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AHMEDABAD, INDIA, April 4, 2002: In an emotionally charged speech, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee gave a categorical assurance to the riot victims of Ahmedabad that they will be taken care of by the government and that refugee camps will go on as long as needed. He said he was “ashamed” at what had happened in Gujarat and the fact that many people “had become refugees in their own country.” Addressing riot victims at the Shah Alam refugee camp on Thursday afternoon, the Prime Minister said he was soon to visit some foreign countries and “I don’t know what face I will take to some of the Muslim countries I have to visit”. He said when people from other countries ask him about the communal riots, he felt ashamed and does not know what to say. “You are not alone at this time of crisis, we all are with you. The entire country is with you,” he told the riot victims. Vajpayee said he was shocked at the incident on Wednesday in which 5 persons had been burnt to death in an Ahmedabad village and said “I wonder whether the devil has overcome us”. He said while the train carnage at Godhra was to be condemned, the incidents which followed were equally condemnable.

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