User:AhamSarvatra/Timeline of the 2002 Gujarat riots

27 February

 * A Muslim mob sets fire to Sabarmati Express killing 57 people, including 14 children and burning four compartments.  The train was carrying Hindus returning from Ayodhya.
 * The burned compartments are detached and the train continued to Vadodara. A Hindu crowd gathered there attacks a person fatally and several other people were hit with sticks.
 * Mobs try to set fire to two buses in Ahmedabad
 * Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee cancels his Commonwealth Summit trip to Australia and urges for Indian to maintain Brotherhood. Vajpayee requests VHP to refrain from continuing temple construction in the disputed site. Home Minister, Lal Krishna Advani, promised strict action against VHP if in case, they defied the law for building the temple.
 * Police fire shots and tear gas to disperse a mob that was ransacking shops and setting homes ablaze. A 17-year old boy dies in this police fire.
 * Vishwa Hindu Parishad confirms that it would stick to its deadline for building work to begin in Ayodhya by March 15. 3000 Paramilitary troops sent to Ayodhya and only people with passes are allowed.
 * Security forces deploys more than 70,000 men across the state. Most of Godhra placed under curfew by night.
 * Gordhan Zadafia, Gujarat's Home Minister details the steps taken to prevent riots, including shoot-at-sight orders for police to prevent rioting in Muslim-dominated areas. Police deploys extra troops in areas where Hindu-Muslim live together.
 * Congress leader Sonia Gandhi condmens the train burning incident. Apart from this, the train burning incident did not draw any condemnation from any of the political leaders or social activists, with western Ahmedabad totally unaffected by the developments.
 * Alert sounded in the neighboring states of Gujarat - Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh

28 February

 * Tamilnadu Chief Minister, J. Jayalalitha condemns the train burning incident.
 * Vishwa Hindu Parishad calls for strike, condemning the train burning incident that happened the previous day. VHP's vice-president Giriraj Kishore assured that the strike will be done in a peaceful manner and will not allow any violence
 * All schools in Gujarat are closed for the day.
 * Presentation of union budget interrupted by BJP and Shiv Sena members protesting for the Godhra train burning
 * Indian Government sends 1,000 paramilitary troops to Gujarat, making total armed forces to 11,000.
 * Hindu mobs kill 60 Muslims by burning their homes and by setting fire to Muslims-owned restaurant, shops, cars and apartments
 * Curfew declared in 30 villages, cities and towns.
 * 6 people shot and dead by police to contain riots.
 * Mobs and Police clash, with mobs setting Muslim homes on fire.
 * Lal Krishna Advani informs of the request of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's to bring more army reinforcement to the state.
 * Dozens, including two Muslim members of the municipal council, arrested for Godhra train burning.
 * Congress leader Sonia Gandhi meets Prime Minister and urges him to control the situation in Gujarat
 * Omkar Bhave, a VHP official, urges members to march into Ayodhya and criticizes the Prime Minister and Home Minister for failing to provide a solution to build the temple, also demanding the resignation of PM.

3 March

 * With 14 people killed on this day, the total death toll rises to 499.
 * Violence spreads outside Gujarat. Muslim vendor stabbed in Aligarh and Hindus-Muslims threw bricks at each other. Curfew was imposed to prevent further clashes.