Friday, September 5:
Unruly mobs go on a rampage in the Polan Bazar area of Godhra. Even BJP MLA
Haresh Bhatt could not pacify the rioters and was heckled.
Tuesday, September 9:
Presence of Vadodara Mayor N V Patel, MLA Bhupendra Lakhawala and Lok Sabha
member Jayaben Thakkar was of little help in controlling the mobs. Patel's
official car was targeted by the rioters and was badly damaged.
VADODARA: The presence of
leaders elected by people seems to have come of little help when mobs went on a
rampage during Ganesh immersions in Godhra and Vadodara. The very persons, whom
people elected to represent themselves, found themselves at the receiving end.
Participants in the Ganesh procession
at Godhra asked Bhatt some tough questions about his claims to turn certain
minority areas into play grounds. Miscreants present in the mob did not pay
heed when Bhatt asked them to remain calm. Bhatt claimed that he even entered
the minority areas and appealed for silence.
However, all that seemed to help
little and only police action quelled the rioting.
Thakkar had gone to the extent
of making requests to people from a public address system. All her attempts to
convince people seemed to bear no fruit as mob violence continued till late on
Tuesday.
Patel had also tried to cool
tempers, but ended up finding out that rioters had damaged his car.
Highly placed sources in the
city police said those participating in the immersion processions had damaged
Patel's car. "There is no chance that someone else could have done
this," said an official. Bhatt on his part blamed the police for the mood
of the mob and the fact that people were critical of him.
"The one-sided police
action had led to the state of affairs. People are speaking things against me
as they are in a bad mood now. Later, they will remain with me," Bhatt had
said on the day after the rioting.
He had also denied claims that
he had promised to make some minority areas into play grounds.
MLA from Wadi constituency in
Vadodara Bhupendra Lakhawala was also a witness to the violence. Commenting on
the failure of leaders to control the public, he said, "Never in the
history of riots has a leader managed to control the mobs. People in a large crowd
tend to think differently and are very difficult to control. It would be wrong
to blame the leaders."
Commenting on the issue,
professor in the sociology department of M S University, N Rajaram said,
"There is a fair degree of possibility that a majority of people are drunk
in such processions.
In such a scenario, they give
vent to a lot of pent up feelings and may not listen to anyone. Besides, the
kind of support and following a leader has is also a vital factor in his
attempt to convince people."