It is five years since Gujarat erupted in violence between Hindus and Muslims. But next week's elections will be dominated by the fallout from the bloody events By Andrew Buncombe in Ahmedabad Published: 07 December 2007 http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article3231235.ece It is called the Bombay Hotel but there is no service to speak of. Indeed, the 8,000 or so Muslim families who live in this flyblown shantytown on the edge of the Gujarati city of Amhedabad make do without running water and regular electricity, never mind such luxuries as bathrooms and medical facilities. With a widely watched election taking place in Gujarat next week, this shantytown is a crucial backdrop to the contest being played out in one of India's most restive states, between the ruling right-wing nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the centrist Congress Party, the party of Jawaharlal Nehru. The people living in the Bombay Hotel area rushed there for safety in the aftermath of Gujurat's 2002 violence during which up to 2,000 people killed and thousands more wounded, most of them Muslims. The attacks were carried out by Hindus, partly in retaliation for an alleged arson attack on a train in which more than 50 Hindu pilgrims were killed. The killings, spread over three months, represent India's deadliest religious violence since Partition in 1947. That the aftermath of such violence should be a political issue just five years after it took place is perhaps not surprising. But in recent weeks the violence of 2002 has been thrust to the forefront of the current contest because of fresh allegations directly accusing BJP officials and the state's Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, of orchestrating the killings. Mr Modi and his supporters adamantly deny the allegations. But few would argue that the 57-year-old has become one of the most controversial politicians in India. Animated, confident and charismatic, Mr Modi has placed himself at the centre of the BJP campaign, even as the allegations against him have mounted. Indeed, it appears he thrives on controversy. When the Congress Party's president, Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born widow of the assassinated Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, alleged that Gujurat was run by "liars ... peddlers of religion and death," Mr Modi retorted that she was merely "slinging Italian mud". He added: "That kind of mud only makes me and the lotus [the symbol of the BJP] stronger". It has long been alleged that Mr Modi and senior members of the BJP state government did nothing to prevent the violence that broke out in the spring of 2002. It was soon after the fire on board the Sabarmarti Express which broke out while the train was stopped at the city of Godhra. It was alleged that a Muslim mob deliberately started the fire after they got involved in an altercation with Hindus, but at least one government inquiry has concluded it was caused by a cooking-fire accident on board the train. In all, 58 pilgrims were killed – among them 20 children – and the train was gutted. The backlash began soon afterwards. In more than 150 towns and almost 1,000 villages, violence broke out, overwhelmingly as Hindus attacked Muslim communities. While there are also some reports of Muslims attacking Hindus, few dispute that most victims were members of the minority community that make up 10 per cent of the state's population. The official death toll said 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were killed, though a number of rights groups estimate the toll to have been double that. In the aftermath of the attacks the BJP government was widely condemned for not acting to prevent the killings. The Indian Supreme Court likened Mr Modi to a "modern-day Nero" while the US government refused him a visa on the grounds that he had "violated religious freedom". A report by Human Rights Watch said state officials were involved. "What happened was not a spontaneous uprising, it was a carefully orchestrated attack against Muslims," it said. "The attacks were planned in advance and organised with extensive participation of the police and state government officials." Last month, the allegations got more serious. An undercover investigation in the news magazine Tehelka said Mr Modi explicitly approved of the "pogrom" and helped to protect perpetrators. Using hidden video cameras, a reporter from the magazine filmed people allegedly involved in the planning and carrying-out of the killings. It quoted Haresh Batt, at the time the leader of a fundamentalist Hindu organisation, as saying: "[Modi] had given us three days to do whatever we could. He said he would not give us time after that. He said that openly. After three days he asked us to stop and everything came to a halt." It also quoted testimony from three men accused of one of the massacre's most notorious incidents, the killing of a former Congress MP, Ehsan Jafri. He took shelter in his home in the Gulbarg distrct of Ahmedabad, from where he frantically telephoned the police, colleagues in Delhi and even the Chief Minister's office for help. None came. In all, at least 39 Muslims were killed there. "Five or six people held him, then someone struck him with a sword, chopped off his hand, then his legs, then everything else," the magazine quoted one of those accused as saying. "After cutting him to pieces they put him on the wood they'd piled and set it on fire ... burnt him alive." Among Indian civil society, the reaction has been one of outrage. Many have called on the Congress Party-dominated central government to order an inquiry. Others have questioned why the police are not investigating the allegations against Mr Modi. But in Ahmedabad, once known as the Manchester of India because of its now faded textile industry, the reaction has been different. While Muslims have seized on the report as proof of what they always believed, some BJP supporters have simply chosen to ignore it. More troubling, there are suggestions – and some anecdotal evidence – that Mr Modi's support has grown in the aftermath of the allegations. Such is the belief that the Chief Minister has benefitted from being seen by fundamentalist Hindus as someone who will "stand up" to Muslims, it is not uncommon to hear claims that Mr Modi was behind the Tehelka story. "Modi himself has made this. He knows that people will like it," said Gulman Hussain, a Muslim printing press worker who was sitting drinking tea at a stall in the centre of Ahmedabad. What is curious is that, with the two sides running close in the polls, the Congress Party has chosen not to make more of the seemingly damaging allegations against Mr Modi, barely raising them in its campaign. A Congress Party member, who asked not to be named, said: "The Congress Party has to be careful. It needs the support of Hindu voters. It does not want to raise this issue." Alkesh Patel, an Ahmedabad jeweller, who declined to reveal how he will vote next week, said: "The 2002 violence is the main issue. They do not generally speak openly but when the poll comes, the issue is very important for the public... I think the BJP will win. It will be communualism. No one is saying so in public but everybody knows." Asked why the Congress Party was not raising the issues in Tehelka, Raju Parmar, an MP and party spokesman, chose instead to question the motives behind its publication. "Why has it come in the middle of the election? The people of Gujarat will decide," he said. Asked why the party was not calling for an inquiry, he said: "The law will take its own course." Mr Modi has spent most of the campaign promoting the BJP's effort to develop Gujarat's economy. The party has pushed itself as the agent of development in a state that is seen as succeeding in attracting outside investment from industrialists. As he travels the rural parts of the state, one of Mr Modi's more populist slogans has been: "You give me lotus, I will give you Lakshmi [the goddess of wealth]." Many believe this. "I will vote for Mr Modi. For the last seven years he has done a lot of good work and he is the only person not corrupted," said Susir Sarkar, a businessmen. "He has built roads and done infrastructure." In recent days, Mr Modi has switched tactics. Repeatedly challenged by Congress over the state's economic development, the Chief Minister has opted to change the headlines with statements on the death of Shorabuddin Sheikh. The alleged underworld operative was shot dead by police in 2005 in what is commonly termed a "fake encounter" – a staged incident in which a suspect is deliberalty targeted. Several senior police officers have been arrested over the killing, but this week Mr Modi said he himself had ordered the hit. "What should have been done to a man from whom a large number of AK-47 rifles were recovered, who was on the search list of police from four states, who attacked the police, who had relations with Pakistan and wanted to enter Gujarat?" he asked of a rally of supporters. They responded by chanting: "Kill him, Kill him." Mr Modi replied: "Do I need to take Sonia Gandhi's permission for this? Hang me if I'm wrong." Analysts say Mr Modi's comments were significant because it was the first time in the campaign he had resorted to communalism. Mr Sheikh was a Muslim, as are many of those killed in so-called fake encounters with the police. "All fake encounters involve Muslims," said the analyst and author Achyut Yagnik. "So, by saying that, he is saying 'I will protect you against Islamic fundamentalism'." Mr Modi's comments resulted in the state's Election Commission accusing him of breaking guidelines designed to deter politicians from inciting racial hatred. But the Chief Minister appears to show little concern. The next day he spoke at another rally demanding the hanging of "terrorists" in police custody. For all its local issues, Gujarat's election has national implications. If the Congress Party manages to win control of the state assembly – the BJP holds 127 of its 182 seats – it may be persuaded to call a snap general election. At the same time, re-election for Mr Modi could reinvigorate the BJP and see his brand of Hindu-centric campaigning thrust to the foreground. Meanwhile, for the displaced people of the Bombay Hotel, talk of electoral politics fails to resonate. Raisu Isabanu said her son, Mohammed Yasin, 20, was shot dead in the 2002 violence. "I cannot think of anything after I lost him," she said. Of Mr Modi, the man accused of so much, she said: "We don't want him to run again." |
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