By Rafat Nayeem Quadri for TwoCircles.net,
Ahmedabad: February 27-28 mark ten years since the tragic death of 59 persons in a fire in a coach of the Sabarmati Express near Godhra railway station and the criminal manipulation of this tragic incident.
For Commemoration, on February 27 2012 thousands of survivors of the mass crime together with lawyers, jurists, activists, artists, artistes and intellectuals from all over the country are going to assemble at the Gulberg Society in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
File picture of Gulberg society which was worst affected by the post-Godhra riots
Through words and images, reminiscences and video clips, photographs and digital installations, a wailing wall in a memory of missing persons, acknowledgements to those who risked their lives to save others and to those who joined the struggle for justice, with music and tears, the crimes against humanity will be recalled and the plight of the traumatized and the displaced highlighted.
Survivors from the Gulberg society will lead the assembled people through the housing colony and recount the horrors of February 28,2002.
A collective resolve will be renewed to continue the struggle for justice for the survivors and punishment to the perpetrators and masterminds of the carnage. Saviours, those who swam against the tide of hatred to give succor and save lives will be especially remembered…their conversations relayed live.
A unique concert, Music in Memorium will be the finale of the live memorial, performed by Shubha Mudgal (vocal), Aneesh Pradhan (tabla) and Sudhir Nayak (harmonium).
The entire programme at Gulberg Society symbolizing the holocaust in Guajrat, will be webcast live and posted on YouTube subsequently so that we remember and never forget.
File picture of Gulberg society which was worst affected by the post-Godhra riots
The URL for the webcast will be available on www.cjponline.org and www.sabrang.com from February 27. Secular and minority rights activists and groups in Ayodhya-Faizabad, Aligarh, Malegaon, Lucknow, Madurai, Calicut, Mumbai and Delhi will also be having commemorations at aroud the same time.
On this eve, the Communalism Combat has brought out an impressive and exemplary issue of the journal. For which Shiv Visvanathan the Social Science Nomad, Tridip Suhrud Social Scientist, Chinar Shah Photographer, Binita Desai the Designer and photographer, Rajendra Prasad of Sahmat NGO, Swaroop Dhruv the poetess of sensitivity, Usman Ali the translator, Co-editors of the Communalism Combat, Javed Anand and Teesta Setalvad (also the head of Citizens of Peace and Justice) have rendered their skills and services.
(Rafat Nayeem Quadri is Editor, BILKUL, First English Fortnightly of Gujarat. She can be contacted at: 90999 27424 and [email protected])