Author: Jaimini Rao
Publication: The Asian Age
Date: September 26, 2002
The Akshardham temple is visited
by thousands of devotees from all over the country everyday.
When terrorists attacked the temple
on Tuesday, the large crowd created chaos outside the temple premises,
while inside, the cross-firing between security forces and the terrorists
went on for hours. While the attack should have created a sense of fear
and anxiety among the crowd, this was not the case.
Relatives of those trapped inside
camped outside the temple premises throughout the night. N. Natwarsinh,
who was waiting outside the temple, told The Asian Age on Wednesday, "I
am here since last night. I had come down to see the situation and stayed
over. There were thousands like me waiting for some news of their kin."
He said that citizens had gathered at night and were even shouting slogans
like "Bharat Mata ki jai" and "Vande Mataram."
S.B. Yadav, an SRPF personnel who
has been at the spot since Tuesday night condemned the charged atmosphere.
"I feel the crowd was hindering us. We had to disperse the crowd which
had become quite unruly," he said. A volunteer of the Swaminarayan sect,
Ghanshyam Patel, said, "The people gathered outside were eager to help
out. But we could not take their help fearing they may get hurt."
