Click to play videoNew Delhi: Five years on - politics continues to prey upon the dead bodies of victims of the communal riots in Gujarat in 2002.
This time the UPA Government's decision to pay Rs 106 crore compensation to nearly 4000 victims has come under attack from the Opposition.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, under whose regime the riots took place, demanded compensation to victims of all communal violence since 1984.
Modi said, “The state government demands that the federal government should compensate the victims of all the riots in Gujarat that happened after 1984."
The compensation package includes - a payment of Rs 3.5 lakh each to the next of kin of 1,169 persons who died, Rs.1.25 lakh each for the 2,548 injured people. Additionally, children and family members of those who died in the riots will be given preference in the recruitment in paramilitary forces, State police, and public sector undertakings.
The central Government's decision to give compensation to victims of the Gujarat riot has sparked off a political controversy with the Opposition alleging that the move is a ploy to appease the Muslim community before the Uttar Pradesh elections.
And to complicate matters, the UPA Government is not ready to label this as a benchmark for times to come.
Union Home Ministry Joint Secretary B Bhamathi said, “Gujarat is a stand-alone case and we don't have any other proposal at present."
"It is all about vote-bank politics. They only want to attract Muslims and consolidate their votes. They don't want to build the country; they only want to form their government, " BJP President Rajnath Singh said.
Only once under Supreme Court orders such a compensation package was paid to victims of 1984 anti-SIkh riots but with the central Government's insistence that this is a one-off effort, the move will be seen as politically motivated.
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