Communal Violence, Forced Migration and the State

The violent events of 2002 inevitably bring up the question of the role of the state. During times of violence, how does one analyse the entity called the state that in Max Weber's famous formulation has the legitimate use of force and is constructed as the neutral arbiter of public interest? Although there was national and international outcry against the events of 2002 as the preceding chapters illustrate, neither displacement nor communal violence is without precedent in Gujarat. This chapter argues that the distinctive feature of communal violence in 2002 was the response of the state more than the violence. It examines the governance of communal violence by the complex of ideas and institutional practices, called the state, through the examination of relief and rehabilitation for those affected by communal violence. The history of violence on caste and communal faultlines in the state, particularly in 1969, 1980s and 1990s, afford much analytical visibility to the governance of communal violence and shifts therein.

The official account

The burning of the coach of Sabarmati Express took place in the early hours of 27 February 2002. By the BJP-led state government's revenue minister Haren Pandya's account given in the legislative assembly two weeks later, the information of this incident was given to the Godhra Control Room by 8:05 am and ambulances from Godhra, Lunawada and Kalol were immediately dispatched to the spot while the district administration organized a medical team. By 10 am, an indefinite curfew was clamped in Godhra and companies of the Rapid Action Force stationed at Ahmedabad and the police superintendent from Vadodara range, along with two more forces, left for Godhra immediately. Even while the legislative assembly was in session that day chief minister Narendra Modi also left for Godhra and reached at 2 pm in the afternoon of the very same day. As the remaining coaches of the Sabarmati Express were on their way to Ahmedabad, there were incidents of violence at Anand and Baroda in which two people were killed. The dead bodies were brought to Ahmedabad on the same day in a motorcade. 43 people were taken to the Civil Hospital and 21 to other hospitals, while 54 bodies that could not be identified were sent to Sola Hospital, Ahmedabad. Large crowds collected to receive the charred bodies at Ahmedabad railway station and were taken in a public procession.