Thousands stage protest march   
HT Correspondent, New Delhi, l4. 03. 02

WHILE THE fate of VHP's Bhoomipoojan was being decided in the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning, thousands of political workers, leaders, Dalits, civil, rights activists, gender activists, students and teachers staged a protest march against the Gujarat carnage and the "communalisation”, of the nation's civil society.  

Slogans seeking ban on the VHP rent the air as the massive peace rally made its way through the heart of the Capital to Parliament.

All the main opposition leaders Congress

president Sonia Gandhi, Salman Khurshid, former prime ministers V P Singh and 1 K Gujral, Sainajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, GPI (M) leader H K S Surjeet, Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yeehury, CPI leader A B Bardhan, chairman of the All India SC/ST Federation Udit Raj, Rajya Sabha MP Shabana Aznii, Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande, JNU Teachers' Asso- ciation resident Kanial Mitra Chenoy, Delhi University Teachers' Union president Shashwati Majumdar, Swami Agnivesh, among otherswere present.   

The march started with the protesters shouting slogans against the Gujarat carnage and VHP's "blatant attempts to communalise India". The Congress president also marched along with senior party leaders. She sought the resignation of L K Advani and Narendra Modi.    

The protesters carried placards that demanded a ban on "communal" outfits such as Bajrang Dal and VHP, and punishment for the "guilty of Gujarat". "The time to stay quiet is over. Let us all fight the communal forces,". Said a poster.

Activists of the Nishant Natya Manch were dressed as RSS pracharaks carrying a symbolic funeral proces- sion of India's secular traditions and the Constitution.  

Students from Ranijas. College played the guitar and sang old IPTA (Indian People's Theatre Associa- tion) songs. "Subah shaam 

ke range hue gagan ko choom kar tu sun zameen gaa rahee hai kab se jhoom jhoom kar," they sang, as their teachers joined them.

The protesters passed through Feroz Shah Road and Kasturba Gandhi Marg and entered Connaught Place where they distributed pamphlets denouncing the "state sponsored" genocide of innocent civilians in Gujarat. They were stopped from going further at Parliament Street.  

Speaking passionately against what she referred to as "violence with complete state backing", Shabana Azmi said: "What happened at Godhra was done by criminals but what happened after was enacted by the Gujarat government. It was state-sponsored ethnic cleansing. Modi must go and the criminals should be booked."  I K Gujral decried attempts to demolish the secular fabric of the country, while AB Bardhan said that the Constitution was being attacked by "fanatics".