Gujarat violence brings back spectre of 2002 massacres
For three days now, in Vadodara, clashes between Muslims and police have raged after the demolition of a sacred place; six people have been killed. VHP Hindu extremists are fanning the flames. The bishop and human rights activists have condemned the local authorities, the forces of order and fundamentalists.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) People burned alive, clashes between Muslims, Hindus and police, curfews. In the state of Gujarat, western India, deep, as yet unhealed, wounds from inter-religious clashes in 2002 have been reopened. For three days now, in Vadodara (first known as Baroda), a Hindu extremist crowd, fomented by activists of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP extremist group), has been carrying out violent protests against the Muslim minority community. The police at times just stand and stare; other times they simply shoot on the crowd.
The unrest started on 1 May, when local authorities demolished a dargah, the tomb of a holy Sufi, because it was built on state property. Muslim residents claimed the administration knew the community intended to transfer the "centenary" construction somewhere else but it paid no heed.
Today, the death toll rose to six after 1am last night, when a 38-year-old man was burnt alive in his car on Ajwar Road. The crowd carrying out the attack was led by Ashok Thakur and other renowned VHP activists. Yesterday, another man met the same fate. On 1 May, the death toll of violence between Muslims and police reached four.
The bishop of Vadodara, Mgr Godfrey de Rozario, condemned the approach of the civil authorities "who should show more sensitivity to the religious feelings of people instead of provoking anger." He said: " If they thought the demolition was legal, they should have paved the way for it: the inter-faith violence in 2002 is still alive in our minds and the wounds have not yet healed."
In 2002, the so-called "Gujarat carnage" took place, that is, a series of inter-religious clashes that claimed the lives of 2,000 people, mostly Msulims.
Catholic human rights activists have taken the side of the Islamic community. Fr Cedric Prakash, director of Prashant, a Jesuit human rights centre, said: "We are shocked by what is happening in Vadadora; we condemn the violence perpetrated by part of the population, but we also condemn the indifference of the police and its complicity in these incidents. All those wanted to take justice into their hands should be arrested, especially members of fundamentalist groups like the VHP."
The Jesuit, who has followed the situation in Gujarat since 2002, said: "Once again, the local government has failed to protect minorities and their property. New Delhi should intervene promptly to avoid a repeat of the 2002 events."
For the moment, an intermittent curfew is in force across the city. The Interior Affairs minister said "five teams of the Central Reserve Police and four of the Rapid Action Force" are on their way to the area.
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