In his makeshift office at a construction site near Sarkhej, Firoz Gulzar is glued to the portable black-and-white TV in front of him as the drama unfolds in Parliament over the 1984 riots report. BJP president L.K. Advani is asking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to find out who organised the anti-Sikh carnage, why the Army was deployed late and why police did not take any action. ‘‘Can you believe it?’’ asks Gulzar. ‘‘The BJP is asking all these questions. Have they asked themselves the same questions in Gujarat? They seem to have forgotten all about Gujarat riots. This is a farce.’’ For the BJP, which is trying to pin down the Congress in Parliament over the 1984 anti-Sikh riot report from the Nanavati commission, here’s a reminder from Gujarat: many victims of the 2002 riots in Gujarat have deposed before a inquiry commission headed by the same Nanavati and named BJP and VHP leaders as having led the mobs. ‘‘The Congress is wrong in trashing the report and giving a clean chit to its accused leaders. But the BJP is in no position to preach. There is so much evidence against its own leaders in Gujarat riots. Has the Modi government arrested them? Even petty leaders are roaming free. They don’t fear police,’’ says Gulzar who deposed before the commission. Riot victims feel the BJP government in Gujarat has not made any efforts to trace and arrest the culprits even after reminders from the Supreme Court. The say the government is even trying to steer and influence the inquiry committee. ‘‘Does the BJP have a stand on this issue? Do they have the moral right to protest like this?’’ asks Zakia Jafri, ailing widow of former MP Ehsan Jafri, who was killed in the Gulbarg Society massacre. Says Jafri, who has deposed before the riots commission in Ahmedabad, ‘‘The BJP is stalling Parliament over the 1984 report. But look at what their own government is doing in Gujarat. Aren’t they protecting and harbouring the riot accused in spite of clear evidence and witnesses giving names? This is the BJP’s hypocrisy. If it wants the Congress to take action against its partymen, why doesn’t the BJP do the same?’’ Many of the victims who deposed before Nanavati in Gujarat say they are outraged. ‘‘Can you believe what they are saying?’’ says Abdul Majid, who lost his wife, three sons, and a daughter in the Naroda Patiya massacre. ‘‘We have given the names of BJP and VHP leaders who led the mob. I have handed a tape to the riots commission giving their names. Has the BJP government done anything to arrest them? If this riots commission names some BJP leaders, what will the BJP do?’’ Some survivors are cynical. ‘‘The Congress is giving a clean chit to its leaders accused in the riots. the BJP has already done that in Gujarat. As Prime Minister, did Vajpayee ask Modi to resign?’’ says Usmanbhai Jamal, who survived a massacre in Visnagar, Mehsana district, and now runs a tea stall in a rehabilitation colony in Satnagar. Abdulbhai Ghadiyali, a riot victim who lost five family members in the post-Godhra violence in the Bapunagar area of Ahmedabad, says, ‘‘What justice is BJP demanding? I have given to the commission the names of those who led the mobs in Bapunagar. I have named those who opened fire on us. All of them are roaming free.’’
