NCM sets up inquiry panel into Gujarat riots

Besides a meeting with the Chief Minister, Minister of State for Backward Classes Gabhaji Thakore, Minister of State for Home Haren Pandya, Chief Secretary L N S Mukundan and officials, the three members separately met Patel for over 15 minutes.

While what exactly transpired between them during the in-camera meeting was not known, sources said the NCM expressed concern over the recent violence, especially in Surat. The members urged that the state government initiate concrete measures to ensure communal peace in the diamond city.

The commission members reportedly said they had received many complaints from Surat about persecution of Muslims, with charges that the police had connived with the attackers in certain cases. Even during the earlier meeting with ministers and officials, the focus of the commission members was largely on Surat.

The Chief Minister later told reporters that the government assured the NCM that it would look into all the complaints received by them. Patel said, “We expressed our eagerness to create an atmosphere of communal amity and remove wherever there is bitterness among communities.”

He added that the government would check the veracity of the complaints. A source in the Home Department said the Chief Minister had also told the delegation that the government had not shown any bias against the minorities. Against 24 Muslims arrested in Surat, the police had arrested 187 Hindus.

However, at the press conference later, Pandya denied that the commission had charged the government with adopting a partisan attitude.