Acclaimed writer and social activist Mahasweta Devi who tied today, July 28, at the age of 90 was among the first voices of sanity and anguish when the Gujarat massacres shocked the nation in 2002. She had been admitted to the hospital in Kolkatta with age-related ailments and her condition had been critical
Mahasweta Devi’s was Among the First Voices to Appeal to President Narayan on the Gujarat 2002 Massacres. India was under NDA I rule at the time. Protect People in Gujarat, eminent writer Mahashweta Devi had pleaded with Indian President Narayanan expressing her anguish on March 2, 2002, three days after the Godhra incident when the western Indian stated had been racked by motivated and planned reprisal killings of the minority.
She had in that communication urged President K R Narayanan to immediately intervene to protect lives of innocent riot victims of Gujarat and prevent the violence from spreading further. In a letter to the President, the writer said she was appalled at the outburst of communal frenzy even as the Gujarat Government as well as the Centre did not take any initial action ''and are doing too little too late''.
''The carnage which has been taking place in the last few days is clearly the outcome of motivated, well-planned out and provocative actions of the so-called Sangh Parivar," she said.
Seeking the President's intervention ''at this hour of national shame with whatever forces you can muster and put an immediate halt to this needless waste of human life and help restore sanity'', Mahasweta Devi said she was deeply disturbed and concerned at the sequence of events taking place in Gujarat.
''The people who perpetrated heinous vandalism in Ayodhya in December 1992 and stoked communal flames are again at their game for the last few months. We know the pattern. We even know the remedy. The trouble is a complete lack of political will to put a stop this kind of madness'', she said.
The writer said while stern legal action should be taken against those who killed Kar Sevaks in Godhra, similar action should be taken against those indulging in arson and bloodbath in other parts of Gujarat and elsewhere.
The author who was also a Magsaysay award winner was also lead petitioner who approached the Supreme Court of Indian in Writ Petition 530 of 2002 that had sought many reliefs including asking for an independent commissioner to monitor the investigations. The CJP-led petition, DN Pathak and Others versus state of Gujarat filed on May 2, 2002 had also asked for the same reliefs.