Gujarat in the Grip of Unabated Violence, Media Reports VHP-Police Nexus

NEW DELHI: Gujarat is in the midst of communal violence, with fires raging in Vadodara for at least ten days now and spreading to other districts . most recent being Dabhel village of Navsari.

Cow slaughter has become the basis for generating hate crime, with the state beset by rumours of the same before and during the festival of Eid. Reports in newspapers like the Indian Express actually state that there has been a visible nexus between the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the state police in triggering the violence. The Express reported, “a common thread appears to have emerged from a series of communal incidents in Gujarat over the last two weeks, with residents of the areas affected blaming an alleged nexus between local VHP activists and police in triggering the violence. All the clashes were sparked by crackdowns on the sale of beef during Navratri and Bakrid — the slaughter of cows is banned in Gujarat.”

VHP ‘gau rakshaks’ reportedly sent the police to the concerned village to detain residents for allegedly selling beef. In Vadodara according to locals, there has been large scale and almost continuous arson, with valuable businesses and properties gutted by the violent mobs with no intervention of any significance from the police. In Ahmedabad’s Shahpur area, the police shot dead a youth in clashes on exactly the same cow slaughter issue. As a section of the media reported quoting residents of the Shahpur Rangila Chowky area, the police accompanied by VHP men carried out search operations of alleged suspects for cattle smuggling.

The VHP is having a field day in Gujarat now, petitioning the government officials and drumming up the cow slaughter issue across the state. A fear psychosis is being steadily built through sustained propaganda with the violence continuing instead of abating in the sensitive districts of the state. CDs are being distributed across the state, meetings on cow slaughter inciting mobs to retaliate are being freely held, with local media reports confirming the same.

Gujarat that has virtually banned Muslims from participating in the Garba dance has given yet another handle to the VHP to organise a hate campaign against the minorities in the state. Petitions have been submitted by right wing organisations cautioning district authorities about the same, and insisting that preventive action be taken so that the Muslim youth were kept away from such religious or cultural celebrations.

The violence has been moving around the districts unabated with mobs attacking, plundering, looting and burning down properties at will. Rumours spread also on the internet and mobile services is having a major impact, with the police unable to contain the violence from spreading. An attempt by the authorities to block internet services in Vadodara after large scale, and continuing rioting, has not worked. Pitched battles are being fought by mobs while the police has become a bystander.

The Times of India reported: “When trouble erupted in Vadodara during Navratri, the police should have anticipated the spread of violence. Their failure on this count reflects the puzzling drop of guard since Narendra Modi's departure to Delhi. Bigots of various hues have been making irresponsible statements, bootleggers have been assaulting cops, and there is a general sense of the police force being on the back foot. It is time that law enforcers reclaimed their hold over law and order and prevented Gujarat from turning into a communal cauldron again.”

There has been no response from the Gujarat chief minister or for that matter the BJP and the government at the centre.