Facts behind Godhra Massacre

 In the early morning hours of February 27 in 2002, a tightly packed Sabarmati Express reached Godhra station four hours behind schedule. The overcrowded train included Hindu pilgrims who were on their way back from Ayodhya in north India.

The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) which is an offshoot of RSS and works for protection of Hindus had been organizing groups of agitated travelers to Ayodhya. The extremists were armed with tridents (trishul), the sharp tip of a three-pronged lance and symbol of deity Shiva. Aided by Bajrang Dal, its militant youth wing, the VHP planned a shila puja, a worship ritual (also called a mahayagna, grand sacrifice), in which bricks for temple construction in Ayodhya were consecrated. On the railway platform of Godhra station where train had stopped, Muslim vendors had set up their shops. Young Hindu men who had purchased items from the vendors refused to pay for what they consumed. According to some eyewitnesses, a Muslim woman was molested and there was the attempt to drag her into one of the bogies.

The ‘karsevaks’ then chanted slogans and taunted the vendors by pulling on their beards and forcing them to say “Jay Shri Ram” (“Hail Lord Ram”). Such scuffles had been reported for several days wherever karsevaks (activists for temple construction) passed through.  Few minutes later, after leaving the station, the train halted to let passengers who had been left behind board. Then again, just moments later, the train mysteriously stopped a second time, a kilometer away from the station. After being heavily stoned by residents of the nearby slum of Signal Falia, home to the Ghanchi community situated along the tracks, 59 passengers of coach S6 were killed when two bogies (railway wagons) of the train ignited in a raging, ghastly fire, trapping its victims (Punwani 2002a: 3–35; 2002b: 45–74).

After the incident, the Nanavati commission of inquiry (NCI) instated soon after the Gujarat pogrom declared that the fire in the train bogies was a premeditated act by Muslim conspirators. But the Banerjee commission instated in 2004 called the incident an accident. Soon after the Godhra incident, the Gujarat govt led by Narendra Modi released a VCD in India Today in which it announced to avenge the killings through a ‘Trial by Fire’. This is how the state sponsored genocide began in which more than 2000 Muslims lost their lives.

Reference: 

‘Pogrom in Gujarat: Hindu Nationalism and Anti-Muslim Violence in India’ by Parvis Ghassem-Fachandi'