Centre mum on Godhra letters

In a significant development the Central government today refused to divulge the contents of the letters between former President K R Narayanan and the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to the Nanavati-Shah Commission investigating the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat in 2002.

In a letter written to the two-member commission probing the Sabarmati train carnage and its aftermath, the Congress-led UPA government refused to send the letters to the commission saying it was part of the official communication between the former president and the then prime minister.

"The contents of their communication cannot be made public property," the letter, handed over to the commission by the under secretary to the Union government Jugal Kishore, said.

S K Sinha, who is representing a section of the families affected in the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat in 2002, felt the letters written by Narayanan to Vajpayee contained crucial details about troop deployment during 2002 riots letters also came into public prominence after an interview granted by the former president to a Malayalam language publication in which, he stated that he had asked former Prime Minister Vajpayee to deal with the riots more firmly.

It was in fact after this, that families of the victims made an appeal that the letters be submitted to the commission. The commission had time and again requested Rashtrapati Bhavan to send copies of the letters to the commission, but the President's office had cited 'privilege' and refused to part with the concerned documents.

During the last hearing, Rashtrapati Bhavan sought two weeks' time to send a response to the commission regarding the letters and said that it was consulting the Union government.

The Modi government has been accused of encouraging rioters to run amuck in minority dominated areas.

The Supreme Court in fact has ruled that all cases related to post Godhra riots be tried outside Gujarat to uphold legal probity. The Government decision to reject the commission's request is aimed at protecting communication between Rashtrapati Bhavan and 7, Race Course Road.