“No greater honor”

The cover story about Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Udvada ("No greater honor,” Parsiana, May 7, 2011) was very well written, with no mention of any old wounds of the Godhra incident. Indeed it is time the sad episode of 2002 is laid to rest because just as some folks have very strong and belligerent views about it there are many others like us who say it’s a totally one-sided tale being retold to create a wrong impression about governance in Gujarat. I have still not received a single answer to my query about what happened to those men, women and children burnt in the train at Godhra. Who were they? There is not a word about them or their families either on television or in the print media, as if it was not worth mentioning because the aftermath is the story and the villain is Modi.

This is not fair, especially to a man who has expressed the highest respect and love for our community since much before Godhra occurred and who is ready to lend us a ear and help solve our problems. He has intervened in land problems in Surat and Udvada. When someone speaks with so much liking for a micro-community like ours, it makes my heart swell with pride. How many people in power have spoken about us in the way the chief minister of Gujarat has done? What would he stand to gain from us muthi bhar (handful) Parsis with such praise?

Since Gujarat is probably our real janmabhoomi (birthplace), I request people not to play politics. Every political party has skeletons in its cupboards, but by constantly harping on the same story we would be only alienating ourselves, which we can ill afford to do. I give full credit to Vada Dastur Khurshed Dastoor of Udvada for what he said about Modi attending the 1,300th salgirah of Iranshah as Prime Minister of India.

RODA D. HAKIM

Baroda

vadhakim@yahoo.com