Godhra was clearly a  planned, unprovoked attack. It is impossible for it to have been the result of petty quarrels at the Godhra railway station. Vir Sanghvi has already seen it in his article. As he says, slogans shouted from a moving train or a railway platform cannot enrage local Muslims, and 2,000 Muslims cannot assemble at the railway station in 5 minutes time already having managed to procure petrol bombs and acid bombs. And the time was also 8 AM in the morning. As a proof of the fact that Godhra was planned, some 140 liters of petrol was bought in cans a day before the massacre. The following things reported by VSK Gujarat should also be noted:

“There are several reasons to believe that this was a pre-planned conspiracy as could be seen from the following facts:

1. Travelers of a particular religion were asked to get down at the previous station of Dahod.
2. The patients of a particular community were discharged from the civilhospital of Godhra one day before 27^th. Not a single case from a particular community was registered on 27th Feb.
3. Not a single student or a teacher of a particular community was present in the schools of Godhra on 27th Feb.
4. It clearly shows that not only it was a pre-planned attack but many others were aware that something is likely to happen on that day.”

(Source: VSK, Gujarat). Note that this is not independently verified by us, but we are simply quoting what VSK Gujarat reported.

   It is impossible for Godhra to have occurred on the spur of the moment. Weeklies like India Today gave imaginary provocations with graphics. But all these people forgot one thing. For the train to have been attacked, the attackers (Muslim) had to surround in on at least two sides.If it was on the spur of the moment, it would have been very difficult for the Muslims to surround the train on both sides.How could at least a 500 Muslims reach the other side of the train? If that was the case, then the karsevaks would have ran out of the train and saved their lives, by running from the second side before Muslims reached there. In any case, all these provocations are purely fabricated and a figment of imagination.

   The media wanted to believe and wanted all of us to believe that Godhra which was done in broad daylight in full public glare was the result of a provocation and thus rationalize or partially justify it. Something which was done with absolutely no provocation and full planning was rationalized.

   And when the things were really a result of provocation, the media just ignored it. The post-Godhra riots were reported completely ignoring Godhra. At that time, the Godhra attack faded into the background and the Hindu retaliation of the first three days was decried. And even after so many years, whenever the post-Godhra riots are mentioned, Godhra is completely ignored and it is made to sound as if the BJP government of the state indulged in ruthless, unprovoked killings of Muslims in alliance with the VHP and the Bajrang Dal.

    The big ‘provocation’ which was far more than a provocation but the cause of the retaliation by the Hindus in the first three days was completely ignored and the subsequent riots were reporetd, that too completely one-sided and magnified and inflated.

    Vir Sanghvi really gave the game up when he said, “ If you report the truth then you will inflame Hindu sentiments and this would be irresponsible. And so on.”  That is to say, Vir Sanghvi admitted that the ‘secularists’ utter ‘white lies’ no matter what interest in mind. They lied not only during Godhra but also for some 3 months after Godhra. They also did so during the Gujarat Assembly elections of December 2002 and continue to do so today. In fact they have repeated their lies so often that by now they themselves may have started believing their concocted lies themselves.

   On 27 February 2002 senior Congress leader and former Gujarat Chief Minister Amarsinh Chaudhary came on TV at night and while condemning the attack, also blamed karsevaks for provoking it. (Again following Vir Sanghvi’s observation- Basically they condemn the crime, but blame the victims)

   The RSS weekly Organiser reported the incident in its issue dated 10^th March 2002, which covered events till 27^th February. India Today, also a weekly in its issue of 11^th March 2002 covered events till February 28. While reporting on this issue, Organiser also reported in a news item : “RSS condemns the killings and calls for restraint”and this report carries the statement of RSS Joint General Secretary Madan Das Devi that RSS urges Hindu society to exercise restraint after the Godhra attack. RSS had asked the Hindu society to observe restraint after Godhra even before the riots had started.

   India Today weekly dated 11 March 2002 carrying events till 28 February 2002 reports on the last page of the cover story,

   “The mood in the state is militant. A procession of 10,000 marched with the bodies of 11 people from Ramod village near Ahmedabad who had died in the train. They were shouting slogans like-‘Tumhari shahidi bekar nahi jayegi, Mandir bana kar hi rahenge’ (Your sacrifice will not go in vain, we will build the temple)…This incident drew mixed reactions from the Congress, the main Opposition in the party in the state. While senior party leader Amarsinh Chaudhary condemned the attack, he also blamed Ram sevaks for provoking the incident. Senior AICC member Ahmed Patel condemned it strongly. They will have time to react. The bloody cycle of violence so familiar with Gujarat may just have begun.”

   So India Todayknew on February 28 itself that a bloody cycle of violence had begun in Gujarat and could continue in Gujarat for several days. But in fact, it stopped only after 3 days, though petty and stray rioting continued subsequently in Ahmedabad, Vadodara and some places near Godhra.

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