IN FLAMES: The police could do little to keep the situation under control IN FLAMES: The police could do little to keep the situation under control

Demolition is a dirty word in most parts of India, but not in Gujarat, where civic authorities have routinely demolished not just unauthorised constructions, but also temples to make way for urban development.

So when the Vadodara Municipal Corporation decided to demolish a dargah in the city's Mandvi area, it didn't expect any trouble. More so because it had not faced any protests while demolishing several wayside Hindu temples while widening roads in the city.



But the demolition team in this case was in for a surprise. After the demolition on May 1, when a huge Muslim mob started attacking it with stones and mild action didn't seem to help, the police had to open fire. Two rioters were killed, which triggered violence in the sensitive old city areas where most of the minorities reside.

What followed was a grim reminder of the infamous 2002 Vadodara riots. Mobs of both communities thronged the streets, rioting, pelting stones and even stabbing people. The death toll till date: six.



Among the dead was an army jawan who was passing through a communally sensitive area to secure admission in a school for his daughter. A Muslim driver of a four-wheeler was charred to death when a Hindu mob set his vehicle afire in retaliation against attacks on their residential areas. Even Nyaya Mandir, which houses all the city courts, was attacked.

The old city had to be placed under curfew even as a dozen policemen, attacked by mobs, succumbed to injury. The police strength suddenly looked inadequate, forcing the administration to requisition reserve forces.





Narendra Modi with a victim Narendra Modi with a victim



Human rights groups and NGOs like the state unit of the People's Union for Civil Liberties added fuel to fire by finding fault with the civic authorities for the demolition of the dargah, rather than advising the local Muslims to take a cue from the Hindus who had taken the demolitions of their places of worship in their stride in the larger interest of the development of the city.

One didn't have to go too far to find the reasons behind the attempt to inject political colour-the municipal corporation is controlled by the BJP.



Said Shabbir Alam Siddiqui, Imam of Jama Masjid, Ahmedabad, "The Muslims will oppose any attempt to demolish dargahs that have been here before the town planning schemes came into force."

Significantly, though the Muslims claimed that the Vadodara dargah was of a Sufi saint named Syed Rashiuddin Chishti and had stood there for 300 years, there is no official evidence to support it.



From a law and order problem, once the issue took political and communal overtones, things started getting unwieldy. Chief Minister Narendra Modi visited the riot affected areas, warning mischief makers while appealing for peace. "All those who want to jeopardise the safety of common citizens by spreading this orgy of violence will be dealt with sternly," he said.

While that's tough talk, the immediate casualties are the civic clean-up drives in the state, which seem to have received a major jolt with this incident.