At Phalodi, the committee came to know that 4 FIRs were registered in the police station in connection with the riots, but 16 out of the 18 persons arrested were from the minority community. No arrest was so far made in connection with the death of Murlidhar Bora, state Shiv Sena president, during the riots.

The enquiry revealed that it was the BJP and Shiv Sena who instigated communal riots in the town by propagating that the cattleheads being carried in a train were meant for slaughter. The committee was told that a cattle fair is held every year in the town in the name of late Major Shaitan Singh, winner of Paramvir Chakra, where peasants from far off villages come to sell and purchase oxen, buffaloes, camels, etc. This year the fair was held from December 3 to 10, where 2,940 buffaloes and 96 camels were sold. The development officer told the committee that buffaloes are the main item of sale in the fair where traders from even UP, Bihar and other states also come. The animals are allowed to be taken out of the state only after their medical check-up.

Railway authorities at the Phalodi station told the committee that this year the traders had asked for 50 wagons for transporting the animals and were given 40 wagons by the railways for December 20. On the day, by about 10 a m, the traders had got the cattle loaded on the wagons and an engine was already in place to pull the train when a crowd, led by Balkishan Thanvi, former MLA, squatted in front of the train to prevent it from moving. They were soon joined by hundreds of people who began to drag the animals out of the wagons. This process continued till 5 in the evening. According to the station master, at 10 a m itself, he had informed the GRP officers at Jodhpur about the incident.

The enquiry committee came to know that no quarrel took place at the time the crowd was dragging the animals out of the wagons. It began when the crowd turned its attention to the buffaloes who were tied near the madrasa situated close to the railway station. It was said that the police also attacked the madrasa. The team also visited the place on the railway station where Bora's body was found, and a policeman on duty told that the body was thrown there after Bora was killed somewhere else. The team also went to see the kiosks, owned by poor shopkeepers, that were gutted down by fire.

From its on the spot investigations, the team concluded that the district administration allowed the BJP and Shiv Sena leaders to instigate riots in this otherwise peaceful region of Rajasthan. For more than 15 days, leaders of these two parties were spreading rumours that the cattle were meant for slaughter, but the administration took no notice. The intelligence machinery of both the centre and state badly failed.

Evidently, the only aim of the BJP and Shiv Sena leaders in spreading the rumour was to exploit the feelings of the Hindu community in order to strengthen their vote bank.

The BJP and Shiv Sena are also guilty of conspiring against the livelihood of lakhs of herdsmen in the state. It will be noted that several official and non-official organisations of Rajasthan organise cattle fair in various parts of the state at different levels from village panchayat upto state, and at different intervals -- like every year, every six months or every three months. It is at these fairs that peasants sell or purchase cattle or draught animals. These fairs were being organised even when the BJP was in power in the state, and its government had even formulated rules for the purpose. But now, if the BJP and Shiv Sena succeed in preventing the holding of such fairs, it would only kill the livelihood of the herdsmen and peasants who are already suffering from rising costs of living and declining prices of the commodities they produce. This will further push them into the arm of the same moneylenders and usurers who support parties like the BJP.

The enquiry team was astonished to see that the cattle and other animals that were dragged out of the railway wagons and freed, were roaming in the area adjoining the Phalodi railway station. None of the so called defenders of bovine wealth had taken care to feed them or give them water.

Another astonishing aspect of the situation was the helplessness of the ruling Congress party vis-a-vis the communal forces. None of the Congress leaders had shown the courage to condemn the communal riots and those who had instigated them. The party was but a mute spectator during this whole episode.