It's been five days since the bloody attack on delegates to a Christian convention in Vadodara, but Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel, who also holds the Home portfolio, is yet to utter a word condemning the incident. And his deputy, Haren Pandya, had only this to say: "Investigations into the incident are on. It is a localised phenomenon and we are trying to ascertain what actually had happened in that city. Law will take its own course".

Indicting the government for the July-August attacks on Muslims and Christians and their institutions, the NCM had directed the Patel regime "to make a policy announcement to publicly disapprove the unconstitutional, unlawful and penal incidents of the recent past that have offended religioussensitivities, and affirm its commitment to the protection of the Human Rights, Civil Liberties and Fundamental Freedoms of all citizens in accordance with the Equality and Social Justice clauses of the Constitution of India".

In effect, the Commission had then called upon the State Government to publicly rebuke the series of violent attacks by the Sangh Parivar on Muslims and Christians.

Shockingly, instead of condemning the Vadodara incident, deputy chairman of the State Planning Board and senior RSS ideologue, Suryakant Acharya, charged the Christian missionaries with indulging in conversion activity in the State's tribal belt. "Despite this unlawful activity, tribals are very much with Hindus", he told reporters in his official chamber here on Monday.

The Commission had sent a high-powered fact finding team under Rev James Massey to the State in August to investigate the situation, particularly three specific cases. These pertained to the exhumation of a Christian's body by members of the SanghParivar in Kapadwanj, burning of the Bible in a Rajkot school and the forcible eviction of the entire Muslim population from the Randhikpur village after two Muslim youths married Hindu girls.

Among other things, the Commission had recommended a State-level meeting of non-political representatives of all the religious communities should be convened by the State Government to discuss and evolve ways and means to create, promote and preserve communal harmony in Gujarat. However, the government has not convened a single meeting since then.

The Commission had also asked the government to direct the Director General of Police (DGP) to call periodical meetings of all SPs and other police officers to brief them about the civil rights and liberties of citizens, including the minorities, and to guide them properly for an effective protection of those rights.