Kin of Godhra train carnage victims to attend ceremony

Aksheev Thakur

New Delhi, January 20

Family members of 18 karsevaks who died in the Godhra train carnage have been invited for the Ram Temple consecration by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra.

Fifty-nine persons were burnt to death after a train was torched in Godhra on February 27, 2002.

Harishbhai Dabhi, an autorickshaw driver who lost his mother in the incident, is among the invitees. Dabhi is staying at Karsewakpuram in Ayodhya. He belongs to a Dalit hamlet in Ahmedabad.

“One member from the family of each of 18 karsevaks who sacrificed their lives in the Sabarmati Express train tragedy will attend the consecration,” Ashok Raval, general secretary of the Gujarat Vishwa Hindu Parishad, said.

A source in the trust said, “People from all walks of life have been invited. The invitations were sent on the belief that ‘Ram belongs to everybody and everybody belongs to Ram’.”

Champat Rai, general secretary of the trust, had said that families of those who died for the temple movement would be invited.

Sachin, Bachchan among invitees

As many as 8,000 invitees, including cricket legends Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli, actors Amitabh Bachchan and Rajinikanth, and billionaire industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, are expected to attend the ceremony. The list also includes Supreme Court judges who delivered the Ayodhya verdict.