The Hindu : Violence erupts in Ahmedabad

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 08, 2002

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Violence erupts in Ahmedabad

By Manas Dasgupta

AHMEDABAD NOV. 7. Eight persons were injured in police firing and stone-throwing in a fresh outbreak of communal violence in Gomtipur and Dani Limda localities in old Ahmedabad today. (A latenight PTI report said 15 persons were injured in the incidents).

Police said the immediate provocation for the disturbances in Gomtipur was not known, but, presumably, it was the result of a communal flare-up in Raikhad in the Gaekwad haveli police station area on Wednesday night.

Six persons were injured in police firing and stone-throwing in Raikhad in the heart of the city after a brawl over payment by a group of Hindu youths at a roadside eatery run by Muslims in the adjacent Jamalpur locality. Even as the disturbances in Raikhad subsided, trouble broke out in the labour-dominated Gomtipur locality this evening as mobs indulged in stone-throwing, forcing the police to burst teargas shells. Police later opened fire, injuring two persons. Six persons were injured in the stone-throwing.

Police said a couple of shops and cabins were also set on fire by unruly mobs. The atmosphere had remained surcharged in the last couple of days over the bursting of crackers during Diwali and the Hindu New Year Day and minor issues were enough to spark trouble as was the case in Raikhad.

The disturbances at Raikhad, however, have assumed political significance in view of the presence of a large number of Dalit voters in the area, which forms part of the Jamalpur Assembly constituency.

Traditionally, the Jamalpur seat has been claimed by Muslims, either nominated by the Congress or as independents, and BJP sources said the party believed that the Dalits voted for Muslim candidates out of fear as they were surrounded by the minorities on all sides. The BJP believes that it is possible to win over the Dalits if they are made to overcome their fear of the minorities.

The BJP is believed to be toying with the idea of nominating a Vishwa Hindu Parishad activist for the Jamalpur seat to polarise voting on communal lines.

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