‘We don’t play politics with reports of Commissions. Otherwise, we would have dismissed Modi Govt’

• The timing of the report was rather suspicious. Did the Centre discuss the pros and cons of bringing Godhra to the frontburner just before the Assembly elections? What happened between Banerjee seeking a three-month extension and January 2005 for this sudden change of heart?
Sanjay Mishra

I can assure you that the timing of the report is not suspicious. I will explain why. It is because the judge’s report is not election-oriented. The terms of reference of the Commission cannot be challenged, neither can we cast aspersions on the Commission and why its term was extended. The extension was as a matter of routine. The mandate of the Justice Banerjee Commission was to get behind the truth of the Sabarmati incident. Now it has categorically said that the fire inside the train was triggered from inside, not outside. So there were no attackers from outside, as wrongly claimed by the Gujarat Government.

• With the BJP pointing fingers at Banerjee and questions being raised about the manner in which the probe was hurriedly wrapped up, do you think it has the potential to add further turmoil to an already troubled state? What was the thinking in the Union Government behind setting up a Godhra commission of inquiry when another committee was already probing the entire affair?
Shivani Sinha

The fact of the matter is that the Banerjee Commission report is not a politically motivitated report. Let us first be clear on this aspect. It puts everything in a perspective about the Sabarmati incident. It is a real report, a revealing one at that. Also, we must remember that the system of setting up inquiry commissions is a well-established practice in India. It has been in vogue from prior to independence. The BJP Government has set up commissions of inquiry. Will the BJP then start doubting the reports of those inquiry commissions set up by it? The BJP has no right to comment on the issue. The report has no relevance to elections in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand. So the Banerjee Commission will not become a political tool.

• You were considered a prominent Modi adversary. But before the riots and later, the Congress was comatose in Gujarat. Two years down the line, you shrugged off the responsibilities of the state in favour of a Union ministerial berth. Do you feel you have done enough in the aftermath of what was one of the worst phases in the state’s history? Or are you just a politician who knows which side his bread is buttered?
Gaurav Dua

I am not a political opponent of Narendra Modi, but I definitely oppose the government in Gujarat. It is a government that has practised criminalisation of politics. The BJP is not doing the right thing in Gujarat. We will do everything it takes to bring the Congress back in government in Gujarat. We are working actively today in that direction, we will continue to do so in future.

• Why was the Congress sleeping when Gujarat was burning? Yours was the main Opposition party, both in Gujarat and at the Centre, but still didn’t do enough to end the pogrom.
Pranav Sachdeva

We are not a prejudiced government at the Centre, we do not play politics with Commission reports. Otherwise, we would have dismissed the BJP government in Gujarat many months ago by calling President’s Rule.We are in politics to serve the people, work for the public cause. Let me tell you that during the carnage, it was because of the Congress that many innocent lives in Gujarat were saved. Our workers helped save lives, the BJP did just the opposite, spreading mayhem, terror and violence. To use a term in Hindi, the carnage was like ‘‘roti sekna’’ before the elections for the BJP. If the law and order system in Gujarat did not completely collapse, it was because of the concerted and genuine efforts of Congress MPs and MLAs.

• How does it feel for the ‘Bapu’ politician from Gujarat, who once proudly called his people his true high command, to find himself now accepting the enslavement of and bowing before the dynastic high command in the Congress?
Sanjay M Tirdiya

I am a political worker and a political leader. For me, the public is the high command. The public, in fact, is the high command for every leader, whether it is Atal Behari Vajpayee, Sonia Gandhi or Manmohan Singh.