Letter to Congress Workers

I am greatly pained to see the fire of hatred and violence in Gujarat. Is it the same Gujarat which has given a message of love and non-violence to the world? Is it the same Gujarat which has establised a new example of progress and development? It is a matter of regret that today some people want to convert Gandhiji’s Gujarat into Godse’s Gujarat.

About two months ago what happened in Godhra was not just the murder of some people, but of the humanity. I was the first to condemn that extreme madness. Whatever happened in Godhra was an attack on the whole society, an attack on our culture and heritage. People who indulged in such crimes should have no place in society. But the happening of the past two months in Gujarat, following the Godhra atrocity, is not the handiwork of humans but of Satans. A criminal is a criminal. Criminals and law-breakers don’t have any religion, they don’t have a conscience. Those who are the enemies of humanity are the enemies of religion too. None of the religions permits to put society on fire, none of the religions pleads for atrocity and barbarism, none of the religions praise killing of the innocents. Our freedom fighters, martyrs and Gandhiji had not laid down their lives for this kind of society. You all know that Indiraji and Rajivji too laid down their lives for the unity of the country and society.

Today, to pursue their communal politics the power-traders have pushed this great state into the fire of hatred and violence. Those who have targetted the innocent people are not only the enemies of society, but of the nation, they are enemies of Indian tradition and culture. It is a matter of deep regret that the government machinery has also been affected by this poison. If there was a will the government could have stopped the riots. But they don’t want to, because their eyes are on the forthcoming elections. According to the government the death toll has reached around one thousand including children, women and old people. The situation would have been far more dangerous, if the Congress party had not raised its voice strongly all over India against this hatred and violence.

I know that in the last few years people got nothing except pain and suffering from the BJP governments in the State and the Centre. The truth is that Gujarat has fallen back several years in terms of development. How can one tolerate this situation? We have demanded the removal of Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the first step towards restoring normalcy in Gujarat. People have lost faith in him. His continuance is an afront to the sentiments of the people all over the country. The enthusiastic response to our party’s campaign against violence in Gujarat and for the removal of Modi shows that the nation is behind us in our demands. We will discuss this and other issues threadbare and evolve strategies to fulfil our commitment to the people at the forthcoming AICC session.