As the Bhoomi Pujan ceremony of the long-awaited Ram Mandir officially underwent, the families of the victims who lost their lives in the Godhra train burning incident in 2002 welcomed the development.
The S-6 coach of the Sabarmati express had 59 people who were burnt alive on the 28th of February 2002 in Godhra, Gujarat. The incident sparked off violent protests across the state of Gujarat which is talked about even today. The riots say thousands of lives killed. It has been over 18 years since the tragedy of Godhra happened but the families of the Godhra train blaze victims continue to remain devastated.
‘Sacrifice Not Gone Waste’
The families continue to grieve over the deaths of their family members. Jayantibai, one of the survivors of the Godhra incident who lost his mother says that he is happy that the sacrifices of his fellow comrades haven’t gone waste. He said,
“Nobody reserves any hatred for what had transpired in Godhra. We believe it is balidan (sacrifice) for Lord Ram. I am very happy with the temple construction and that joy would have been doubled if this pandemic was not there.”
Another person called Navinchandra Brahmbhatt, aged 65, from Vadnagar, also lost his wife Neeruben in the train blaze while they were returning from Ayodhya after a successful darshan. They were elated that there will be a construction of Ram temple and had promised to visit the temple once it is done.
Sardarji Vaghela, an octogenarian who lost his son in the incident, says,
“I will be praying when they carry out bhumi puja tomorrow. All our sacrifices will finally bear fruit.”
Source: OpIndia
