Spare innocents: RSS mouthpiece slams Gujarat revenge killing

RSS leaders had, in all subsequent public comments, termed the Gujarat killings unfortunate, but emphasised it started with the Godhra attack. PM A.B. Vajpayee too had said at a public meeting at Panaji on April 12 that the riots could have been avoided had ‘‘karsevaks’’ not been charred at Godhra through a conspiracy.

The Panchjanya, however, said: ‘‘Those who are trying to justify Godhra or Gujarat violence, one way or the other, are neither doing any good to the Indian civilisation, nor Hindutva, nor society. ‘‘Whatever the provocation, the Hindu cannot stain his hands with the blood of the the innocent…we have to remember Shivaji had exclaimed on seeing a beautiful Muslim woman won as a war booty: ‘I wish my mother was as beautiful as you.’ Then he restored the woman to her family with honour. This Hindu character is our path.’’