Despite the fact that the last remnants of my family (on both sides) emigrated from India twenty years ago, the happenings in Ahmedabad, Gujarat are always of concern to me. All of my relatives (on both sides) have returned to purchase homes in Ahmedabad. It is part of an economic boom over there from what I understand. In Ahmedabad, my family will spend a significant amount of their retirement years. I will also probably make several trips there. The Christian Science Monitor featured an article on Friday that caused me worry:

… religious segregation is expanding not only to places of worship, but also neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces. At the entrance of some villages, gaily painted message boards have sprung up since the riots that read: “Welcome to this Hindu village in the Hindu nation of Gujarat.”

Expressing concern over this increasing polarization, a recent report by a high level committee from the Indian Prime Minister’s office, to be tabled in the Indian Parliament in October, states that Gujarat still hasn’t recuperated from the riots in which over 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed. The committee noted that several Gujarati cities and towns are sharply divided into Hindu and Muslim ghettoes. Muslims, a minority in the state, face social and economic boycott from society at large. The committee also observed that dropout rates of Muslim girls have risen. And there’s a dismal representation of Muslims in public-sector jobs.

“There’s a state of fear and insecurity among Muslims,” says a member of the committee. “The state government has done little to end the state of alienation…” [Link]

I think that it is naturally important to look at the source of any claims pertaining to ethnic relations in Gujarat. In the paragraph above a study was conducted at the behest of the Prime Minister. In this excerpt below you will note that the examination was done by one of India’s mainstream newspapers:

The Indian Express, a national daily, reported last month that Muslims are being sidelined from the Indian government’s ambitious antipoverty project that promises the country’s rural poor 100 days of employment every year.

“Where the communal divide was hardened, where violence led to murder and widespread arson … Muslims are nowhere on the employment rolls,” the newspaper reported after touring six districts within Gujarat where the scheme is being implemented. Not just are there information blackouts, even those Muslims who enquire about jobs are turned away, the report said.

In response, Bharat Barot, Gujarat’s minister of state for rural development, said that in villages “the majority community called the shots.” The state was probing whether the alienation of Muslims was deliberate, and, if so, “it’ll be fixed immediately…” [Link]

Many people that visit and comment on our site know that looking at economic data can sometimes cut through any potential bias. A BJP member of Gujarat’s government pointed out the following:

Chandrakant Pandya, a member of the ruling political party in Gujarat, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), calls the committee’s report a vicious attempt to defame Gujarat. “We’re for the development of all Gujaratis - and Gujaratis includes Hindus and Muslims,” he says.

Mr. Pandya points out that according to a 2005 report by the Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies, a think tank led by BJP rival Sonia Gandhi, Gujarat emerged as the number one state in India in the economic freedom of its people. It also topped the nation in terms of development, administration, and curbing corruption.

“Such rapid industrialization and economic development wouldn’t take place if such prejudices existed,” says Pandya. [Link]

I wish he had not added in that last line. Such a sentiment leaves one open to ignoring reality. According to the article, some accuse the report that Pandya points to as unrealistic because it uses pre-2002 data.

The last time I was in Gujarat was 1999. The ghettoes that the CSM article points to were well established then, and so I find the title of the CSM article a bit strange. It implies that ethnic ghettos in Gujarat are something new. A Hindu driver that my father had employed would take great pains to drive clear of said ghettos. The one time we insisted upon entering one he was visibly nervous the whole time.

The article ends on a positive note:

Rahil Subedar runs a computer class for poor slum dwellers in a ramshackle apartment on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. Besides imparting knowledge about computers, local Hindu and Muslim kids are made to intersperse and participate in plays and cultural programs.

“When you participate in cultural programs together, you forget what religion your colleagues belong to,” he says. “Integration will heal wounds…” [Link]