Delhi’s inquiry on Gujarat riot attacked by BJP

India’s opposition Hindu nationalist BJP on Tuesday called the Congress-led government “an affront to civilised society” over its release of an inquiry absolving Muslims of blame over the burning of 58 Hindu train passengers in the state of Gujarat in 2002.

The report, released on Monday and compiled by U.C. Banerjee, a retired judge appointed by the new government in September, said the fire was accidental and there was no evidence to back up the original theory that it had been a planned arson attack by Muslim extremists.

The incident, which took place in the town of Godhra in the BJP-governed state of Gujarat, was followed by some of the worst communal violence in years, in which up to 2,000 mostly Muslim Gujaratis lost their lives.

Arun Jaitley, general secretary of the BJP, on Tuesday accused Lalu Yadav, India’s minister for railways, who commissioned the Banerjee inquiry, of indulging in “low politics”. Mr Yadav, whose wife, Rabri Devi, is chief minister of Bihar, India’s poorest state, is head of the second largest party in India’s multi-party coalition. Bihar faces critical assembly polls next month.

The BJP, which has suffered bitter internal divisions since its surprise defeat in national polls last May, alleges Mr Yadav set biased parameters for the inquiry with a view to consolidating Muslim support for his party in Bihar next month.

“Our dispute is with both the content and the timing of the report,” Mr Jaitley told the Financial Times. “The inquiry has no jurisdiction since the judge was selected by the cabinet and not by the Supreme Court. And the content is blatantly biased with a view to the Bihar elections next month.”

However, an independent group of engineers on Tuesday corroborated the Banerjee findings saying there was no evidence to show the fire had been caused externally.

According to Hazards Centre, the Delhi-based non-governmental organisation, the fire was started inside the train compartment by cooking or cigarettes.

Both inquiries are harshly critical of Nitish Kumar, a Bihar-based opponent of Mr Yadav, who was railways minister in 2002, for failing to visit the site of the incident. Mr Kumar leads the Samata (socialist) party which is running against Mr Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar next month.

The Samata party is an ally of the BJP. Last October - almost two years after the Gujarat killings - Samata condemned the Gujarat riots.

“The implication is that Mr Kumar completely failed in his duty as minister for railways,” said Mahesh Rangarajan, a political analyst. “Any Muslim who might have contemplated voting for Nitish Kumar would certainly think twice now.”

Narendra Modi, the controversial chief minister of Gujarat, who alleges the Godhra incident was caused by Islamists working in league with Pakistan’s intelligence agency, has yet to respond to the inquiry.

“There is some apprehension here,” said Hanif Lakdawala, a critic of Mr Modi, based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat’s commercial capital. “The fear is Mr Modi could exploit this to shore up the traditional BJP rallying cry of ‘damaged Hindu pride’.”