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Gujarat: The Making of a Tragedy
Is Gujarat a turning point for India?
The events at Godhra and the ensuing communal carnage in Gujarat, like the Babri Masjid demolition and the 1984 massacres, constitute an ugly chapter of our contemporary history. For the sheer brutality, persistence and widespread nature of the violence, especially against women and children, the complicity of the State, the ghettoization of communities, and the indifference of civil society, Gujarat has surpassed anything we have experienced in recent times. That this happened in one of India's most 'well off' and 'progressive' states, the home of the Mahatma, is all the more alarming.
This book is intended to be a permanent public archive of the tragedy that is Gujarat. Drawing upon eyewitness reports from the English, Hindi and regional media, citizens' and official fact-finding commissions - and articles by leading public figures and intellectuals - it provides a chilling account of how and why the state was allowed to burn.
With an overview by the editor, the reader covers the circumstances leading up to Godhra and the violence in Ahmedabad, Baroda and rural Gujarat. Separate sections deal with the role of the police, bureaucracy, Sangh Parivar, media and the tribals, the economic and international implications of the violence, the problems of relief and rehabilitation of the victims, and, above all, their quest for justice. The picture that emerges is deeply disturbing, for Gujarat has exposed the ease with which the rights of citizens, and especially minorities, can be violated with official sanction. The lessons of the violence ought to be heeded and acted upon by the public. For, in the absence of this, can another Gujarat be prevented from happening elsewhere?
The events at Godhra and the ensuing communal carnage in Gujarat, like the Babri Masjid demolition and the 1984 massacres, constitute an ugly chapter of our contemporary history. For the sheer brutality, persistence and widespread nature of the violence, especially against women and children, the complicity of the State, the ghettoization of communities, and the indifference of civil society, Gujarat has surpassed anything we have experienced in recent times. That this happened in one of India's most 'well off' and 'progressive' states, the home of the Mahatma, is all the more alarming.
This book is intended to be a permanent public archive of the tragedy that is Gujarat. Drawing upon eyewitness reports from the English, Hindi and regional media, citizens' and official fact-finding commissions - and articles by leading public figures and intellectuals - it provides a chilling account of how and why the state was allowed to burn.
With an overview by the editor, the reader covers the circumstances leading up to Godhra and the violence in Ahmedabad, Baroda and rural Gujarat. Separate sections deal with the role of the police, bureaucracy, Sangh Parivar, media and the tribals, the economic and international implications of the violence, the problems of relief and rehabilitation of the victims, and, above all, their quest for justice. The picture that emerges is deeply disturbing, for Gujarat has exposed the ease with which the rights of citizens, and especially minorities, can be violated with official sanction. The lessons of the violence ought to be heeded and acted upon by the public. For, in the absence of this, can another Gujarat be prevented from happening elsewhere?
472 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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315 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 10, 2021
I was watching a movie with my sister on an afternoon in 2002 when the phone in our house rang. My mother had called from her office and asked us to stay indoors as a mob had burnt some property a few kilometres from our house. Neither me or my sister were planning to go out anyway. We told our mother that we won't go out till she comes back home and hung up.
This is my only lasting memory of living through 2002 in Gujarat. There are others living in the same state as me who would envy me for not having any permanent mental or physical scars when they remember this time period. For the longest time, I've met relatives and people who have celebrated the killings of 2002 as the victory of the Hindus. Some also tried to justify the horrors of 2002 as the necessary evil act that had to be done to prevent any riots in the future.
For a considerable part of my life, I lived in this naive La-La-Land where I believed the latter explanation and assumed that riots are a thing of the past. People of my generation, the 'Modern India', do not believe in riots and are more evolved than their older generations. In fact, after a few years I shrugged off 2002 as a bad memory.
This reverie was first broken when I heard about the incidents at Naroda Patiya and Gulbarg Society a few years ago. The details of the carnage struck close to the bone this time. This was the first time I realised how close this fire of communalism was to me. Naroda Patiya is hardly 2 kms away from where my grandmother has been living since more than two decades. Having visited her home on so many occasions, it was a huge shock to discover that something this gruesome had happened so nearby. That is when I knew that there was much more to 2002 than a newspaper report of a train compartment being burnt in Godhra and that phone call from my mother.
Last year's violence in Delhi during the anti-CAA protests shattered my long-standing belief about riots forever. In fact, I almost laugh at the fact that I believed such a thing in the first place. This is the reason why I decided to know more about 2002 and picked up this book and unfortunately, it has confirmed my worst suspicions.
This is the most intense book I have ever read. It details everything from the communal political climate of the state leading up to 2002 and the biggest incidents in those months. Let me warn anyone reading this review, this is a very challenging read. The details of the violence in this book are so gruesome that they might even make a Nazi shudder. A more sensitive viewer might even feel disturbed for a long time by reading about some of the events. And yet, I can't think of a book that people of India should read more carefully in the present times than this.
It is very important for India as a culture to understand the consequences of communal carnages like 2002 so as to develop more compassion for others and books like these are essential readings for this as they act as records and warnings for the future generations so that they don't repeat the mistakes of the past. Needless to say, this one makes a rightful entry in my 'Great Books - Nonfiction' section.
This is my only lasting memory of living through 2002 in Gujarat. There are others living in the same state as me who would envy me for not having any permanent mental or physical scars when they remember this time period. For the longest time, I've met relatives and people who have celebrated the killings of 2002 as the victory of the Hindus. Some also tried to justify the horrors of 2002 as the necessary evil act that had to be done to prevent any riots in the future.
For a considerable part of my life, I lived in this naive La-La-Land where I believed the latter explanation and assumed that riots are a thing of the past. People of my generation, the 'Modern India', do not believe in riots and are more evolved than their older generations. In fact, after a few years I shrugged off 2002 as a bad memory.
This reverie was first broken when I heard about the incidents at Naroda Patiya and Gulbarg Society a few years ago. The details of the carnage struck close to the bone this time. This was the first time I realised how close this fire of communalism was to me. Naroda Patiya is hardly 2 kms away from where my grandmother has been living since more than two decades. Having visited her home on so many occasions, it was a huge shock to discover that something this gruesome had happened so nearby. That is when I knew that there was much more to 2002 than a newspaper report of a train compartment being burnt in Godhra and that phone call from my mother.
Last year's violence in Delhi during the anti-CAA protests shattered my long-standing belief about riots forever. In fact, I almost laugh at the fact that I believed such a thing in the first place. This is the reason why I decided to know more about 2002 and picked up this book and unfortunately, it has confirmed my worst suspicions.
This is the most intense book I have ever read. It details everything from the communal political climate of the state leading up to 2002 and the biggest incidents in those months. Let me warn anyone reading this review, this is a very challenging read. The details of the violence in this book are so gruesome that they might even make a Nazi shudder. A more sensitive viewer might even feel disturbed for a long time by reading about some of the events. And yet, I can't think of a book that people of India should read more carefully in the present times than this.
It is very important for India as a culture to understand the consequences of communal carnages like 2002 so as to develop more compassion for others and books like these are essential readings for this as they act as records and warnings for the future generations so that they don't repeat the mistakes of the past. Needless to say, this one makes a rightful entry in my 'Great Books - Nonfiction' section.
October 5, 2014
This book will haunt you.
Well-analysed, unbiased and factual. This book provides a rare glimpse into the 2002 Gujarat genocide.
A must-read for anyone who would like to know the details behind one of India's most harrowing tragedies.
Well-analysed, unbiased and factual. This book provides a rare glimpse into the 2002 Gujarat genocide.
A must-read for anyone who would like to know the details behind one of India's most harrowing tragedies.
January 10, 2019
I don't know what rating to give to a tragedy. Am I grading the State-sponsored violence in Gujarat? Or am I mesmerized by the reportage? Or is it writing doing it's job? Now, when I've read this book after successive attempts to fail at reading this, I can say that it's an essential read. And, we all must read this book.
This book will inform you about the hidden business and agenda behind the state-orchestrated violence in Gujarat. How a particular community was targeted, list-of-residents made available, and a genocide was sponsored by the then head of the state - Mr. Narendra Modi. And, party to his opinions and in agreement with the larger vision of the Sangh Parivar was the then Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It's a shame to read this book and learn how disgusting business is this - politics. Actually, not that but politicians.
I can go on-and-on but I guess I shall be writing a piece on this soon. That would be an appropriate response to and a good way to highlight the key reasons why this book should be read by every one.
This book will inform you about the hidden business and agenda behind the state-orchestrated violence in Gujarat. How a particular community was targeted, list-of-residents made available, and a genocide was sponsored by the then head of the state - Mr. Narendra Modi. And, party to his opinions and in agreement with the larger vision of the Sangh Parivar was the then Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It's a shame to read this book and learn how disgusting business is this - politics. Actually, not that but politicians.
I can go on-and-on but I guess I shall be writing a piece on this soon. That would be an appropriate response to and a good way to highlight the key reasons why this book should be read by every one.
August 2, 2022
This isn’t a book, it’s a thesis on the degrading political psyche of India. It’s a mirror of majoritism & skewed fascism in the country. I skipped few pages because I was unable to bear the images in my mind. TBH, I am scared in my own country. One day I may just become a minority for some reason and be targeted in a similar or gruesome manner.
I am sorry to see a country which calls itself secular is tormented by vote politics so badly.
I don’t care what religion one belongs to as long as they are good to me. Isn’t goodness sufficient to live in a country?
Please read this book and make your own judgements.
I am sorry to see a country which calls itself secular is tormented by vote politics so badly.
I don’t care what religion one belongs to as long as they are good to me. Isn’t goodness sufficient to live in a country?
Please read this book and make your own judgements.
March 27, 2019
This has to be a must-read for everyone. A public archive on the Gujarat pogrom not only sheds light on the events of Feb-March 2002 but also opens the reader's eyes to the deeply flawed Indian state. The lack of ethics in the government and lack of justice says a lot about how we as people haven't lived up to the idea of India conceived by the likes of Ambedkar, Nehru and Gandhi besides being plain inhuman and insensitive citizens and not holding those in power accountable for their crimes.
November 8, 2021
That someone had the guts to write this book, is heartening. There is hope in this world. A must read for those who lived through 2002 in India. I like the gory (literally) details of the Gujarat massacre or pogrom. Someone needs to say it out loud and this book does it.
January 22, 2020
This public archive needs to be read by everyone. Will give you nightmares and will certainly change the way you look at things.
November 23, 2015
Haunting. Revealed the atrocities of the government and people in power. An eye-opener to the world of politics and power.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews