New Delhi, August 9
In a precedent setting move having far reaching implications, President A P J Abdul Kalam is suo motu undertaking a day’s visit to Gujarat on August 12 and will begin his programme there by visiting Mahatma Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram near Ahmedabad.

This will be Mr Kalam’s first sojourn outside the Capital since he assumed the office of the President on July 25.

It is only by proper invitation that the President visits any state as his duties and responsibilities are necessarily with in a groove in keeping with the provisions of the Constitution. Before the Head of State formally accepts any invitation, the matter is referred to the state government concerned for its comments.

In the present instance what the Atal Behari Vajpayee government finds startling is that the President’s Secretariat has fixed Mr Kalam’s schedule of visiting Gujarat. While there is no bar on the President making trips to different parts of the country, this is the first time that an occupant of Rashtrapati Bhavan has drawn up a schedule of visiting a particular state.

That the country’s missile man as the Head of State has chosen to visit Gujarat first has led to an element of unease in the BJP-led NDA government. The Narendra Modi government is in the caretaker mould having dissolved the Assembly in the state.

Mr Kalam’s trip to Gujarat assumes significance for several reasons as well as drawing inspiration from the ideals and noble teachings of the Father of the Nation.

While in Ahmedabad and Bhuj, the President will keep his date with schoolchildren and apprise himself of the rehabilitation and other measures undertaken by the Gujarat Government and NGOs for those affected by the recent communal disturbances in the state.

He will visit the house of the late Vikram Sarabhai whom he regards as his respected guru and great visionary. He will also have an interface with intellectuals, political leaders, technologists and scientists.

Justice P.B. Sawant, who was a member of the Concerned Citizens Tribunal which enquired into the post-Godhra riots, said police officers, politicians and administrative officials who at present hold high posts in the state government had confirmed this while deposing before the tribunal.

Justice Sawant, who is a former Supreme Court Judge and also former chairman of the Press Council of India, said in an interview in the forthcoming issue of the ‘Outlook’ magazine that the report of the tribunal would be made public within a fortnight.

Mr Haren Pandya, a former minister in Mr Modi’s Cabinet, had been forced to resign following allegations that he had leaked details of the meeting held on the day of the Godhra train carnage to a journal and a citizen’s tribunal.

“I would say that we have good information from credible people that at the meeting, Mr Modi asked his officials not to come in the way of what will occur in the next few days,” Justice Sawant said.

“The implication of what he said at the meeting is without any doubt a causative factor of what happened the next day. I do not want to be more specific about the kind of people who spoke to us because I can’t risk even a small chance of letting their identities be known. But I can say that it was not just a single minister. There were other politicians, top police and administrative officials,” he said.

“In my opinion, there were two kinds of people who spoke to us: those who swam with the tide before and during the riots but felt repentant now, and those who supported the backlash but on hindsight felt the Chief Minister had gone too far,” he added.

The visit of Mr Lyngdoh and two Election Commissioners — Mr T.S. Krishnamurthy and Mr B.B. Tandon — who reached here last night, comes close on the heels of the visit by the nine-member team which toured the state last week to assess the situation for holding elections.

Mr Lyngdoh talked with inmates of the Shah-e-Alam relief camp housing about 5,000 riot victims, sources said, adding that he asked questions related to the poll process and participation of those people in the exercise.

The EC team also went to Jaltarang Society, where 11 houses were burnt, besides Gheewali Chawli, Jethabhai ni Chawli and Ghisabhai ni Chawli — all in Behrampura.

They also inquired of the people whether they had identity cards and if they had any problems.

Some banners were put up at the relief camp, opposing the holding of early Assembly elections and demanding that violence victims be rehabilitated first and then the poll be conducted.

At Shah-e-Alam, the CEC asked Mr Sharief Khan, the camp organiser, on how many people were in the camp and why were they not going back. Mr Khan told him that there were around 4,000 persons at the relief camp and they were scared to go back to their localities because of the “overwhelming feeling of insecurity”.