Background

Background

On February 27, 2002, the Sabarmati Express, a train bound for Ahmedabad,[6] was carrying kar sevaks (pilgrims, religious workers) from Ayodhya to Gujarat.[7] The kar sevaks traveled to aid in the construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya. In 1992, a mob of Hindu militants demolished the Babri Masjid (mosque) in Ayodhya, built in the 16th century, instigating rioting that spread to other parts of the country, and resulted in the death of more than 2,000 people, again mostly Muslims.[8]

They declared that they would build a temple to Ram at the site, in supposed retribution for the Muslim invasion of certain spaces in what is today, centuries later, the nation-state of India.[9] The train stopped at Godhra, a town in Panchmahal district in Gujarat with a history of communal[10] tension. During the stop, a fire broke out in Coach S-6 of the Sabarmati Express, which resulted in the death of 59 people. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders belonging to the network of Hindu nationalist organizations collectively known as the Sangh Parivar (or ‘Sangh’)[11] alleged that the Godhra tragedy had been a pre-planned Muslim conspiracy to attack Hindus, subvert the state, and damage the economy. In addition, Modi "further sought to stoke religious passions of the majority Hindu community by taking the decision to bring the charred remains of the victims of the tragedy to Ahmedabad in a public ceremony intended to arouse passions.”[12] Hindutva[13] groups also alleged that Hindu women had been violated in the attack.[14]