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Vadodara violence



Vadodara 2006: Manufacturing violence and the politics of demolition - May 2006 IMC Special Edition Digest

Indian Muslim Council, USA (IMC-USA)

'Defending India's freedom, democracy and pluralism'

IMC-USA Special Edition Digest -
May 2006

Vadodara 2006: Manufacturing violence and the politics of demolition

Vadodara 2006: Manufacturing violence and the politics of demolition

Syed Rashiduddin Chisti Dargah - Vadodara

High Court orders / Vadodara corporation's demolition drive

Dispute over the Chishti dargah / Compromise talks

Target of Sangh organizations

Sudden and rushed demolition

Role of VMC, Mayor, Police, BJP corporators

Violence in the aftermath of dargah demolition

Siege of muslim localities and police response

International concern / News reports

Central Govt intervention and Army deployment

Modi visits Vadodara

Supreme Court orders ban on demolition

Repeat of Gujarat 2002 prevented

Fascism and hatred still alive in Gujarat

Web Links

and more ...

Syed Rashiduddin Chisti Dargah - Vadodara

A corporation bulldozer razes the dargah of Rashiduddin Chisti in Vadodara on May 1 (Frontline / AFP)

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High Court orders / Vadodara corporation's demolition drive

Remove religious structures that encroach public space: HC (2 May 2006, Outlook)

The Gujarat High Court today directed the authorities to remove all the religious structures that were encroaching public spaces across the state without any discrimination.

A division bench, comprising Justice B J Sethna and Justice R P Dholakia, treated as a writ petition a news report published in a national daily highlighting various religious structures encroaching the public places, directed the authorities to take necessary action and reply by May five....

The High Court also severely pulled up the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA) for being "silent spectators" regarding encroachments on the public places by religious structures.

http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=381966

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SC stays Gujarat HC order on demolition (4 May 2006, Times of India)

The High Court has treated as writ petition a news report published in a national daily highlighting various religious structures encroaching the public places and had directed the authorities to take necessary action and reply by May 5.

The High Court had pulled up the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA) for being "silent spectators" regarding encroachments on public places by religious structures.

It had directed that encroachment causing traffic problems should be demolished zone wise or phase wise.

According to the news report, there were 1200 temples and 260 Islamic shrines encroaching on public spaces according to a survey conducted by AMC.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1516244.cms

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HC weight behind demolition drive (3 May 2006, Indian Express)

Taking suo motu cognizance of media reports on religious shrines encroaching on public space, the Gujarat High Court on Tuesday directed the authorities to remove all such structures.

A division bench of Justice B.J. Sethna and Justice R.P. Dholakia has asked civic authorities across the state to take immediate action and submit report.

The court also took note of the violence that broke out in Vadodara on Monday over the demolition of a dargah, in particular the mob attack on the Nyaymandir courthouse. It has asked the Vadodara police commissioner to submit a report.

The court has directed the state government to issue immediate instructions to the police department to provide full protection to demolition squads so as to avoid what happened in Vadodara.

If the need arises, those likely to disrupt peace should be booked before carrying out demolition drives, the court said. Those obstructing such drives are usually land-grabbers.

Listing some illegal religious structures in and around Ahmedabad, the court said encroachment on public space should not be permitted or tolerated "even for a minute."

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/3671.html

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Jaiswal: Classify shrines as old or new for civic drives - By Subodh Ghildiyal & Vishwa Mohan (5 May 2006, Times of India)

On a day when the Centre successfully sought intervention of the Supreme Court against the demolition of illegal religious structures in Gujarat cities, MoS for home Sriprakash Jaiswal suggested that places of worship be categorised as "old" shrines or "new" structures.

This categorisation, suggested by Jaiswal, would allow old religious structures from being exempted from such civic drives....

If accepted, the suggestion would entail framing of a law to distinguish between religious structures according to their age.

It could open a pandora's box of sorts as religious constructions on public land, a convenient mode of encroachment in towns and cities, may provide an opening to squatters as many such structures are often claimed to be "ancient", with temples bearing the prefix 'pracheen'.

The advice for caution in case of religious structures with public sentiments attached to them is fraught with political interpretations as it runs close to mirroring the "issue of faith" argument forwarded by the RSS in Babri case.

There are several examples of temples or other places of worship escaping demolition by laying claim to religious sentiments, often with backing of local politicians.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1516843.cms

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How many more Vadodaras? - By Jumana Shah (3 May 2006, Daily News & Analysis)

After the Gujarat High Court order on Monday asked authorities in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Rajkot to remove all illegal places of worship, municipal authorities have swung into action to prepare a list of such structures... All corporations are to submit a report of illegal shrines to the HC on Friday, following which the next course of action will be decided.

While no exact figures are available, estimates suggest the number of illegal places of worship in the four cities of Gujarat will exceed 5,000. Ahmedabad is believed to have over 2,000 such structures, followed by Surat and Rajkot with estimated 1,100 and 1,000 respectively.

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) houses close to 2,000 small and large illegal religious structures, including some decades-old shrines in sensitive areas....

According to Surat Municipal Commissioner Pankaj Joshi, there are 40 major illegal religious structures, including many on the main roads.

Meanwhile, the Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) is not too worried as majority of the big religious structures have already been demolished in the past two years. "Over 100 religious structures have already been demolished. We have not faced resistance as demolition was conducted with support of the local leaders," Rajkot Municipal Commissioner Mukesh Kumar said.

The majority of the demolished structures were temples. Three madrasas were also demolished, but there were no shrines or darghas, he added.

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1027542&CatID=2

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Dispute over the Chishti dargah / Compromise talks

Vadodara flares up as old dargah demolished, 4 die (2 May 2006, Indian Express)

The dargah on the Fatehpura-Champaner Road, which local Muslims say was of a Sufi saint, Syed Rashiuddin Chishti, had been targeted in all riots in Gujarat since 1969. On Monday morning at 9.30, a delegation of Muslim leaders were invited to a meeting with the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) to evolve a consensus to remove the dargah. The VMC had pasted a notice about the demolition on the dargah walls last Wednesday. Community leaders had resisted this move with official petitions on Saturday. Monday's meeting saw mayor Sunil Solanki, city BJP president Shabdasharan Brahmbhatt and municipal commissioner Rohit Pathak seeking to convince the Muslim leaders about removing the structure, but to no avail. Soon after the failed talks, orders were given to the VMC demolition team to raze it.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/3621.html

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Did VMC give compromise a chance? (1 May 2006, Times of India)

The leaders say that they had received the VMC notice three days ago and immediately approached mayor Sunil Solanki and Pathak. Given that Mandvi is a communally sensitive area with a history of violence, Pathak had visited the mazaar and suggested the compromise.

Local leaders had then convinced residents for the compromise solution. "We took religious opinion of Kamal-ud-Din Bawa, who saw nothing wrong in slicing off a part of the mazaar according to Islamic law," Rafai adds.

"But then by Sunday morning, we found out that the VMC was planning to demolish the entire mazaar." The community went back to Pathak and Solanki on Monday morning, but by this time the mood had changed.

"The municipal corporators, most of them from the BJP, told us that if they could demolish temples, there should be no objection to removing a mazaar," added Yunus Pathan, another community leader.

"We disagree with this logic as the Muslim community never asked for temples to be demolished. We told the officials to handle the situation sensitively, but the next thing we know, the officials started the demolition."

To allegations that the negotiations were mere delaying tactics by the community, the leaders say they had even roped in structural engineers and architects for the job.

Pathak says the Muslim leaders had approached him three days back with their proposal. "I had not promised anything," he said. "If I agree to only a partial demolition, it would have set a false precedent."

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1511538.cms

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Why did officials ignore a compromise? (2 May 2006, Times of India)

Why did Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) demolish the mazaar of Chishti Rashid-ud-Din while still in consultation with Muslim leaders for a compromise?

Community leaders are feeling betrayed by VMC officials in Monday's incident. "Municipal commissioner R K Pathak had himself visited the site on Saturday and suggested cutting it by 2.5 ft, so that it did not obstruct traffic around Champaner Darwaja," said advocate Moin Rafai, one of the leaders negotiating for a compromise.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1511741.cms

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BJP inciting communal violence in Guj: Cong (16 May 2006, Outlook)

"The community members had agreed to shifting of the dargah but why did the compromise come unstuck at the last moment," Congress member Alka Balram Kashtriya said.

She wanted to know how Vishwa Hindu Parishad members arrived at the scene when the demolition was on.

"The Gujarat government could have sorted out the matter in a peaceful manner but they wanted to create votebank over dead bodies," Kashtriya said amid heated exchanges between Congress and BJP members.

http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=385266

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Rubble-rousers - By Harsh Mander (7 May 2006, Hindustan Times)

The dispute was over the declared resolve of the local government to demolish a dargah of Sufi saint Hazrat Rasiuddin Chisti. The newly elected city council, with an overwhelming BJP membership, voted for its removal, claiming that it was an 'encroachment' and obstructed traffic.

The worried leaders of the Muslim community tried to negotiate with the mayor and councillors. Realising that they were adamant, they agreed to demolish substantial parts of the structure and the dargah's canopy themselves, and retain only a small structure over the actual grave. However, their conciliatory offer of compromise was rejected and the council decided that it would settle for nothing less than a full demolition.

Immediately thereafter, the mayor, accompanied by BJP leaders notorious for their role in the 2002 massacre, municipal authorities and a large contingent of armed policemen both in uniform and civilian clothes, descended at the dargah with bulldozers. Local Muslim youths quickly mobilised a peaceful resistance in the form of a sit-in around the site. The mayor and the mob raised inflammatory slogans. The crowd of Muslim men soon found themselves pelted by stones, and the police started to shoot at them....

It is important to understand that this is not a stray event. It is the outcome of the fact that the police, the municipal and civil administrations in Gujarat have progressively allowed themselves to be reduced to become the extended arm of militant Hindutva politics since 2002. Earlier, rioting mobs had tried to dismantle the shrine, but it was always rebuilt, reportedly mainly by Hindu devotees. This time, the state administration itself demolished the shrine. Earlier, rioters killed each other. Now policemen do the killing with impunity and escape all punishment for their crimes.

We are witnessing in Vadodara just one glimpse of the wages of the state becoming the willing active agency of the politics of hate. If we do not reverse this, it will destroy the ancient and precious secular fabric of this land, and the faith and hope of its vulnerable people.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1692977,00120001.htm

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Target of Sangh organizations

300-year-old Vadodara shrine was target of riots since '69, cops under fire (2 May 2006, Indian Express)

An open letter from the VHP had taunted the municipal administration for failing to take action against Muslim shrines while removing those of Hindus.

Muslims had made official representations against the demolition on Saturday. They'd also faxed a memorandum to the National Minorities Commission on Sunday quoting the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which they ensures status quo to religious places built before 1947.

Municipal commissioner Rohit Pathak's statement on Monday evening mentioned the demolition of 20 Hindu temples with people's co-operation. What it did not mention was that the Muslim community, too, had co-operated during the removal of a smaller dargah in the Danteshwar area.

So the dargah near Champaner gate became one that was prominent enough to drive home the point that demolitions would continue come what may. To declare the dargah an illegal structure, municipal authorities latched on to the fact that it does not have ownership papers nor is it a protected monument. Only the city survey of 1911 by the then Baroda State makes mention of the dargah.

Police officers admit that hastening the removal guaranteed violence. Given the politicisation of the issue, the conversion of the attack against the authorities into communal violence took little time -- something for which the police seemed ill-prepared, as indicated by how the violence spread to several areas in the walled city.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/3612.html

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Back to 2002? - By Sitaram Yechury (3 May 2006, Hindustan Times)

The issue that sparked the communal violence centres around an ancient dargah of a Sufi saint, Syed Rashiuddin Chishti. The Vadodara Municipal Corporation decreed that this dargah was an encroachment and was obstructing the widening of roads under the new city development plan. On the contrary, it has been pointed out that the dargah was at least 385 years old, recorded in the first city survey carried out by Sayajirao Maharaj of Baroda in 1912. The daily diya and daily expenditure at the shrine were borne by the Hindus.

Notwithstanding this, in every communal riot in the city since 1969, this shrine has been targeted. Termed as a 'mini Babri masjid', many attempts were made to demolish in the past. On this occasion, the municipal corporation simply razed it to the ground citing a Gujarat High Court judgment calling for the demolition of all encroachments. Unless motivated, it is impossible to believe that an ancient place of worship could be considered an encroachment.

Hamid Ansari of the National Minorities Commission has, on record, stated that the chief secretary of Gujarat had assured him that a compromise formula was being worked out. In fact, the BJP's prominent Muslim face in Vadodara, Gani Qureshi, has gone on record to the media stating, "The demolition of this dargah is a very well-planned conspiracy. The municipal corporation authorities had promised us that it would not be demolished. We were working upon a compromise formula but they backed out and simply razed it."

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1689872,00120001.htm

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Sudden and rushed demolition

Modhvadia sees Modi hand in demolition mess (4 May 2006, Times of India)

"A private report by the municipal commissioner and the police commissioner had even advised the state government not to hurry with the demolition of such a religious place," Modhvadia said.

Yet, on May 1, the mazaar was removed without adequate preparation. "The government did not take any precaution to cope with the tension which was inevitable as a result of the demolition.

The time of the demolition, 10.30 am, was fixed with a view to trigger conflict and when the agitation started, the police opened fire without any hesitation," he said. Two people lost their lives in the firing.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1516619.cms

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Brute Force - Editorial (4 May 2006, The Telegraph)

The priorities of development demanded that a 300-year-old dargah be pulled down. Without even questioning the priorities, it does not need a great deal of imagination or intelligence to foresee that the demolition would hurt Muslim sentiments and rouse passion. The matter needed careful handling: meeting with the leaders of the Muslim community in the area, offers of relocation and a lot of gentle persuasion. It was not a matter that could be resolved by sticking a demolition notice on the walls of the dargah. There are also allegations that the administration went back on a compromise formula according to which only a part of the shrine was to be demolished. The entire building has been pulled down.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060504/asp/opinion/story_6177740.asp

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Tale of 2 demolition drives: Vadodara, Rajkot - By Hiral Dave (4 May 2006, Express India)

Two demolition drives, and two different ways of going about it. So while in Gujarat's cultural capital Vadodara, the BJP went about doing a "balancing act" by razing a 300-year-old dargah, in Rajkot, the BJP fought the Municipal Commissioner tooth and nail for removing a small temple that was encroaching on RMC land.

In Vadodara, the BJP supported the demolition, stating that it was a "balancing act" for the city's development, in Rajkot, where the structure was razed to make way for a town planning scheme, they - the BJP councillors - came to blows with the Municipal Commissioner over the demolition. They were arrested and later released. No action, whatsoever, was taken against them.

But the BJP has the modus operandi worked out: If senior BJP leaders like Nalin Bhatt and a host of VMC councillors remained at the site to ensure the razing of Sayed Rashiuddin Chisti's dargah, in Rajkot, BJP councillor from ward number 18, Narendra Dav, led a 3,000-strong mob on April 18 to stop demolition of the temple. He even presented Kumar with a list of religious structures of the minority community that should be included in the demolition drive. But Kumar refused to, saying they weren't encroaching on RMC land. That was what landed him in trouble... they barged into Municipal Commissioner Mukesh Kumar's office by breaking open the iron grill and assaulted him....

Despite the strong representation by Kumar, the BJP leadership in Gandhinagar is yet act against the councillors who face charges of attacking a public servant and damaging public property. According to top RMC officials, the councillors can be disqualified for their act under Section 13 of the BPM Act.

But to pass a resolution, a three-fourth majority is required in the general board, which is impossible without the support of the BJP as it enjoys majority with 59 councillors. The BJP leadership, however, is in no mood to take any action against them. Emphasising, Bhanderi said, "No action will be taken against the councillors."

http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=67100

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Panel targets 'encroachment' tag (1 May 2006, The Telegraph)

The police firing on an angry mob protesting the razing of a Vadodara dargah today drew fire from the minorities commission which slammed the "excessive use of force" and lack of tact in handling the issue. The commission also called for a judicial inquiry into the flare-up near the Saiyad Sarsihiddin Babba Ni Dargah that left four persons dead.

"The police action is an instance of excessive use of force in a situation that could have been handled with tact," the National Commission of Minorities said in a statement. It also rejected the claims of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation that the ongoing demolition drive was intended at removing illegal constructions.

"It stands to reason that a structure that predates a master plan cannot be put in the category of 'encroachment'. Nor can it be the policy of the government to pull down historical monuments," it said.

In Ahmedabad, minority leaders insisted the dargah, located in the middle of the road near Champaner Gate in Fatehpura was not an "encroachment".

It was 300 years old and existed in the original master city survey plan of 1921, Zuber Gopalani said. According to the places of worship act of 1921, it could not be called an encroachment and should have been protected, he said.

He alleged that by razing the dargah the law-enforcers had broken the law. He dismissed the civic authorities' argument that demolishing 20 temples was reason enough to pull it down.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060502/asp/nation/story_6171057.asp

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Muslim delegation seeks rebuilding of dargah, state refuses (1 May 2006, Outlook)

A delegation of Muslim leaders including religious heads met Minister of State for Home Amit Shah and demanded rebuilding of the 200 year old dargah at the same spot near Champaner gate where it was razed today.

The incident had triggered violence, that claimed four lives, injured over 22 and prompted imposition of curfew in several sensitive areas.

The delegation told the minister at a meeting here tonight that despite requests made to the Municipal Commissioner, the demolition drive of VMC went ahead, hurting the sentiments of Muslim community.

They said that as per the old town planning scheme prepared in 1912 the dargah existed in the same place and so it should have been considered by the authorities when deciding on this anti-encroachment drive.

http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=381793

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Role of VMC, Mayor, Police, BJP corporators

How politics made dargah removal point of prestige for the civic body (1 May 2006, Express India)

THE razed dargah near Champaner gate, over which violence broke out in Vadodara on Monday, stood in the middle of the road. Local Muslims say it was of a Sufi saint called Syed Rashiuddin Chishti, a descendant of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti of Ajmer. They claim the shrine was some 300 years old. Little else is known about the shrine, except that it has been attacked in all communal riots in Gujarat since 1969.

But Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC), which is controlled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), seemed to have been intent on removing it -- and on Monday itself -- to prove a point.

All along the BJP and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) had been building up pressure to have it demolished, if only to show that the ongoing demolition drive against illegal structures was not targeting only Hindu shrines.

The local Muslims leaders' decision to oppose the demolition on the ground that it was a "historical structure" - dargahs are generally not considered places of worship by Muslims - only seemed to have increased the political pressure.

This was evident from the presence of BJP leader Nalin Bhatt and councillors Rakesh Patel, Arvind Patel, Chandrakant Thakkar, Lalit Raj, Harish Shevani, Yogesh Patel and Mahesh Rana during the demolition.

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=180474

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  • MoS heckled on stock-taking visit (2 May 2006, Express India)
    http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=180630
  • Vadodara violence an extension of Hindutva Politics: Activists team on fact-finding visit holds Mayor, VMC Chief, Police responsible for violence; Want Article 355 imposed (4 May 2006, Ahmedabad Newsline)

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'Criminal charges needed against VMC officials' (19 May 2006, Express India)

The vice-president of the little-known Bazm-e-Aziz Charitable Trust, Mohammed Arif Sheikh, has sought permission from the Gujarat government to initiate criminal proceedings against mayor Sunil Solanki, municipal commissioner Rohit Pathak, Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) standing committee chairman Dinesh Choksi and police commissioner Deepak Swaroop for promoting ill-will between communities.

Sheikh's request for action against these people under Sections 153 and 153 (A) of the Indian Penal Code, which pertain to promoting ill-will and enmity between different groups and communities, is also backed by the Peoples' Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL),

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A notice addressed to the state government's chief secretary by the complainant's lawyer Mukul Sinha said the offences committed by the accused were of a very serious nature, resulting in the loss of life and property of citizens, and hence a sanction be granted for initiating criminal proceedings against them.

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=183480

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Police role during Vadodara to be probed: Patil (16 May 2006, Outlook)

Concerned over the demolition of a centuries-old Dargah in Vadodara that led to communal flare-up, the Centre today said the role of the police during the violence would be probed and those found guilty punished.

"There is a Places of Worship Act which guaranteed status quo to any structure existing on August 15, 1947. Cases could be filed against those who have violated this law and punished", Home Minister Shivraj Patil said in Rajya Sabha.

http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=385344

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Vadodara admn was not cautious: Centre (2 May 2006, Express India)

The Centre on Tuesday said the Vadodara district administration did not take enough caution in dealing with the issue of removing the dargah as matters of religious sentiments need to be dealt with a lot of sensitivity.

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"Enough caution was not taken by the district administration which decided to remove the dargah on the pretext of clearing illegal encroachment. More caution should have been taken," Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal told reporters here.

Jaiswal, who visited Vadodara where five persons have been killed in clashes following the demolition of the dargah, said "such matters (religious) should have been dealt with more sensitivity."

He said the administration could have sorted out the matter in consultation with the community representatives and not resorted to the demolition right away. Pointing out that it was believed that the dargah was nearly 300 years old, Jaiswal said "distinction should be made between an ordinary place of worship and the one which is a few hundred years old, where more sentiments are involved."

http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=67011

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Fatehpura dargah - PUCL complaint ignored (3 May 2006, PUCL Letter)

Given the known potential for communal conflict in Vadodara city, the authorities should have taken extra precaution to address the situation in a sensitive manner.

Instead, the authorities deviated from established norms to be followed during these types of events. The Mayor arrogantly and aggressively threatened to use the army of VHP and BJP workers to demolish the Dargah in the absence of cooperation from local police. The tense situation was created by the statements of the Mayor that and the rashly organized demolition drive -- both meant to instigate. Rather than effectively restoring peace and calm, the police in fact incited further violence by aiming fire directly at the public.

Many innocent citizens who were accidentally present at the time in Fatehpura were at the receiving end of the inflammatory actions of the politicians and the immature reaction of the police. The inept action of various authorities suggest a lack of seriousness. Indeed it appears that the casual approach to demolition of a sensitive dargah, the over-eager attempts to carpet the road thereafter -- speak of an underlying plan to keep the minority community under constant leash and a sense of siege.

http://www.pucl.org/Topics/Religion-communalism/2006/complaint-ignored.htm

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Violence in the aftermath of dargah demolition

Vadodara flares up as old dargah demolished, 4 die (2 May 2006, Indian Express)

Six of the 13 police station areas in Vadodara were put under curfew today after the demolition of a dargah led to clashes. Four people were killed, two of them in police firing, and 21 injured as violence spread.

A "balancing act" planned by the city BJP leadership - which had demolished temples as part of the anti-encroachment drive - triggered protests and violence and brought the worst nightmares back to the city....

As tension mounted, an inadequate police force resorted to tear gas and lathi-charge to control the swelling mob, and the ire against authorities turned into communal clashes. Stone-pelting ensued in the mixed neighbourhood of the Walled City and curfew was imposed by noon in the City police station area. The violence escalated and spread to other parts of the city.

At SSG Hospital, meanwhile, at around noon Husain Dhobi (25) and Mohammed Ayaz Mansuri (22) were wheeled in, declared dead on arrival, having sustained bullet injuries in the head. The two others who died - Ramchandra Meena and Biren Shah - had been stabbed.

Till evening, a continuous stream of injured, most in police firing, kept trickling in at the hospital. At the end of the day, the mayor and the municipal commissioner could only say that the demolition drive would continue and that the violence was not anticipated.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/3621.html

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Dargah issue: Tension prevails in walled city (2 May 2006, Rediff)

The situation in Vadodara, where demolition of a 200-year-old dargah by the civic authorities on Monday had sparked widespread violence, remains tense even though police on Tuesday said that curfew may be relaxed for a couple of hours in some areas.

One person was killed in police firing and two injured in clashes in the city early Tuesday morning, taking the death toll in the violence here to five, police said. Police fired at a rioting mob at around 2 am in Moti Vohrawaad area, killing one person while two others sustained injuries in mob clashes, they said.

Police lobbed teargas shells to disperse a group of people who tried to disrupt the funeral procession of two members of a minority community, killed in Monday's police firing.

http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/may/02dargah.htm

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Guj back on edge, man burnt alive (3 May 2006, Express India)

Fresh violence broke out in Vadodara on Wednesday following burning alive of a man in his car Tuesday night as the Centre dispatched five companies of 500 paramilitary personnel to contain the situation in the city.

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Two factories were set on fire by a mob in Sardar industrial area of curfew-bound Panigate and sporadic violence, including incidents of stone-pelting, were reported from some parts of the city, police sources said.

The authorities withdrew their earlier decision to relax curfew in Navapure, Wadi, Raopura, Panigate and Karelibag following last night's incident in which a mob set ablaze a car burning alive a person in Arjuwa road.

Security in the troubled areas has been tightened after last night's incident, they said. Amidst charges of police inaction, the Centre reviewed the situation and decided to dispatch five companies of paramilitary forces, including four of Rapid Action Force, to assist the Gujarat Police.

http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=67034

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Violence aftermath: Fear grips Vadodara - By Barkha Dutt (4 May 2006, NDTV)

A fragile peace has returned to Vadodara where six people have been killed in communal violence over the past three days but there is still fear among residents.

The Army has also reached the city and is helping hold the peace.

But even with the flag marches and round the clock vigils in sensitive neighbourhoods, it will take a while for the fear and panic to lift.

The city has been tense following violent clashes triggered by the demolition of a 200-year-old Rashidudin Chisti-ni-Dargah in the Fatehpura area of the city.

http://www.ndtv.com/template/template.asp?id=87551&callid=1

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Protesting police inaction, lawyers go on two-day strike (10 May 2006, Express India)

DEMANDING arrests of those involved in rioting around Nyay Mandir on the day of dargah demolition, the city lawyers on Tuesday went on a two-day strike, two days before the court closes for a month-long summer vacation. Police are investigating role played by some of the lawyers in the May 1 rioting near the Vadodara court....

Refuting advocates' claim about police inaction, Raopura Police Inspector, B M Rajvanshi said: "When I saw some youths attempting to set a car on fire, I drew my service revolver. It was then that some lawyers came out to protect the arsonists and surrounded me." Express Newsline was also witness to the incident that day.

Though lawyers are not clearly named in the case, the investigating officer in the case, a sub-inspector at the Raopura police station, agreed that some of them would be required to be held for obstructing police action to control the riot and for breaking curfew rules. "They are included in the mob of 500 Hindus but we have not specified," said Rajvanshi. Police are yet to make any arrests in this connection.

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=181789

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Siege of muslim localities and police response

Cops shut out cries for help (4 May 2006, The Telegraph)

'Go to Pakistan to seek police protection,' was the response from the Vadodara police control room when retired deputy superintendent Momin Khan Pathan called last night.

If this was the answer a former officer got, there was not much the other residents of Kismet Colony could expect. But they kept trying, calling the police for help for hours as a mob gathered in the neighbourhood.

The police came, after a resident of the colony had been burnt alive by the mob.

Sarifbhai Kapali, whose wife is a municipal corporator, said he has never felt so helpless as he did when the police shut out their calls last night....

"There was definitely some well-planned conspiracy. The power failure in the minority-dominated area was part of it. I'm sure somebody is behind all this."

While power cuts are rare in Gujarat cities, several minority-dominated areas in Vadodara suffered a blackout last night.

But Pargi's explanation is small consolation for residents who spent a night of terror and found the police "as biased" as it was in 2002, when more than a thousand were killed in riots across the state. The police looked like a puppet in the hands of the VHP and the Bajrang Dal, they said....

Responding to the charge of police apathy, commissioner Deepak Swaroop said they were holding a peace meeting with leaders of both communities when last night's incident happened.

That is no excuse for not responding to calls for help, Chirag Sheikh said. "Officials in stray vehicles abused us when we asked them to protect us," he added.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060504/asp/nation/story_6179285.asp

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Mob came calling, but cops never did: residents - By Soumik Dey (4 May 2006, Express India)

When curfew was clamped in Ajwa Road area, 38-year-old Mohammad Rafi Vora, who was driving home, must have thought that he would reach home safely. What he didn't know was the area was on the edge since hours.

At 11.45 pm on Tuesday night, Vora came under attack near his Kismat Colony residence: he was attacked with swords and his Tata Sierra car was set on fire with him inside it. Residents of the area - comprising minority community colonies -- allege that they made frantic phone calls to the police but the cops didn't respond....
‘‘Retired police inspector B I Pathan, a resident of Kismat Colony, had called the police when the mob started gathering. Instead, he was asked to call up Pakistan. It is a clear case of police negligence, or else my brother would have been alive today.’’

Haji's friends alleged that residents of the Riddhi Siddhi society opposite Vora colony were part of the mob. "The Friends of Police also ditched us in time of need... Police Commissioner Deepak Swaroop refused to comment on why the police did not respond in time. But he added that rioters had tripped transformer switches in the area, which caused an impediment in police work....

The police are yet to take any action following the incident. "We have registered an FIR and combing operations are to begin by Wednesday evening," said Panigate police inspector Y A Bhatiya.

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=180787

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He got engaged & killed in same night (2 May 2006, Times of India)

The community hall at Nani Vhorwad area was decked up on Monday night for the engagement ceremony of Mohammed Ashfaq Arab, 23, complete with sparkling lights, a large gate and a shamiana.

But with the turn of fate in a couple of hours, his last rites were performed under the same shamiana. Ashfaq, who worked at a showroom of a leading sportswear brand in the posh Alkapuri area, was killed by a stone injury that same night as the cops tried to quell sporadic incidents of violence since a mazaar had been razed on Monday....

After the engagement c e remony, Ashfaq left the community hall along with some friends. Ashfaq's eldest brother Nasir was the first to learn that a police team had picked up some youngsters in the area where curfew had been imposed.

"We thought Ashfaq must have also been picked up for violation of curfew orders," Nasir said. It was only later that the family came to know about Ashfaq's body lying in a nearby locality.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1513066.cms

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Vadodara: Minority people allege 'police inaction' (4 May 2006, Times of India)

Minority community people have alleged police "inaction" in protecting their lives and property and they were in fact the target of police action in the violence in the last three days following the demolition of a 200 year-old dargah on Monday....

The flare up later turned into communal violence. A 58-year-old hand cart puller, Mehmmudmiya Sheikh, who is recuperating at the SSG Hospital said when he was passing through Bhoyvada area of the city on May 1 at around 12 noon, the police stopped him and asked his name.

"They fired at my legs when I told them my name," he alleged. Julfikar Ahmed, a 24-year-old youth who has also sustained bullet wounds and is admitted to SSG hospital alleged that when he was passing through Hatikhana area of the city on Monday wearing a skull cap police fired at him from their jeep.

Apart from allegations of police targeting them, the minority community members allege that police did not respond to their calls when a mob attacked a few societies on the Ajwa road on Tuesday night.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1516188.cms

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Police burst tear gas shells as mob tries to disrupt funeral (2 May 2006, Outlook)

Police lobbed teargas shells to disperse a group of people today who tried to disrupt the funeral procession of two members of a minority community, killed in police firing during the clashes following demolition of a 200-year old dargah in Vadodara, police said.

The incident occurred when relatives of the deceased were passing through the tense Fatehpura locality with the bodies for the burial, police said.

Arsonists also tried to torch two scooters but police intervened and drove them away and escorted the bodies amidst tight security arrangments.

http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=381808

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International concern / News reports

Action Alert: Act Now to Stop Violence Against Muslims in Vadodara, Gujarat (3 May 2006, Indian Muslim Council - USA)

The state of Gujarat, India is again experiencing violence directed at the minority Muslim community. The outbreak of violence was started off by the demolition of a 300 year old historical Muslim shrine. The police shooting at the protesters and the subsequent attacks by mobs have led to a death toll of six with many others seriously injured....

IMC-USA urges all concerned to immediately call and write to the office of the Prime Minister of India, with the following demands:

1. The Central government of India should take immediate action to protect the lives and property of all the people in Gujarat, particularly the vulnerable minority Muslim community.

2. The Central government should take action against the Gujarat state government to prevent it from spreading organized violence against minority communities.

3. The Central government actively intervene and deploy the army to quell the ongoing violence.

4. An inquiry be called into the police action in firing and killing protesters at the shrine demolition.

http://www.imc-usa.org/cgi-bin/cfm/actionAlert.cfm?AAID=37

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British Indian Muslims Demand Presidential Rule in Gujarat (4 May 2006, Council of Indian Muslims - UK)

Council of Indian Muslims—UK (CIM) has urged Indian President Dr Abdul Kalam to dismiss the Government of the Chief Minister of Gujarat and impose presidential rule in the state.

In a letter to President Kalam, CIM’s Chairman Mr Munaf Zeena expressed, “deep sense of shock and alarm at the new wave of anti-Muslim violence in Vodora, Gujarat that has claimed the lives of six people, killed in the indiscriminate firing of Modi’s fascist police and one burnt alive by his gangsters.”

Deploring, “…the illegal and outrageous demolition of 300 years old historic shrine against which Muslims were made to protest.” Zeena said... “CIM urges you to: 1) Immediately dissolve Modi’s government and declare presidential rule in Gujarat; 2) Punish those involved in bulldozing the historic shrine and firing at peaceful demonstrators; 2)Pay compensation to those who have lost their dear ones and have suffered physically and financially.”

http://www.coim.org.uk/Gujarat%20Dargah.htm

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India: End Communal Violence in Gujarat, Kashmir - Investigate Perpetrators of Attack (4 May 2006, Human Rights Watch)

The possibility of a return to massive sectarian violence in Gujarat must be forestalled with prompt action by government authorities, Human Rights Watch said today.

Recent anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat have left six dead and have coincided with violence in Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir, where militant groups massacred at least 35 Hindus on April 30 and May 1....

In Gujarat, violence in Vadodara began with the demolition on May 1 of an ancient Muslim shrine by municipal authorities. Riots broke out as Muslims protested the demolition. At least five people died, including a Muslim and a Hindu, who were killed by police who shot at rioters. Tension built up over the following day and, during the night of May 2, avenging Hindu mobs, often led by members of the fundamentalist Hindu groups Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), surrounded and threatened Muslim neighborhoods. One Muslim man was burnt alive in his car. In other areas of the city, there were incidents of arson. The situation is still tense and Muslim residents are terrified, fearing a repeat of the 2002 state-backed riots. The army has been called in to prevent an escalation of violence.

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/05/03/india13305.htm

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Indian SC bans razing mosques in Gujarat (4 May 2006, The New Nation)

India's Supreme Court on Thursday banned the western state of Gujarat from razing mosques in a city where a municipal drive to clear congested areas triggered sectarian violence that left six dead....

The thinly-veiled federal warning came after Vadodara's Muslims complained that when they telephoned the city police for protection a gruff voice advised them to "return to Pakistan."

Supreme Court judges Ruma Pal and Dalveer Bhandari on Thursday ordered a stay in a ruling by Gujarat High Court. The May 2 ruling allowed the municipality to tear down shrines such as an ancient mosque whose demolition sparked off the Vadodara riots.

A rights group, meanwhile urged Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, a leader in the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, to act to halt violence. "The Gujarat government must be vigilant against extremist violence against helpless civilians," said Brad Adams, Asia director for the New York- based Human Rights Watch.

"Instead of allowing this violence to deepen religious hatred, the authorities should launch an immediate, thorough and transparent investigation to ensure that those responsible are prosecuted and punished," he said. Modi was also chief minister four years ago when top state officials including the current police chief P.C. Pandey, were blamed for sectarian riots that left more than 2,000 people dead.

http://nation.ittefaq.com/artman/publish/article_27612.shtml

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Centre may act if situation worsens - By Subodh Ghildiyal & Vishwa Mohan (4 May 2006, Times of India)

With fears of a communal flare-up in Gujarat growing, the Union cabinet took the view on Wednesday that the Centre should not let constitutional constraints come in the way of taking a pro-active stance.

The discussion in the cabinet, sparked at the insistence of minority affairs minister A R Antulay that the happenings in Vadodara should be seen as an issue of national unity rather than merely one of law and order, saw many members of the cabinet argue that the Centre should be ready to move in if the situation spun out of control....

The minority affairs minister led the charge against the Gujarat government, saying that the Gujarat chief minister had not taken his call. In short, all indications were of Centre as well as Congress leadership cranking up the pressure on the Gujarat government over the Vadodara violence.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1514949.cms

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Central Govt intervention and Army deployment

Vadodara: Government gives shoot orders to army (4 May 2006, Times of India)

Ten companies of the army, deployed in the city on Wednesday night, were given the power to shoot if that was necessary to control any rioting mobs, official sources said here....

Violence broke out in Vadodara, about 110 km from Ahmedabad, when police fired at an unruly crowd on Monday, killing two people. The largely Muslim crowd was protesting the demolition by civic authorities of a 300-year-old tomb.

The police firing provoked clashes, leading to four more deaths in two days, even as the situation was 'under control' on Thursday and curfew was relaxed in many parts....

The violence brought back memories of the sectarian strife in the state, including in Vadodara, in 2002 that claimed at least 1,000 lives.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1516523.cms

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Centre asks Modi to get to the roots of Vadodara violence (3 May 2006, Rediff)

With violence and arson continuing in Vadodara on the third day, the Centre on Wednesday asked the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Gujarat to conduct a comprehensive inquiry to ascertain how the situation slipped out of control in the wake of the demolition of a century-old "dargah" by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation on Monday.

''The state government has to do it and we will see that it is done. This kind of situation can otherwise remain uncontrolled,'' Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil said in New Delhi....

''The Gujarat government is requested to control it. We will also see to it that it is controlled. If we don't do it, we will be at fault,'' Patil said, while offering all required assistance to the Narendra Modi government to restore peace in the troubled areas where the violence has so far claimed nearly six lives.''The situation is still tense, but under control.'' He said the home ministry had already despatched four companies of the Rapid Action Force and one company of Central Reserve Police Force. Out of this, three companies had already been deployed in sensitive areas.

Duggal said more forces are being kept as stand-by. Pointing out that the situation in Vadodara is very sensitive, he asked the media to ''stay closest to facts'' so that the situation did not escalate.

A home ministry spokesman said the ministry had asked the state authorities to probe whether the district administration had acted appropriately to tackle the escalating violence....

http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/may/03guj5.htm

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Army conducts flag-march in Vadodara (3 May 2006, Times Of India)

The Union defence ministry on Wednesday decided to deploy eight companies of the Army in riot-hit Vadodara.

While three of the companies, each consisting of around 110 jawans, were readily available to the local authorities on Wednesday, another five companies were asked to be sent from the Army cantonment area of Ahmedabad....

The decision on giving instructions to the Army on what it should do was however left on the local authorities, which was in favour of conducting flag-march in the affected areas.

Sources in the Sachivalaya said that the state home department has been hard pressed by the Union home ministry to send across period report of what exactly had been happening in Vadodara and the forces involved during the communal flare-up.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1514934.cms

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Army sent in as Vadodara burns (4 May 2006, Times of India)

With the police having clearly failed to stop marauding mobs rampaging for the third successive day in Vadodara, the Army was called out for a flag march in the worst-hit neighbourhoods stained by the blood from communal violence and police firing... Two additional companies of the State Reserve Police, Rapid Action Force and Central Reserve Police Force were also deployed in areas where rioting has continued unabated right under police noses....

Even on Wednesday morning, Gujarat police, now headed by P C Pande, a man tainted by accusations that he did nothing to stop riots in Ahmedabad in 2002, seemed quite lost as arsonists went on the rampage in the Sardar Estate on the Ajwa Road. Four sheds were burned by the mob. In Raopura, a shoe store and a roadside kiosk were set ablaze. Rioters also set ablaze a cycle shop on the Madan Jhampa Road, two houses in Kotyarknagar, a couple of godowns near the Ajabdi Mill along with some handcarts, two-wheelers and shanties in other areas.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1514976.cms

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Dargah demolition could've been avoided: Centre (4 May 2006, Express India)

The Vadodara administration could have avoided demolition of a dargah in view of the people's sentiments associated with the old shrine, Union Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal is understood to have stated in a report to the government.

Jaiswal, who visited violence-torn Vadodara on Monday, is believed to have also said in his report that while a district administration has the right to launch drives to demolish illegal tructures, decisions to raze religious places, which were centuries old, should be taken after due deliberations keeping in mind the sentiments of the people.

The subsequent firing by police to contain the mob violence following the demolition could also have been avoided, the minister is understood to have said....

Jaiswal said the centre has sent paramilitary forces to Vadodara and Ahmedabad and also given directions to the Army to prevent any escalation of tension... The state authorities, he said, are in touch with the centre and have been sending their reports to the Home Ministry.

http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=67125

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Vadodara limping back to normalcy (6 May 2006, Rediff)

Signs of return to normalcy were seen in Vadodara on Saturday with a large number of people coming out of their houses during a four-hour relaxation of curfew from 8 am in three areas of his city, which did not witness any major incident of violence since the last two days.

The army was withdrawn from Raopura and Karelibagh areas at 6 am on Saturday. But, it continued patrolling in Vadi, Navapura, city police station and Panigate areas.

Till Friday, the curfew relaxation was only for women and children.

http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/may/06guj.htm

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Vadodara peaceful, Army likely to move out by Tuesday (7 May 2006, Hindustan Times)

With the seven-hour curfew relaxation passing off peacefully on Sunday, authorities have hinted that the Army could be withdrawn by Tuesday. The city remained completely peaceful, Police Commissioner Deepak Swarup said. "The Army will be withdrawn from the city by Tuesday. But, a final decision will be taken on Monday after monitoring developments," he said.

Swarup said that the curfew would be further relaxed for nine hours on Monday from 8 am to 5 pm in all six police station areas that were affected by violence following the demolition of a dargah by civic authorities on May 1. The Army has already been withdrawn from Raopura and Karelibagh areas.

Six people were killed and over 60 were injured in police firing and clashes last week....

Human rights activists have started a survey of religious places of Vadodara. Trupti Shah of the People's Union for Civic Liberties said it would ascertain which religious places were constructed before 1947 in view of the Supreme Court's order to maintain status quo for such shrines.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1692770,000900040003.htm

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Centre asks Modi to restore peace (4 May 2006, Economic Times)

In a firm message to the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat, the Centre on Wednesday asked the state to take all necessary steps to ensure that violence ends in the trouble-hit Vadodara, saying the Union government was closely watching the situation and will ensure that it is brought under control.

“I don’t think that these kind of situations can remain uncontrolled. The state has to do it and we will see that it is done,” Union home minister Shivraj Patil said.

The Centre also asked the Gujarat government to conduct a detailed inquiry on how the situation went out of control. It has also asked the State authorities to ascertain whether the district administration acted appropriately.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1515084.cms

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Army withdrawn from Vadodara (8 May 2006, Express India)

The Army was on Monday night withdrawn from all riot-affected areas of the city when the troops marched out of remaining four localities ahead of schedule following improvement in the situation there.

The Army troops pulled out of city, Wadi, Panigate and Navpura of the city at 8 pm IST. They had been withdrawn from Raopura and Karelibagh, the other riot-hit areas, on Saturday morning....

The troops were deployed in six police station areas -- city, Wadi, Panigate, Navpura, Kareli Bagh and Raopura -- of the city.

http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=67347

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One arrested in Vadodara (8 May 2006, The Hindu)

One person was arrested in connection with the death of Rafiq Vora in his car on May 2 following violence sparked by the demolition of a dargah, police said here on Sunday.

Neelkanth Marathe alias Garagewala of Ajwa Road was arrested last night, police said.

He has been remanded to four days police custody.

Rafiq's brother, Mohammed Vora, accused 14 persons of burning his brother in the car when he was returning from work.

http://www.hindu.com/2006/05/08/stories/2006050810080100.htm

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Modi visits Vadodara

Vadodara tense, Modi to assess situation (3 May 2006, NDTV)

Vadodara continues to be tense after a night of violent clashes. There are reports of fresh incidents of stone throwing in the Panigate area.

Chief Minister Narendra Modi will visit Vadodara later in the day to assess the situation.

Fresh violence erupted after a man was burnt alive on Tuesday by rampaging mobs. Six people have been killed since Monday when a Vadodara Municipal Corporation demolition drive demolished the over 200-year-old Rashidudin Chisti-ni-Dargah in Fatehpura area of the Walled City....

About 20 riot victims are already in the local hospitals. Eyewitnesses told NDTV that a mob of over 2,000 people attacked Muslim colonies on Ajwa road. Residents of the Muslim colonies alleged that the police did nothing despite repeated calls for help.

http://www.ndtv.com/template/template.asp?id=19316&callid=1

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Modhvadia sees Modi hand in demolition mess (4 May 2006, Times of India)

Accusing chief minister Narendra Modi of directly instructing Vadodara municipal commissioner R K Pathak to raze the mazaar of Sayeed Rashid uddin Chisti on May 1, the opposition Congress on Friday demanded a judicial probe into the manner in which communal passions were sought to be raised in the name of the anti-encroachment drive.

Talking to newspersons here, Congress leader Arjun Modhvadia, who was in Vadodara for two days, said, "Political pressure from Gandhinagar led the commissioner to sidetrack the negotiations that were on to bring about an amicable solution with the help of members of the Muslim community."

When asked to specify, Modhvadia said bluntly: "Who else but Modi?"

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1516619.cms

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The Vadodara test - Editorial (3 May 2006, Indian Express)

Law on civic clean-up has to be implemented but state can't let goons ride the bulldozer

Seen in isolation, the violence in Vadodara that left four people dead, two of them killed in police firing, doesn't amount to much in a country where life is cheap. But this happened in Gujarat, where every incident must be - and usually is - seen through many prisms, and analysed for any fallout with the potential to impact life and politics across the country. This was always so in a tinderbox state, and even more so in the aftermath of Godhra and the tortuous Best Bakery case. For Chief Minister Narendra Modi, this is a test and a wake-up call; with the state due for elections within the next 18 months, his response to the development will be watched with keen interest by the electorate, India Inc, and the public at large.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/3627.html

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Supreme Court orders ban on demolition

SC stays Guj HC order on Vadodara demolitions (4 May 2006, Outlook)

Against the backdrop of violence in Vadodara following the demolition of a dargah, the Supreme Court today stayed a Gujarat High Court order to remove all religious structures encroaching upon public land after the Centre intervened to seek an injunction.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Gopal Subramanian made an urgent mention of a Special Leave Petition before a Bench of Justice Ruma Pal and Justice Dalveer Bhandari seeking stay on the May two order of the High Court "in view of the extremely volatile situation prevalent in Vadodara"....

The ASG said the High Court took suo motu action based on a newspaper report "without even conducting a prima facie examination into the veracity of the contents of the newspaper report and without any pleadings on record".

"There was no petition, no affidavits or counter-affidavits or any official documents about the total number of temples or Islamic shrines on public space or whether they are protected monuments," he submitted....

According to the news report, there were 1,200 temples and 260 Islamic shrines encroaching on public land.

The High Court had also taken a serious view of reports of a mob trying to attack the Nyaymandir (court) building because of the demolition drive undertaken by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMVC) for removal of religious structures that encroach on public space.

http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=382398

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SC stays demolition of Vadodara structures (5 May 2006, Economic Times)

Displaying extra-ordinary activism, the Centre on Wednesday filed an Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court and got it stay the Gujarat High Court's order to demolish religious structures encroaching upon public space in Vadodara.

The Gujarat High Court had last month directed the state administration to demolish 1,200 temples and 260 Islamic shrines. Acting on the instructions from the court, the Vadodara civic administration has already demolished 18 religious structures belonging to the Hindu community and two of the Muslim community....

According to the Centre, the order passed by the HC "lacked judicial discretion in the matter of circumspection, particularly in a state which has witnessed communal disturbances".

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1516920.cms

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SC pacifies volatile Vadodara, stays demolition drive (4 May 2006, Hindustan Times)

The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed a Gujarat High Court order directing municipal corporations to demolish shrines obstructing roads....

Meanwhile, the Union Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal is understood to have stated that the Vadodara administration could have avoided demolition of a dargah in view of the people's sentiments associated with the old shrine... while a district administration has the right to launch drives to demolish illegal structures, decisions to raze religious places, which were centuries old, should be taken after due deliberations keeping in mind the sentiments of the people.

The subsequent firing by police to contain the mob violence following the demolition could also have been avoided, the Minister is understood to have said.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1690545,0008.htm

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SC stays Gujarat HC order on demolition (4 May 2006, Times of India)

The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the Gujarat High Court order directing authorities to remove all religious structures that were encroaching upon public spaces across the state without any discrimination.

The order to this effect was passed by a Bench comprising Justice Ruma Pal and Justice Dalveer Bhandari on an urgent plea made by the Centre during the mentioning hour seeking to stay the May two High Court directions.

Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanian said the High Court had taken suo motu action based on a newspaper report without verifying the facts.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1516244.cms

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Court suspends Baroda demolitions (4 May 2006, BBC)

Thursday's court order came in response to a federal government petition which argued that the removal of religious constructions "must be subjected to careful scrutiny" before any demolition is carried out.

India's junior Home Minister, Sriprakash Jaiswal, said that the authorities "did not exercise caution" while dealing with the situation....

"A mausoleum which has been there for hundreds of years cannot be termed as an encroachment," he told the BBC....

Baroda's Muslim residents allege that the police have been slow to react to the violence.

"I have no faith in the local police," one resident, Ismail Davar, said.

"They were standing as spectators when my shoe shop was gutted last night," he is quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4972742.stm

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Repeat of Gujarat 2002 prevented

Army marches again in Vadodara (3 May 2006, IBN Live)

The army marched through Vadodara on Thursday as officials said the situation was under control.

Curfew will be relaxed for children and women later in the day, said officials.

The army has put nine units comprising a thousand personnel in the city.

Soldiers first did a flag march on Wednesday night after a mob attacked a police station and burnt a bakery.

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/army-marches-again-in-vadodara/9304-3.html

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Army restores peace in Vadodara (5 May 2006, Hindustan Times)

Curfew has been temporarily lifted for women and children in Vadodara. Although no incidents of fresh violence have been reported but tension still hangs in the air. The city has been witnessing violence since Monday following demolition of a dargah.

Troops of the Rapid Action Force are keeping vigil over the city. The Army has been conducting flag marches in the city....

Meanwhile, the Union Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal is understood to have stated in his report on Thursday that the Vadodara administration could have avoided demolition of the dargah in view of people's sentiments associated with the old shrine.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1691080,0008.htm

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NCM recommends judicial probe into Vadodra firing (1 May 2006, Hindustan Times)

The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) on Monday recommended a judicial inquiry into the police firing in Vadodra, saying the protest over the municipal demolition of a centuries-old mausoleum in Gujarat could have been dealt with "tact"....

The religious rights watchdog also rejected claims of city authorities that demolition drive aimed at clearing illegal construction work.

"It stands to reason that a structure that pre-dates a master plan cannot be put to the category of 'encroachment'. Nor could it be the policy of the government to pull down historical monuments," the NCM said... Also, it called for investigations into designating the city dargah as an encroachment.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1688021,000900040003.htm

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Vadodara Violence Is A Dangerous Portent (28 May 2006, People's Democracy)

Sitaram Yechury speech in Rajya Sabha

The question is not whether economic development is taking place in Gujarat or not, the question is not whether this development can be expedited or not, the question is whether we would be able to preserve our secular democratic republic. The recent events need to be examined in this context.

You say that there were encroachments, that there are so many illegal structures that need to be removed. So do remove the encroachments. But the records say there already was a durgah in the name of Syed Rashiduddin Chishti where programmes were taking place everyday and these were fully funded by the Hindus. The durgah finds the first mention in 1912, in a municipal survey under the Baroda princely state of Siyajirao. It says the durgah is 385 years old. It is thus clear hat if a road was constructed there, it was the road that encroached upon the durgah property, not that the durgah encroached upon the road. You are talking of development; you say that roads are to be constructed. But the Vadodara commissioner is on record that they were talking to various people and that a solution could well have been worked out. I don’t want to go into the controversy that was just going on here between them and Mr Ahmad, as to whom the Gujarati Muslims would vote for. I would rather quote here from what a prominent BJP leader said in Vadodara: “The demolition of this durgah is a very well planned conspiracy. The Municipal Corporation authorities had promised us that it would not be demolished. We were working on a compromise formula, but they backed out and simply razed it.” This thing I am not saying; leaders of the BJP are saying. Then, if a compromise was possible, why did not they wait for it to take place? There were negotiations on the one hand, and on the other hand the police went on its own course, which led to a riot. And you know what takes place after a riot breaks out. There, only the shoot-at-sight order is issued. The autopsy reports say there was no lathicharge, no use of water cannons, nothing –– only firing and that too on chests.

There is a case in the Supreme Case regarding the present Gujarat IG Police, Pandey Saheb, and let me inform the House that once we had to spend a whole night sitting in his office. There was Amar Singh too with us, and there were Raj Babbar and Shabanaji who was then a member of this House. We had to sit there whole night on March 1, 2002, and we were unable to know what was taking place outside. Anyway, I don’t want to go into its detail; here I want to say that they brought him to the CBI, then he was made IG Police, and then took place the Vadodara incident within two weeks of that. I want that this House must take this thing very seriously –– that a 385 years old structure, the durgah of a Chishti Sufi saint was razed to the ground, just as the durgah of Urdu poet Wali Gujarati was demolished in Ahmedabad in 2002 and a road constructed there.

There is a Sufi shrine called Baba Budangiri at Chikmangalore in Karnataka. There too, a dispute is being created as to who would worship there. In 1993, this House had adopted a Places of Worship Bill, saying that the pre-1947 status of any place of worship would not be disturbed. If roads are to be constructed, there is plenty of experience as to how such disputes should be resolved. But the thing is that when a compromise solution was being worked out in Vadodara, they did not wait for it and took hasty action that deteriorated the atmosphere and led to a riot. It is in view of this thing that I ask the central government to direct the CBI to reinvestigate the cases, and there are 65 instances where a reinvestigation is needed.

http://pd.cpim.org/2006/0528/05282006_sitaram%20speech.htm

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Baroda: The divided city - By Suvojit Bagchi (9 May 2006, BBC)

Six people died in the violence which followed the demolition of a 200-year-old Muslim shrine by the city's authorities, who said they needed to demolish it for a road-widening project....

Many of the city's Muslims now say they are living in constant fear.

'Go to Pakistan'

Sabera Biwi is a Muslim woman who lives in the heart of Baroda and says she no longer feels safe.

"The police are telling us to go to Pakistan - and you are asking me whether I am safe?" she says angrily. "When we Muslims began protesting against the demolition of the shrine to widen the road we are told we are anti-development and anti-national. Are we not Indians?" Ms Biwi asked.

Traditionally, Hindus and Muslims used to live in the same neighbourhoods. But local residents say that since the 2002 riots in Gujarat, separate Hindu and Muslim neighbourhoods have emerged in Baroda....

JK Bandukwala... points out that the shrine was located a few feet away from an ancient arched gateway which is an archaeological site and therefore protected from demolition.

He refuses to accept that the demolition of the shrine would widen the road in the area and reduce traffic jams. "I can accept that only if you demolish the Gate too - which is much bigger in size," he said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4753825.stm

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Fascism and hatred still alive in Gujarat

Stoking communal flames - Editorial (5 May 2006, The Hindu)

The extended communal violence in Vadodara in Gujarat cannot be explained by its immediate provocation: the demolition of a dargah in Fatehpura area by the municipal authorities as part of a road-widening project. Ever since Narendra Modi took over as Chief Minister, Gujarat's Muslims have been living in a state of insecurity and fear. The genocidal pogrom of 2002 demolished whatever credibility Mr. Modi had in the eyes of the minorities. In the years following the pogrom, neither Mr. Modi nor the Bharatiya Janata Party Government headed by him has done anything to win back the confidence of Gujarat's minorities. Instead, the efforts of the Modi Government have so far been to feed the fears and complexes of the minorities at every available opportunity. Not surprisingly, Muslim residents near the dargah in Vadodara were suspicious of the real intent behind the notice issued by the Municipal Corporation for the removal of the structure -- which they claim was more than 300 years old. That three meetings with the residents of the area did not end in any agreement cannot be cited as an excuse for the insensitive and irresponsible manner in which the Municipal Corporation staff and the police handled the demolition...

The reaction of the State Government has been predictably partisan. Indeed, it needed constant monitoring by the Centre to ensure that the rioting did not spread to other parts of Gujarat. The initial reaction of the State administration to the Centre's offer of police assistance was not positive...

the Union Home Ministry rushed the Army and paramilitary forces to Vadodara, displaying a degree of alertness and responsibility that contrasted sharply with the collusive attitude of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance Government towards the post-Godhra communal conflagration of 2002. One of the reasons for the anti-Muslim pogrom claiming so many lives then was the politicisation and communalisation of the police force under Mr. Modi. Central forces were not called in until the situation had spun out of control.

http://www.thehindu.com/2006/05/05/stories/2006050506101000.htm

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Gujarat once again a communal tinderbox - By Amulya Ganguli (6 May 2006, Indianmuslims.info)

Gujarat is reliving the tragic communal violence of 2002. Though the latest outbreak in Vadodara is mercifully far less in intensity than the prolonged disturbances which racked the state four years ago, some of the factors in the two events are distressingly common.

These include not only the failure of the police to respond in time to the desperate cries for help from the minority community but also the vicious taunts used by some policemen when they asked the callers to seek help from Pakistan.

The involvement of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal cadres belonging to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-dominated saffron brotherhood in the riots was also in evidence this time, as during the violence of 2002.

A third similarity was the controversial role of the judiciary which allowed the demolition of a dargah (shrine) belonging to the Muslim sufi saint Syed Rashiuddin Chisti on the grounds that it was obstructing the broadening of a road. Incidentally, Chisti was related to the famous Sufi saint, Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti of the 16th century, whose dargah in Ajmer is the site of a pilgrimage for both Hindus and Muslims.

The judiciary's order has now been negated by the Supreme Court. But it is clear that the earlier directive had failed to take into account the sensitive nature of the site. For one thing, the claim that the dargah was an encroachment was a curious one considering that it was more than two centuries old. So, evidently, it was the city roads which were 'encroaching' on the shrine rather than the other way round.

For another, it was known to be targeted for demolition by the saffron cadres, who described it as a 'mini-Babri masjid'. The reference was to the destruction of the Babri mosque on Dec 6, 1992, by Hindu mobs that led to the political resurgence of the Bharatiya Janata Party. During the 2002 riots, an even more famous shrine of Wali Gujarati was destroyed.

http://www.indianmuslims.info/news/2006/may/06/articles/gujarat_once_again_a_communal_tinderbox.html

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US commission urges India to punish perpetrators of Gujarat riots (4 May 2006, Rediff)

The Sangh Parivar and Bharatiya Janata Party-led governments have come under severe attack from a US commission which said the Indian government should hold to account the perpetrators of the 2002 Gujarat riots to display the country's return to its tradition of religious tolerance.

Although positive developments affecting freedom of religion and belief have been witnessed in the country since the United Progressive Alliance government came to power, the US Congress-mandated commission said, "Concerns about religious freedom in India remain" despite the "improved situation"....

Referring the February 2002 Gujarat riots of "particular concern" to it, the commission said the Narendra Modi-led BJP government was "widely accused of being reluctant to bring the perpetrators of the killings of Muslims to justice".

Contending that "few persons had been arrested and held to account for the deaths", it said in the wake of "failures" of the Gujarat government, the Supreme Court had declared in October 2003 that it had "no faith left" in the state's handling of the investigations.

http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/may/04guj3.htm

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There's a Taliban in Gujarat - By Javed Anand (6 Jun 2006, Hindustan Times)

For the crusaders of Hindutva in Vadodara, the Dargah of Hazrat Rashiduddin that was bulldozed to oblivion last Monday was obviously a huge "embarrassment", a constant "eyesore". The shrine has been on the sanghi hit list since 1969, never mind the fact that the dargah, as most others in the country, was the common meeting place for Hindus and Muslims. Or, all the more reason perhaps why it had to go.

Along with mass killings, loot and gangrape, as many as 270 places of religious and cultural importance to Muslims were desecrated or destroyed all over Gujarat in a single week following the Godhra carnage in 2002. Among them was the mazaar of the renowned poet Wali Dakhani just outside the office of the police commissioner of Ahmedabad. The facade of the tomb of Ustad Faiz Khan in Vadodara was also vandalised. How embarrassing, in this background, for a Vadodara sanghi to see the Dargah Hazrat Rashiduddin intact, a constant reminder of the unfinished agenda of 2002. Who'll wait for the next full-blown carnage to provide the pretext? The "development" of Vadodara was good enough cover for the destruction of a 300-year-old monument. If a few makeshift roadside temples also need to be knocked down for pretence of even handedness, that's fair barter.

For those who think that the genocide in Gujarat in 2002 is a thing of the past, last week's ugly incidents in Vadodara are a reminder, albeit on a miniscule scale, that in the land of the Mahatma, many of the ingredients and the official instruments that made the earlier conflagration possible are still intact....

The timing of the eruption in Vadodara may be politically very inconvenient to chief minister Narendra Modi. But it is he alone who bears the responsibility for hounding or sidelining honest police officers, while PC Pandey, the then police commissioner of Ahmedabad who oversaw the killing of nearly 500 Muslims in his city is elevated to the post of Gujarat's director general of police. When you turn the police force into a servile tool force and nurture mass murderers what else can you expect?

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1692318,00300006.htm

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Gujarat: When Will The UPA Govt Wake Up? - By Nalini Taneja (7 May 2006, People's Democracy)

In reporting this latest demolition, the Indian Express says that "it stood in the middle of the road" (May 2, 2006), which makes one wonder that if it was 300 years old, did the dargah encroach on the road, or the road on the dargah! Its report of May 3, 2006, p. 9, does a balancing act on the matter by asserting that "the Muslim leaders, honed on the 2002 riots experience, however, failed to evolve a response that could have avoided violence or the contentious build up to the situation. The leadership also seems to be unable to contain its restive youth...." And again, "The BJP stand is short of gleeful joy as they have been handed on a platter their acclaimed avowal to development at all costs, hindered apparently by an immature Muslim rhetoric."

And yet again, that "Even before the demolition of the dargah, the Muslims who resisted and petitioned against its removal knew, as did everyone else in the city, that there would be trouble in the city. The implication is that the Hindutva forces should be allowed to do what they want if the administration and police remain on the side of the Hindutva goons, so as to avoid violence on themselves and in the city in general. The question is never asked as to why Muslims are forced into taking matters into their own hands, or as to why the administration and the police are discriminatory and actively act on the side of Hindutva goons. The collusion of the state on the side of Hindutva forces is the overriding factor in contributing to violence on all sides is something that needs to be emphasised again and again....

The administration seems to have responded to this plea by stating that it is not a "protected monument" and that the Muslim community has "no papers of possession". Again the question is not asked as to why the old monument was not granted the status of a protected monument in the first place, and whether the BJP or the Congress governments in the state can ever be expected to declare 'Muslim' monuments' as protected. The Gujarat High Court has directed the state government to issue immediate instructions to the police department to provide full protection to demolition squads, that encroachment on public space by religious places should not be permitted or tolerated "even for a minute", which the BJP government is happy to interpret as endorsement of its demolition of the 300 year old dargah, and to designate it as encroachment and hindrance to its plans for 'developing the area. A very convenient tool to accomplish taking over of land and attacking the places of worship belonging to the minorities!....

There has not been a single statement from the prime minister or any senior leader of the Congress expressing concern at the blatant infringement of the constitutional and fundamental rights of citizens belonging to minority religious groups. A party that has been least sensitive to federalism has suddenly woken up to usefulness of autonomy of states on issues of secularism and minority rights. In Gujarat, thousands of Muslims have neither been compensated nor allowed to return to their homes and livelihood since the genocide of 2002. The UPA government seems to have reconciled itself to this and has not even expressed cognizance of the situation. It is complicit in the second class status of the Muslims and Christians in BJP ruled states like Gujarat and Rajasthan: Prime minister Manmohan Singh took great care to apologise for 1984, and rightly so, but has not bothered with the continuing siege of Muslims in Gujarat, or Muslims and Christians in Rajasthan. What more is required to happen before the UPA government, to wake up to take some action? Or at least take notice?

http://pd.cpim.org/2006/0507/05072006_nalini.htm

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Murder Of Sufi Soul - By Teesta Setalvad (5 May 2006, Times of India)

The trouble began in Vadodara on May 1, with the demolition launched by Vadodara municipal administration, aided by police, in violation of the 'compromise' formula worked between the administration and minorities that two and a half feet of the shrine were to be 'sacrificed' for 'development'.

The shrine in question was the Dargah Hazrat Rashiuddin, a target of communal forces since 1969. At least 385 years old, its existence is recorded in the first city survey carried out by Sayaji Rao Maharaj in 1912.

On the morning of May 1, the police and corporation demolished the shrine and by afternoon in a swift military-like action even paved a road over it.

Ghastly memories of 2002 were invoked when over 270 minority shrines were destroyed in just the first six days of post-Godhra premeditated violence, including the Wali Dakhani's mazhar just outside the CP's office at Shahi Baug in Ahmedabad on March 1, 2002....

Four years later, in Vadodara, BJP leaders who are also VHP and Bajrang Dal office bearers, assisted the administration in paving a road over the destroyed shrine. Dargahs, or the mazars (graves) of Sufi saints are visited by worshippers belonging to different communities....

RSS has allegedly compiled and circulated a secret list of over 400 such shrines (that include churches) that need to be recaptured or taken over or destroyed. It is this deeper motive behind the May 1 attack on the Vadodara shrine, aspects of which were a chilling reminder of the pogrom of 2002, that needs to be showcased in public memory today.

Many of Gujarat's cities are today segregated and ghettoised, dividing civic existence and living into an Us versus Them. This makes any political project of divide and rule, however unconstitutional, easier.

The destruction of dargahs is a pre-requisite for complete division and polarisation among Gujaratis. Police firing after the demolition in Vadodara -- television shots clearly show -- was aimed to kill, not disperse....

Worse, this was not a neutral administrative action. Present at the site were mayor of the city, Sushil Solanki, BJP leader(s) Nalin Bhatt and councillors Rakesh Patel, Arvind Patel, Chandrakant Thakkar, Lalit Raj, Harish Shevani, Yogesh Patel and Mahesh Rana.

Incidentally, both Bhatt and Patel have been identified by citizens' groups as allegedly responsible for the vicious violence in Vadodara in 2002.

Provocative slogans like, 'destroy the mini-Babri' and 'if the VMC will not demolish, the VHP and Bajrang Dal will' proved to be the last straw. Three persons died in police firing, and 27 were injured.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1518080.cms

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Rubble-rousers - By Harsh Mander (7 May 2006, Hindustan Times)

Television cameras recorded how policemen shot at the retreating crowd at point-blank range, aiming at their heads rather than their feet. Two men died of bullet injuries of the head and many were injured. All rules that regulate the use of force against civilian populations were
disregarded. There was no advance warning, no lathi charge, no water cannons, no rubber bullets, no shooting at the feet. There was only firing to kill. We later inspected the site and found bullet marks on walls more than five feet above the ground and deep inside the lane where they were chased as they fled.

The municipal administration and the mob then demolished the Sufi shrine and immediately built a tar road drive over it. Their triumphant mood revived memories of the Babri masjid demolition and that of the razing of the Wali Gujarati dargah in Ahmedabad in 2002 -- except that this operation was openly planned and executed by the state administration itself.

The widespread dismay and outrage that followed was countered by authorities, who described the demolition as part of a routine administrative exercise to widen roads and 'beautify' the city. It was claimed that several temples had similarly been peacefully demolished with no protest and the Muslims, by implication, were painted as being violent, regressive and opposed to development. This communal subterfuge was uncritically relayed by large sections of the media and remains the popular perception of the violent events in Vadodara, because it fits and fuels prevailing communal stereotypes.

What the authorities hid was, first, that the Hindu temples that were demolished were mostly 'deras' or tiny private temples built in recent years. We took photographs of at least 20 temples, mostly in the vicinity of police stations or the municipal headquarters, that indeed blocked the roads, and one inside the office premises of the police commissioner. But there was no demand to demolish these temples. Further, at least eight much more substantial Muslim shrines had also been demolished, with no protests by the Muslim community.

Further, there is evidence that this dargah is several hundred years old, and probably predates the city of Vadodara itself. Therefore, by no definition can it be described as an encroachment. If at all, it was the city that encroached on the shrine. There are records of a city survey undertaken in 1912 by the erstwhile Gaekwad ruler, copies of which we acquired that clearly show presence of the shrine. An Act of Parliament passed after the traumatic demolition of the Babri masjid in 1992 lays down that the status quo cannot be altered of religious structures that existed in 1947. This makes the officially sanctioned demolition not only communally motivated, but also in violation of the law of the land.

Finally, the dargah did not actually obstruct traffic, as it was close to the pavement. In any case, the traffic was constrained by the adjacent narrow Champaner Darwaza. Despite this, in the interests of peace, Muslim leaders agreed to drastically reduce the structure. But once again the authorities refrained from disclosing this offer.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1692977,00120001.htm

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Back to 2002? - By Sitaram Yechury (3 May 2006, Hindustan Times)

I had occasion to sit an entire night in Pande's office in Ahmedabad on March 1, 2002. Amar Singh, Raj Babbar, Shabana Azmi and I had rushed to Ahmedabad in a delegation of the People's Front on hearing of the large-scale communal violence. We were kept sitting in the office of the police commissioner, and were not allowed to visit any area. We were, in fact, told (read: threatened) that since our faces were known, as also our views, it would be better if we did not move about. This, however, did not deter us from doing the little that we could. The official justification that allowed the gruesome mayhem to take place, at least on that night

in Ahmedabad, was that a lesson should be taught in retaliation for what had happened in Godhra the day before. What followed in Gujarat is a blot in Independent India's history. Pande, however, was promoted as Additional Director, CBI, by L.K. Advani's Home Ministry. When the Supreme Court ordered CBI investigations into some of the more gruesome of incidents, it had to order that Pande would not, in anyway, be associated with such investigations. Three of the seven investigations, in respect of which the National Human Rights Commission gave this recommendation, pertain to the incidents in Ahmedabad then.

It is the recurrence of this pattern that is foreboding for the future. Many, justifiably, see this as a curtain-raiser to the forthcoming 2007 assembly elections in Gujarat. That the 2002 communal holocaust yielded a polarisation favourable to communal forces is there for all to see. A similar polarisation is what is being sought. Even today, more than three years later, justice is denied to victims while the guilty move scot-free. The Best Bakery trial and the conviction of the prime witness, Zahira Sheikh, of perjury demonstrates how the Gujarat administration and the justice delivery system is being manipulated to deny justice and protect the guilty.

These disturbing developments in Gujarat fit into the larger picture of the RSS/BJP's decision to return to their basics in order to rejuvenate their fast-declining political position. Facing a serious disarray, given the conflicting pronouncements made by their leaders on various issues and the accompanied infighting, the return to the politics of rousing communal passions and consequent polarisation seems to be their declared fall-back option. The recent rath yatras by their leaders have focused on the core communal issues, including that of building the temple at Ayodhya. Having razed the dargah of 'Wali Gujarati' in the 2002 riots, they have now repeated a similar thing in Vadodara. In faraway Chikmagalur in Karnataka, tensions are being whipped up around the Sufi shrine of Baba Budangiri.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1689872,00120001.htm

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Killing zeal - By Dionne Bunsha (May 6 - 19, 2006, Frontline - Vol 23, Iss 9)

The story started when a demolition notice was dropped at the doorstep of the 300-year-old shrine of the Sufi saint Syed Rashiduddin Chisti on Fatehpura-Chappaner Road, Vadodara's old city. The municipal corporation wanted to knock down the dargah as it was blocking the road. Muslim groups objected and were talking to the administration. "We had reached a compromise the day before the demolition. We agreed to their proposal to keep only the shrine intact and demolish everything around it. Why did they go ahead and raze it all on May 1?" asked Zuber Goplani from the Anjuman-e Indad-e-Bahami.

"The police had warned of a communal flare-up during the demolition. But the municipal corporation was insistent. We were prepared for trouble," Deepak Swaroop, Vadodara's Police Commissioner, told Frontline....

Yet, it could have been averted if Mayor Sunil Solanki had not been quite so aggressive. Despite warnings, he was intent on going ahead at any cost. He dismissed compromise. And refused to postpone the demolition to prevent trouble....

"The temples that the Mayor claims were removed are actually small deras [private shrines] put up recently or the stairs of a small temple. This was a historic monument marked in the 1912 town plan, even before the municipal corporation existed," said Goplani. There are several temples that have sprung up more recently, like the Hanuman temple at Old Padra Road, that are bang in the middle of the road....

There were several complaints of police inaction. The police did not even respond to calls and fax appeals from human rights groups such as the People's Union for Civil Liberties, which has been actively trying to broker peace during communal conflicts. At the hospital, most of those admitted with bullet injuries were Muslims. "I was selling vegetables on my cart. The police asked me my name and then told me to go and shot me in the back," said Ali Salim Pathan, 16.

http://www.flonnet.com/fl2309/stories/20060519003802000.htm

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Only social change can end moditva: Gujarat's political deficit - Editorial (8 May 2006, Economic Times)

The partisan role played by the local administration and police of Vadodara to instigate and abet the recent communal violence in the city, which claimed five lives, is galling. It, however, does not surprise.

Gujarat's communally polarised society and polity has inevitably engendered a complicit administrative machinery. To that extent, the central government was right in promptly despatching the army and paramilitary forces....

Gujarat's economy is modern in form but is framed by traditional social relations. Minorities and weaker sections have had relatively much less access to modern education and skills.

An equitable social order, which would broaden the base of human capital, is a necessary precondition for Gujarat's economy to become truly sustainable. A politics that strives to ensure such equity would rid Gujarat of Modi and all he stands for.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1519727.cms

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Hating Muslims is a Natural Thing in Gujarat - G N Devy Interview (20 May 2006, Tehelka)

Gujarat has become an intolerable place; at least that is how I find it. Today, there are very few people I can talk to in Gujarat because they simply do not understand basic things, or don't want to. I can make myself a very comfortable citizen of Vadodara. But the problem is, I cannot talk to the people of this city; it is like walking in the desert. I find the popular myth of Gujaratis being peace-loving people impossible to believe. How could all the riots, so many of them since 1969, have happened if this were true?....

The Muslim hatred practiced here is not conscious or learnt. It is just somehow normal, as nature would have meant it to be. There is no bitterness of Partition here, as is the case with Punjab. There is only the deep, almost genetic, knowledge of Somnath and the invasions and an accumulation of prejudices. Then there is a huge void in their memory until Gandhi arrives.

Gandhi, I have to say, is not a popular man in Gujarat; they merely pay him lip service. You do not become a bad man in Gujarat if you hate Muslims; you are normal. Decent people hate Muslims. And it is not a city phenomenon alone; this is true of villages as well. If a Muslim is traumatised, it is a normal thing. Just to give a sense of how Gujarati Hindus relate to Muslims, I will come to the Narmada issue. Gujarat is extremely pro-dam and, therefore, extremely anti-Medha Patkar. Gujaratis will call all pro-Medha people Muslims. Intolerance in Gujarat is unanimous... The minds have got locked here. The culture of disagreement and dissent is pervasively shunned. This is so even when Gujarat is not a feudal state in terms of its economic makeup.

Some years ago, Habib Tanvir wanted to come and stay and work in Vadodara. He did not find a house for six months. Eventually, he went back. Some of us tried to find him a place to stay, but nobody was willing. My own landlord at the time, a perfectly decent man otherwise, refused. Raoof Valiullah, an honest and purposeful Congress mp was killed by gangsters in the centre of Ahmedabad a few years ago. Not even the Congress party made a noise about it. I think because Raoof was a Muslim. There was no sense of loss or outrage when Ehsan Jafri was killed. There is no political or ideological divide in Gujarat on the Muslim question; even the Congress hates Muslims....

Gujarat is probably the only state that has a sizeable Muslim population but no Urdu paper. I wonder if there is something to it, a state of collective aphasia. I often wonder how it must feel to be a Muslim in Gujarat. I shudder to think what it must require to live at the wrong end of so much hatred, contempt and threat.

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main18.asp?filename=Ne052006view_point_CS.asp

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Restraining judges: The Gujarat HC order hits basics - Editorial (6 May 2006, Financial Express)

We refer to the amazing order from a bench of the Gujarat High Court... the Gujarat HC stepped in on its own. Saying they were acting on what they’d read in a newspaper on the general problem of shrines encroaching on public space, the judges ordered civic authorities across Gujarat to immediately begin demolitions and report on compliance within three days....

The point is, the spectacle of judges deciding by themselves the content, direction and timing of policy has no place in a democracy. Judges are expected to take up a plaint on referral, invite and hear all the parties concerned, following a detailed procedure, and then decide their verdict in accordance with the law as made by other agencies. Taking executive powers, let alone the legislative, into their hands at will is not their job. And this applies whether their motives are exemplary or not, if their intervention does some good or not... There is no alternative to vigorous civic involvement to enforce accountability on the various wings of state - and that includes the judiciary.

http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=126085

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URL for this Special Edition digest is: http://www.imc-usa.org/digest/special/2006/vadodara.violence.htm
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