Commission Card

Their appearance before the Nanavati Shah Commission and their relief work is what activists-turned-candidates are wooing Muslim voters with.

If the Sabarmati carnage of 2002 was the BJP’s calling card in the 2002 assembly polls, the activists who are making their political debut in these assembly polls are talking of the Nanavati Shah Commission and their relief work to reach out to Muslim voters.

Incidentally, both the BJP and the Congress have been skirting the post-Godhra riots this time in Gujarat, invoking them only occasionally.

Mukul Sinha and a group of activists who formed the New Socialist Movement (NSM) are contesting four seats, three in Ahmedabad—taking on chief minister Narendra Modi, and state cabinet ministers Ashok Bhatt and Kaushik Patel—while Dr Maya Valecha is contesting from Sayajigunj.

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On Sunday, addressing two public meetings in Vadodara in the predominant Muslim areas of Fatehpura and later in Tandalja, Sinha said, “What the Tehelka sting expose said now, we have been saying all the time before the Nanavati Shah Commission. In fact, fresh investigations began following an affidavit filed by Amrish Patel in the Nanavati Commission.”

The Gujarat government set up the two-member commission following the 2002 riots. The retired high court judges appointed to it have been collecting evidence, and holding hearings to investigate both the Sabarmati train carnage and the riots that followed.

Mukul Sinha, a trade unionist and legal activist, has been appearing before the Nanavati Shah Commission, having submitted the telephone call records as well as applying for summons for Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Ashok Bhatt and BJP rebel Gordhan Zadaphia.

“There is no quid pro quid, but Muslims are our constituency as we have worked consistently with them in the last five years and expect their support in our political endeavour. For a change, this is a symbolic fight,” explains Sinha, who also accuses the Congress of not doing enough for the riot victims.

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Maya Valecha, the NSM candidate from Sayajigunj seat in Vadodara, meanwhile, says the real issue is of equal rights. While politicians mislead people in name of Mandir-Masjid, she says, the problems and rights of slum-dwellers and workers have been forgotten. Valecha said they had a closed door meeting with all the trade unionists in Vadodara as well.

But the activists deny that they are focusing only on Muslim areas. “We want to change the mindset of every one but it will take some time. In Ahmedabad we are going to slum areas, talking to workers and everyone,” said Sinha.

A Muslim woman in Tandalja says that while she appreciated the efforts,

“we get to hear all this during election time only. Some helped us, many did not, but all want our votes some way or the other”.