Leading industry body Assocham has called upon political parties ahead of the State Assembly elections to ensure that the 2002 riot victims got justice.
Assocham, for the first time, has made such a call and this coming from an industry association is unusual, given that Chief Minister Narendra Modi has been credited with and praised for bringing in unprecedented investment and development to the State.
Assocham urged the government to remove bottlenecks for speedier development of the State.
“Godhra victims should be given justice as soon as possible. Their plight should be resolved at the earliest,” it said here, and asserted that “the State government should focus on secular harmonisation.”
A top Assocham official said, “We want the Godhra issue to settle once and for all so that this issue is killed forever for the State’s long-term development plans.”
He also advocated freedom of media in the State by allowing it to function without any influence and bias to present the real picture among the people.
While releasing the industry body’s suggestions to the political parties for inclusion in their election manifestoes, Assocham secretary general D.S. Rawat told a press conference here that it had submitted a 15-point memorandum to the parties and their response was “positive.”
