Gujarat’s SOS

this column has devoted itself to the gujarat carnage for the last three weeks and has met with three kinds of reactions. the first has been downright abusive, with letter writers calling me all kinds of names, “hindu traitor� being the most polite of them. the second has been in the form of a reasoned enquiry: why has the media written so much about the attacks on muslims in gujarat, and so little about the attack on hindus travelling in the sabarmati express at godhra? the third reaction has had nothing to do with religion. it’s come from people who have said, “we are angry, we are upset and we want to do something. what can we do?� i would like to respond to the first two sets of people (even the ones with an enviable command of four letter words), but that will have to wait till the next week. the need of gujarat’s victims is extreme and urgent and cannot wait: if anyone wants to do something for our fellow-countrymen who have undergone the worst possible trauma, the time to act is now. the first thing to do in any emergency is to send supplies and money. the question here is who to send them to? in a natural disaster, prominent newspapers and other well-known organisations raise money and set up relief funds; ngo’s also act as channels to distribute relief supplies. but in a man-made disaster of this magnitude, relief agencies aren’t exactly rushing to set up camp. however, sabrang, the agency which acted as a pressure group for the implementation of the srikrishna report after the bombay riots of 1992-1993, is setting up a cell to deal with the gujarat tragedy. like it did in the bombay riots, it plans to set up a citizens enquiry commission for gujarat, on the lines of the people’s commission comprising justice hosbet suresh and justice s m daud for mumbai. it also plans to launch five public interest litigations immediately before the supreme court and the guajrat high court. fali nariman has already agreed to argue the case before the supreme court. other initiatives are also being planned but, obviously, they cannot get anywhere without public help. contact sabrang directly on (022) 648 2288 or (022) 605 3927. or write to them at p o box 28253, juhu post office, mumbai 400409. email: sabrang@bom2.vsnl.net.in. in addition to this, there is something else you can do. all this will need is a couple of hours of your time. all of us, at some time or the other, have received a chain letter. the kind which says, copy this and send it to 10 people you know within a few days. the letter always adds that when a man in timbuctoo did this, he won lakhs in a lottery the next day, whereas the man in port blair who ignored the chain letter had the roof fall over his head. in this case, there is no prize, only possible help for someone whose roof has indeed fallen over the head. the idea of the chain letter is to replicate what is done in the most powerful democracy in the world, the united states of america, where people constantly write to politicians to redress matters. your letters should be addressed to the president of india, rashtrapati bhavan, new delhi , to the prime minister of india, prime minister of india, 7, race course, new delhi 110001, and the chief justice of the supreme court, supreme court, new delhi 110 001. what you can say is along the following lines: dear sir, we are extremely disturbed by the recent happenings in gujarat when hundreds of innocent men, women and children have been killed, maimed or injured and thousands have been made homeless and their businesses destroyed. we are distressed that the government of gujarat did not try to stop the violence, and now gives no relief to the victims. from news reports, we also learn that the gujarat government is making no effort to bring the perpetrators of the violence to justice. we appeal to you to intervene so that the relief is quickly brought to the needy and justice is quickly brought to the guilty. yours sincerely, if you send these three letters directly, and ten of your friends send them too, and then 10 each of your ten friends. delhi will have to take notice. remember that gujarat now is no longer a matter of this religion or that. it’s a question of helping human beings in deep distress. and it’s a question of restoring respect for the rule of law.