The rise of Hindu nationalism in India: The case study of Ahmedabad in the 1980s

Modern Asian Studies

Volumn 39, Issue 4, 2005, Pages 861-896

  Shani, Ornit ^a  

^a TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY   (Israel)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ETHNOPOLITICS; HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE; NATIONALISM; POLITICAL CHANGE; RELIGION;

ASIA; EURASIA; INDIA; SOUTH ASIA;

EID: 27844521895     PISSN: 0026749X     EISSN: 14698099     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0026749X05001848     Document Type: Article

References (174)

1. See Siddharth Varadarajan (ed.), Gujarat: The Making of a Tragedy (Penguin Books, New Delhi, 2002);
2. Aakar Patel, Dileep Padgaonkar, B. G. Verghese, Rights and Wrongs. Ordeal by Fire in the Killing Fields of Gujarat (Editors Guild Fact Finding Mission Report, New Delhi, May 2002);
3. John Dayal (ed.), Gujarat 2002. Untold and Retold Stories of the Hindutva Lab (Media House, Delhi, 2002);
4. Chaitanya Krishna (ed.), Fascism in India. Faces, Fangs and Facts (Manak, Delhi 2003);
5. Report by People's Union for Democratic Rights, 'Maaro! Kaapo! Baalo!' State, Society, and Communalism in Gujarat (PUDR, Delhi, 2002).
6. Major communal conflagrations occurred in Ahmedabad in 1985, 1986, 1990 and 1992. During the 1990s sporadic communal riots transpired in the city and in other parts of Gujarat.
7. In 1987 the BJP won the elections for Ahmedabad Municipality. In the 1990 Assembly elections the party increased its seats in Gujarat from 11 in 1985 to 67, and by 1995 it swept the assembly elections in the state, securing 122 seats out of 182. In both the 1998 and 1999 elections the BJP retained its dominant position. See TOI, 11/1/98-31/3/98. Priyavadan Patel, 'Sectarian Mobilisation, Factionalism and Voting in Gujarat, Economic and Political Weekly, August 21-28, 1999, pp. 2423-33.
8. For some scholars, Gujarat appeared even to 'set the pace' in the decline of the Congress and the growth of Hindu nationalism. See David Ludden, 'Introduction', in David Ludden (ed.), Making India Hindu (Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1996), p. 19.
9. Also see John R. Wood, 'On the Periphery but in the Thick of It: Some Current Indian Political Crises Viewed From Gujarat', Paper presented in: International Seminar on Gujarat Society: Development and Deprivation, 6-9 December 1994, Centre for Social Studies, Surat.
10. For a detailed discussion of that mapping of the literature see Ornit Shani, 'The Resurgence of EthnoHinduism - a Theoretical Perspective', in Shlomo Ben-Ami, Yoav Peled and Alberto Spektrovski (eds), Ethnic Challenges to the Modern Nation State (Macmillan, London, 2000), pp. 268-76.
11. It is important to note here that a contradiction between caste conflict and communalism arises precisely because of the presupposition about the existence of coherent Hindu and Muslim communities. Otherwise, as phenomena in themselves, caste conflicts and Hindu-Muslim conflicts are not necessarily contradictory. By simple reasoning a group (or an individual) can be in a conflict with another group, but on another occasion unite against a third group.
12. See, for example, Ashutosh Varshney, Ethnic Conflicts and Civic Life: Hindus and Muslims in India (Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2002), pp. 85, 161.
13. Justice V. S. Dave, Report of the Commission of Inquiry: Into the Incidents of Violence and Disturbances which took Place at Various Places in the State of Gujarat since February, 1985 to 18th July, 1985 (henceforth COI), (Government of Gujarat, Ahmedabad, April 1990).
14. The interviews were conducted and the material collected during a year of fieldwork in 1997-1998.
15. The plot of the riots is based on the COI; reports in the Times of India (TOI), January-August 1985;
16. The Hindu, January-August 1985;
17. India Today, January-August 1985;
18. newspaper cuttings from the Indian Express, Hindustan Times and Patriot, February July 1985;
19. and The Shattering of Gujarat, a background paper For Private Circulation, Series 1985, No. 2, BUILD Documantation Centre, Bombay, 1985 (the diary of the events in this source was compiled from the TOI, Indian Express, Hindustan Times, Tribune, Telegraph, Free Press, Journal, Hindu, Newstimes and Sunday Observer).
20. In the absence of acceptable criteria for defining backwardness at the national level it was open to different state governments to initiate their own policy.
21. The reservation for the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes was granted in proportion to their share in the total population. In Gujarat therefore scheduled castes and scheduled tribes are entitled to 7% and 14% respectively.
22. The Rane Commission suggested 63 occupations and an annual income ceiling of Rs 10,000 as criterion for being listed as SEBC. According to the Commission, discarding caste as a basis for reservations would help remove bitterness and hostility between the different castes. For a broader discussion see I. P. Desai, 'Should "caste" be the Basis for Recognising Backwardness?' Economic and Political Weekly, July 14, 1984, pp. 1106-16. Desai was one of the members of the Rane Commission.
23. The intention of Chief Minister Madhavsinh Solanki was that the total reservation would reach 49%: The existing 7% for scheduled castes, 14% for scheduled tribes, 10% for Other Backward Castes (OBCs), or SEBC, and the intended increase of 18% to the latter communities.
24. This programme was known as 'Mruyughant', to be observed at 8 pm when the people would go to the roofs of their houses and ring bells or make other sounds (with their thali dishes), heralding the death of reservation.
25. COI, Vol. I, p. 226.
26. Also see G.W-12, p. 93, S-144, p. 149, 205, 214.
27. Ibid., p. 226.
28. The roster reservation system was introduced in Gujarat in 1976. Under the roster system, workers belonging to the scheduled castes and tribes get preferential treatment in promotion and seniority. According to the system, unfilled reserved quotas for promotion are carried over to future years until suitable candidates from the reserved categories of caste and tribes are found.
29. COI, Vol. I, p. 251.
30. Ibid., Vol. III, Annextures XXXVII and XXXVIII, pp. 439-40.
31. It is noteworthy that the riots that erupted in Ahmedabad affected the rest of Gujarat, and incidents of violence also took place in other districts, mainly in Baroda (Vadodra) and Surat. See ibid., Vol. I, pp. 158-91. An examination of the events in other areas in Gujarat is beyond the scope of this study.
32. Ibid., p. 70.
33. Ibid., p. 72 (emphasis added). Moreover, the Commission found 'it essential to mention that they [people of Ahmedabad] are also masterminded in spreading rumours'.
34. Ibid., p. 73.
35. Ibid., p. 226.
36. Ibid., pp. 225-6. These views were often repeated in the testimonies of state officials in the Commission's report.
37. See Ahmedabad District Gazetteer, Government of Gujarat, Ahmedabad, 1984, pp. 107-8 (generally, pp. 70-141).
38. Kenneth L. Gillion, Ahmedabad: A Study in Indian Urban History (University of California Press, Berkely and Los Angeles, 1968), p. 165.
39. Judge J. Reddy, Report of the Commission of Inquiry: Ahmedabad Communal Disturbances (1969), (Government of Gujarat, 1970), Chapter XVIII, p. 212.
40. COI, Vol. II, p. 8, Vol. I, p. 223.
41. 'He [Solanki] took the opportunity of implementing Rane Commission and thereby concentrating on 70% of the votes...'. COI, Vol. II, p. 9.
42. According to the Secretary of Department of Education, the office was not consulted or informed in advance. Ibid., Vol. I, G.W.-2, p. 86.
43. Ibid., Vol. II, p. 7-8.
44. Ibid., Vol. I, p. 269. Also see p. 209.
45. Ibid., Vol. II, p. 11. It is noteworthy that scholars suggested similar explanations.
46. See, for example, Atul Kohli, Democracy and Discontent (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1990), p. 263;
47. Sujata Patel, 'Debacle of Populist Politics', Economic and Political Weekly, April 20, 1985, p. 682.
48. This claim is repeated in various testimonies submitted to the Commission of Inquiry by police and government workers. See, for example, COI, Vol. I, pp. 53, 60, 95, 101.
49. Ibid., Vol II, p. 9.
50. The second account of the riots reveals that many of those who began to take part in the violence were not even fully aware of the reservation issue.
51. In the case they presented before the Commission, the BJP maintained that not only the Congress party and Solanki's KHAM policy resulted in social disintegration and communal and caste conflicts, but that the Chief Minister was assisted by antisocial elements in order to assume and retain power. COI, Vol. I, pp. 60-2.
52. The Hindu, March 30, 1985. The same allegation was made by the then Chief Minister, Madhavsinh Solanki. Interview with Madhavsinh Solanki, 18 March, 1998, Delhi.
53. COI, Vol. I, p. 228.
54. Ibid., G.W.-12, p. 95.
55. Also see the statement by the then Commissioner of Police, B. K. Jha. Ibid., p. 232.
56. Ibid., p. 214.
57. Also see G.W.-41, p. 129, 27. Although all the sources and the Commission were struck by the 'sudden' communal turn, the police recorded an incident 'in connection with communal disturbances [by] a mob of Hindus' as early as 15 March.
58. Ibid., Vol. III, Annexture XXXVI, p. 292.
59. Ibid., Vol. II, p. 13.
60. Ibid., Vol. I, p. 52.
61. Ibid., Vol. II, p. 14.
62. Notably, most of the analyses of the riots in the newspapers and scholarship distinguished between the reservation and the communal issues.
63. COI, Vol. II, p. 10.
64. Ibid., Vol. I, G.W-19, p. 100-1.
65. Ibid., Vol. II, p. 9.
66. Ahmedabad's population immediately after the formation of Gujarat in 1961 was 1,149,918 and reached 2,387,938 by 1985. Statistical Outline of Ahmedabad City 1984-85, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, Ahmedabad, 1986, Table 3.6. Between 1872 and 1981 the city's area grew seventeen fold (from 5.72 sq. km to 98.15 sq. km respectively). 'Growth of the City (1857-1986)' [map], Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, Ahmedabad.
67. Savarna means upper caste Hindus.
68. Renana Jhabvala, Closing Doors. A Study on the Decline in Women Workers in the Textile Mills of Ahmedabad, SETU, Ahmedabad, 1985, p. 5.
69. Also see Ghanshyam Shah, 'Caste Sentiments, Class Formation and Dominance in Gujarat', in Francine R. Frankel and M.S.A. Rao (eds.), Dominance and State Power in Modern India, Vol. II, (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1990), p. 95;
70. Girish Patel, in Is Ahmedabad Dying Seminar and Publication co-ordinated by Jayendra N. Bhatt, CEPT Ahmedabad and Gujarat Institute of Civil Engineering and Architects, Ahmedabad, 1987, p. xvi;
71. Sujata Patel, Contract Labour in Textile Industry of Ahmedabad, SEWA, Ahmedabad, 1984, p. 7;
72. 'Nationalisation, TLA and Textile Workers', Economic and Political Weekly, December 7, 1985, pp. 2154-5;
73. Request for Assistance from the National Renewal Funds for Ahmedabad Textile Mills, Textile Labour Association (TLA), Ahmedabad, 1993, p. 3.
74. Many lost their jobs because the technological advance of powerloom over manual spinning and weaving. The same productivity would be attained with less labour force.
75. See Achyut Yagnik, 'Hindutva as a Savarna Purana', in Ashish Nandy et al., Creating a Nationality: The Ramjanmabhumi Movement and Fear of the Self (Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1997), p. 100-23;
76. David Pocok, Kanbi and Patidar: A Study of the Patidar Community of Gujarat (Clarendon, Oxford, 1972).
77. Inter-caste division exists among the Patels. The two main groups are Leva Patels and Kadva Patels. The former are higher in status hierarchy. The Patels of Vadigam were considered lower in status in comparison to the Patels from the Khadia area in the walled city, which originated from Kheda district and mainly the Charotar.
78. Their ancestors came to the locality at the turn of the century, mainly from the surroundings of Ahmedabad to work in the developing textile mills.
79. Interview with L., Vadigam, Ahmedabad, 26/3/98. As a result of the crisis women started small industries in the house, like embroidery and stitching.
80. Interviews with S., Vadigam, Ahmedabad, 21/3/98; 22/3/98.
81. Interview with L., Vadigam, Ahmedabad, 26/3/98.
82. The same account of the 18 March events was reiterated by J., Vadigam, Ahmedabad, 31/3/98;
83. M., Vadigam, Ahmedabad, 26/3/98;
84. V. Vyas, Vadigam, Ahmedabad, 26/3/98.
85. Only one person claimed that 'when the bells were ringing, the people from Naginapol started to throw stones because they thought it was against them. Interview with S., Vadigam, Ahmedabad, 21/3/98, 22/3/98.
86. Interview with J., Vadigam, Ahmedabad, 31/3/98.
87. Also, interview with M., Vadigam, Ahmedabad, 26/3/98.
88. Interview with L., Vadigam, Ahmedabad, 26/3/98.
89. This was reiterated, almost in the same words in an Interview with J., Vadigam, Ahmedabad, 31/3/98.
90. Interview with S., Vadigam, Ahmedabad, 21/3/98.
91. Interview with V., Vadigam, Ahmedabad, 26/3/98.
92. Interview with A., Naginapol, Ahmedabad, 30/12/97.
93. Mushirul Hasan, Legacy of a Divided Nation: India's Muslims Since Independence (Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1997), p. 288;
94. Asghar Ali Engineer, The Muslim Communities of Gujarat (Ajanta Publications, Delhi, 1989). Reports of the Collector of Ahmedabad, 1854, suggest that Muslims had generally experienced economic decline since the imposition of British rule.
95. Quoted in Siddhartha Raychaudhuri, Indian Elites, Urban Space and the Restructuring of Ahmedabad City 1890-1947, Ph.D. thesis, Cambridge University, 1997, p. 48. Muslims form 14.5% of Ahmedabad's population (Statistical Outline of Ahmedabad City 1984-85, Table 3.24, data for 1981).
96. Hasan, Legacy of a Divided Nation, pp. 7-8.
97. Also see Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, 1879, p. 40. Among the social divisions within Muslims are the Sayads, Shaikhas, Pathans Mughals, Memons, Bohras and Khojas.
98. Interview with V., Ambedkar Street, Ahmedabad, 28/11/97. Many interviewees mentioned the economic hardship they experienced at the time.
99. Interview with S., Kalupur, Ahmedabad, 25/2/98. Other residents also recalled such rumours.
100. V.T. Rajshekar Shetty, File 220.9/4, SETU Archive Papers Files, 1981, p. 2.
101. Interview with S., Ahmedabad, 25/2/98.
102. Ibid.
103. Interview with M., Dabgarwad, Ahmedabad, 4/1/98. She witnessed one of these meetings.
104. Similar description was given by Ramesh Chandraparmar, President of Dalit Panthers Ahmedabad, Gomtipur, Ahmedabad, 6/1/98.
105. Interviews with R., Ambedkar Street, Dariapur, 22/2/98, 11/3/98;
106. A. S., Navrangpura, Ahmedabad, 14/11/97;
107. V., Ambedkar Street, Dariapur, 29/11/97;
108. A. Yagnik, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad, 3/3/98.
109. Interview with S., Ahmedabad, 25/2/98.
110. S. Solanki resided in Ambedkar Street in 1985.
111. Interview with R., Sajjan Jamadar's Mohalla, Dariapur, Ahmedabad, 29/11/ 97; 30/12/97.
112. Interview with J., Vadigam, Ahmedabad, 31/3/98;
113. S., Vadigam, Ahmedabad, 31/3/98.
114. COI. Vol. I, G.W.-28, pp. 117-18.
115. Interview with J., Vadigam, Ahmedabad, 31/3/98.
116. This account was reiterated in interviews with R., Sajjan Jamadar's Mohalla, Dariapur, Ahmedabad, 29/12/97;
117. A., Naginapol, Ahmedabad, 30/12/97.
118. Interview with A., Naginapole, Dariapur, 30/12/97;
119. Interview with R., Sajjan Jamadar's Mohalla, Dariapur, Ahmedabad, 28/11/ 97.
120. Interview with R., Sajjan Jamadar's Mohalla, Dariapur, Ahmedabad, 30/12/ 97.
121. Interview with M., Dabgarward, Dariapur, 4/1/98.
122. Mujahid (anonymous), An Inquiry Report on 1985 Communal Riots in Ahmedabad City, 18th March and After: Real Facts, Unpublished Monograph, SETU Archive Files, p. 1 (translated from Gujarati P. D. Thankey).
123. Interview with R., Sajjan Jamadar's Mohalla, Dariapur, Ahmedabad, 30/12/ 97.
124. Interview with R., Dariapur, Ahmedabad, 22/2/98.
125. The idea was also restated by R., Sajjan Jamadar's Mohalla, Dariapur, Ahmedabad, 30/12/97;
126. S., Shahapur, Ahmedabad, 11/3/98.
127. For example, women, in contrast to families of labour class, did not seek employment.
128. The people residing on the eastern side beyond the railways characterised themselves as labour.
129. All Vadigam's residents who were interviewed attested this.
130. During 1977-78 the percentage of post-matric scholarship awards to scheduled castes students in Gujarat was higher than the percentage of their population in the state. Report of the Commissioner for Scheduled Castes And Scheduled Tribes 1978-79, Government of India, New Delhi (Through the Minister of Home Affairs), p. 7-8.
131. Ghanshyam Shah, 'Polarised Communities', Seminar, 470, October 1998, p. 32;
132. D. L. Sheth, 'Reservation Policy Revisited', in Gurpreet Mahajan (ed.), Democracy, Difference and Social Justice (Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2000), p. 494.
133. For the general improvement in the representation of scheduled castes in governmental posts see: Report of the Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes April 1984-March 1985, Government of India, New Delhi, pp. 5,7;
134. Report of the Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes April 1985-March 1986, Government of India, New Delhi, p. 10.
135. Ghanshyam Shah, 'Middle Class Politics: A Case of Anti-Reservation Agitation in Gujarat', Economic and Political Weekly, Annual Number, May 1987, p. AN-163.
136. Dalits' political awareness and assertiveness increased since 1975 also through the growing activities of the Dalit Panther movement in the city.
137. In Gujarat the distinct groups among the Dalits constitute a hierarchical varna order. The main groups are the Vankars, traditionally weavers, the Chamars, leather workers, Bhangis, sweepers, and Garodas the priests. Generally, members of the various groups do not intermarry. See Achyut Yagnik and Anil Bhatt, 'The Anti-Dalit Agitation in Gujarat', South Asia Bulletin, IV, 1, Spring 1984, p. 48.
138. Interview with R., Kalupur, Ahmedabad, 25/2/98.
139. Interview with S., Vadigam, Ahmedabad, 21/3/98.
140. Ibid.
141. Interview with L., Vadigam, Ahmedabad, 26/3/98.
142. Interview with M., Vadigam, Ahmedabad, 26/3/98.
143. Interviews with R, Dariapur, Ahmedabad, 22/2/98, 11/3/98;
144. A. S., Navrangpura, Ahmedabad, 14/11/97;
145. V., Ambedkar street, Dariapur, 29/11/97.
146. Interview with Nares, Kalupur, Ahmedabad, 23/2/98.
147. Interviews with Ashok Bhatt (BJP MLA), Khadia, Ahmedabad, 15/12/97;
148. Gardhunbhai Jhadaphia (BJP, MLA), Bapunagar, Ahmedabad, 16/12/97;
149. Anisha Mizra, Council, AMC, 16/12/97.
150. Interview with Madhavsinh Solanki, Delhi, 16/3/98.
151. The national highway that passed by made the area attractive for the new developing industries and the demand for land increased.
152. About 21% of the slum population were members of the scheduled castes. See Census of Slums, p. 16.
153. COI, Vol. II, pp. 7-8;
154. Vol. I, G.W.-2, p. 86.
155. Also see Report of the Commissioner for Scheduled Castes And Scheduled Tribes 1978-79, pp. 13-14;
156. Report of the Commission for Scheduled Castes And Scheduled Tribes April 1984-March 1985, p. 5;
157. Report of the Commission for Scheduled Castes And Scheduled Tribes April 1985-March 1986, p. 10.
158. COI, Vol. II, p. 7. The Commission made this contention while it reviewed the chronology and history of state committees for the designation of reservations.
159. Marc Galanter, Competing Equalities: Law and the Backward Classes in India (University of California Press, Berkley, 1984), p. 122.
160. Ibid., p. 144;
161. Durga Das Basu, Commentary on the Constitution of India, Fourth Edition (S. C. Sarkar and Sons, Calcutta, 1964), p. 158. An exception was made in 1956 to include four Sikh untouchable groups.
162. Galanter, Competing Equalities, p. 315. The judiciary made this reasoning in some cases of scheduled castes that converted from Hinduism and lost their reservation rights. The court explained that religious discrimination was not exercised in these cases because non-Hindus have no caste.
163. Ibid., pp. 313, 319.
164. Marc Galanter, 'Who Are The Other Backward Classes?', Economic and Political Weekly, October 28, 1978, p. 1812, fn. 45.
165. Yagnik, 'Hindutva as a Savarna Purana'.
166. The Patels formed 12% of Gujarat's population.
167. See Sunita Parikh, 'Religion, Reservations and Riots: The Politics of Ethnic Violence in India', in Amrita Basu and Atul Kohli (eds), Community Conflicts and the State in India (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1998), pp. 43-8.
168. Also see Ghanshyam Shah, 'The BJP's Riddle in Gujarat: Caste, Factionalism and Hindutva', in Thomas Blom Hansen and Christophe Jaffrelot (eds), The BJP and the Compulsions of Politics in India (Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1998), pp. 243-9.
169. Ashish Nandy et al., Creating a Nationality: The Ramjanmabhumi Movement and the Fear of the Self (Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1997), pp. 72-3.
170. Zoya Hasan, 'Community and Caste in Post-Congress Politics in Uttar Pradesh', in Basu and Kohli (eds), Community Conflict, p. 104.
171. Aaj (newspaper published in Banares), 9 December 1990.
172. Quoted in Arvind Rajagopal, Politics after Television: Hindu Nationalism and the Reshaping of the Public in India (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2001), p. 167. I thank William Gould for bringing this quote to my attention.
173. The Supreme Court endorsed the basic recommendations of the Mandal Commisssion Report in November 1992, including its principle that caste and not class should be the criterion for identifying backwardness. But the Court added several qualifications. First, it ruled that neither the advanced sections among the backward castes nor the poor among the forward castes should receive reservation benefits. Second, the Court resolved that the list of the backward communities should be divided into a 'Backward' and 'more Backward' category. See Wood, 'On the Periphery but in the Thick of It: Some Current Indian Political Crises Viewed From Gujarat', p. 14.
174. Also see News Track December 1992 (Videotape), 24/12/92.