Gujarat, the Making of a TragedySiddharth Varadarajan Is Gujarat a turning point for India? The events at Godhra and the ensuing communal carnage in Gujarat, like the Babri Masjid demolition and the 1984 massacres, constitute an ugly chapter of our contemporary history. For the sheer brutality, persistence and widespread nature of the violence, especially against women and children, the complicity of the State, the ghettoization of communities, and the indifference of civil society, Gujarat has surpassed anything we have experienced in recent times. That this happened in one of India's most 'well off' and 'progressive' states, the home of the Mahatma, is all the more alarming. This book is intended to be a permanent public archive of the tragedy that is Gujarat. Drawing upon eyewitness reports from the English, Hindi and regional media, citizens' and official fact-finding commissions - and articles by leading public figures and intellectuals - it provides a chilling account of how and why the state was allowed to burn. With an overview by the editor, the reader covers the circumstances leading up to Godhra and the violence in Ahmedabad, Baroda and rural Gujarat. Separate sections deal with the role of the police, bureaucracy, Sangh Parivar, media and the tribals, the economic and international implications of the violence, the problems of relief and rehabilitation of the victims, and, above all, their quest for justice. The picture that emerges is deeply disturbing, for Gujarat has exposed the ease with which the rights of citizens, and especially minorities, can be violated with official sanction. The lessons of the violence ought to be heeded and acted upon by the public. For, in the absence of this, can another Gujarat be prevented from happening elsewhere? |
Contents
Introduction | 3 |
The Violence | 10 |
The Carnage at Godhra | 36 |
Jyoti Punwani | 45 |
Patterns of Violence in Gujarat | 75 |
4 | 89 |
The Aftermath | 118 |
Narratives from the Killing Fields | 135 |
Little Relief No Rehabilitation | 307 |
Ghettoization Trauma | 331 |
Indias Reaction to International Concern | 389 |
The Dialogue of Vali Gujarati and Hanumanji | 401 |
The Pathology of Gujarat | 408 |
Caste Hindutva and the Making of Mob Culture | 416 |
The VHP Needs to Hear the Condemnation | 426 |
NM and Kalinga? Thrice Impossible Brother Gill | 434 |
The Role of the Police | 177 |
Women as Victims | 214 |
Adivasis and Dalits | 246 |
8 | 271 |
Just Another Day in Ahmedabad | 441 |
Prime Minister Vajpayees speech at Goa | 450 |
Copyright acknowledgements | 458 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
28 February accused activists adivasi Ahmedabad April arrested asked attack Ayodhya Bajrang Dal bodies brutal burning carnage caste chargesheet citizens combing operations Commission communal violence crime curfew Dahod dalits dargah Delhi eyewitnesses fear Geetaben genocide Godhra Godhra incident Gujarat government Gulberg Society Hindustan Hindutva Human Rights India India Ahmedabad Indian Express investigation Jafri Jai Shri Ram justice Kalol kar sevaks killed lakh live looted Machchipeeth March masjid massacre minister minority moneylenders mosque murder Muslims Narendra Modi Naroda Patiya neighbours NHRC Panchmahals district Panvad passengers Patel persons petrol police firing police officers police station policemen political PUCL PUDR rape relief camps riots rumours Sabarmati Express Sandesh Sangh Parivar says senior Shanti Abhiyan shelter shops Source started survivors swords taluka Teesta Setalvad Tejgadh tempo told train tribals trishuls Vajpayee VHP and Bajrang VHP leaders victims village violence in Gujarat