Our Lady of Mount Carmel said there was a pattern in the increasing number of atrocities on minority community members: they had increased after the BJP came to power.

8220;Hindu fundamentalists look for common conflicts in which one party happens to belong to the majority community and to the another minority community; take the side of the Hindu party and law into their own hands and attack the minority community with the help of anti-socials8221;, it said, adding that false cases were also being filed in accordance with a well planned strategy.

Talking to reporters later, the team members refused to divulge their conclusions, maintaining that they would bring out a report on returning to Delhi by the end of the week. This report will be submitted to both the State and the Central governments.

Sources present during the representations told Express Newsline that the members had expressed unhappiness with the arrangements saying that they did not appear to be being taken seriously.