Gujarat, Nepalese family set themselves on fire against the demolition of home
Kathmandu (AsiaNews) - An entire family Nepalese set themselves on fire in Rajkot (Gujarat, India) to protest against the demolition of their home and confiscation of the whole area, ordered by the municipality. Two of the five members who have chosen to carry out this ultimate gesture died this morning in one of the hospitals of the city, the other three are in a critical condition.
The incident occurred yesterday in one of the suburbs of Rajkot. The city with its 1.6 million inhabitants is the fourth largest in Gujarat. In recent days, the Rajkot Municipal Corporation had notified the family originally from Accham in western Nepal, of the demolition order on their home, because it was illegally built, even though they had lived in that place for over 35 years. The demolition order is to be carried out within the next few days. Last night, five of the seven members of the family sprinkled themselves with petrol at the entrance of their dwelling. Two others tried to imitate them, but the police stopped them.
Nepali journalist Prakash
Poudel, based in Mumbai, said that "after the incident the other local
residents protested against the decision to evacuate the area." The protests
are still in progress and involve hundreds of people.
According to the Hindustan Time, the surviving members of the family
said they had been subject to constant harassment by municipal officials. One
of them says: "We have been harassed by the municipal representatives, by members
of society and also by several local politicians. They said that our house was
abusive. They threatened to demolish it in front of us, so we were forced to do
something this extreme. "
Janak Kotak, Mayor
of Rajkot, rejects the accusations and claims that the demolition order was not
to have been carried out soon. The politician ensures he will identify and
punish those who have threatened the family.
Members of the Congress Party, in opposition in the state of Gujarat,
point the finger at the government led by the Hindu extremist Rashtriya
Janata Party, accused of pushing
people to suicide with its policy of expropriation on immigrants, even second
generation immigrants.
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