| 1969 Gujarat riots | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Religious violence in India | ||||
 Location of Gujarat in India | ||||
| Date | September–October 1969 | |||
| Location | Gujarat, India | |||
| Methods | Killing, Arson, Looting | |||
| Parties | ||||
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| Casualties and losses | ||||
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The 1969 Gujarat riots involved communal violence between Hindus and Muslims during September–October 1969, in Gujarat, India. The violence was Gujarat's first major riot that involved massacre, arson, and looting on a large scale. It was the most deadly Hindu-Muslim violence since the partition of India in 1947, and remained so until the 1989 Bhagalpur violence.[2][3]
According to the official figures, 660 people were killed, 1074 people were injured, and over 48,000 lost their property. Unofficial reports claim as high as 2000 deaths.[3] The Muslim community suffered the majority of the losses.[4] Out of the 512 deaths reported in the police complaints, 430 were Muslims.[1] Property worth 42 million rupees was destroyed during the riots, with Muslims losing 32 million worth of property.[3] A distinctive feature of the violence was the attack on Muslim chawls by their Dalit Hindu neighbours who had maintained peaceful relations with them until this point.[3]
The riots happened during the chief ministership of the Indian National Congress leader Hitendra Desai. The Justice Reddy Commission set up by his government blamed the Hindu nationalist organizations for the violence. Various writers trace the causes of the riots to a mix of socioeconomic and political factors. The violence started on 18 September 1969 after Muslims attacked some Hindu sadhus and a temple, after the cows herded by the sadhus caused injury to them. The Hindus later attacked a Muslim dargah, and Muslim protesters also attacked the temple again, leading to widespread violence.[5][6] The riots started in Ahmedabad, and then spread elsewhere, notably Vadodara, Mehsana, Nadiad, Anand, and Gondal. By 26 September, the violence had been brought under control,[7] however some more violent incidents happened during 18–28 October 1969.[8]
- ^ a b Pingle Jagamohan Reddy; Nusserwanji K Vakil & Akbar S Sarela (1971). Report: Inquiry into the communal disturbances at Ahmedabad and other places in Gujarat on and after 18th September 1969. Commission of Inquiry on Communal Disturbances at Ahmedabad and at Various Places in the State of Gujarat on and after 18 September 1969, Home Department, Government of Gujarat. p. 180.
- ^ Christophe Jaffrelot (2010). Religion, Caste, and Politics in India. Primus Books. p. 377. ISBN 978-93-80607-04-7. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
- ^ a b c d Laurent Gayer; Christophe Jaffrelot (2012). Muslims in Indian Cities: Trajectories of Marginalisation. Columbia University Press. pp. 53–60. ISBN 978-0-231-70308-6.
- ^ Megha Kumar (2016). Communalism and Sexual Violence in India: The Politics of Gender, Ethnicity and Conflict. I.B.Tauris. p. 77. ISBN 978-1-78672-068-9.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Pingle1999was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Ornit2007was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Richard Edmund Ward (1992). India's Pro-Arab Policy: A Study in Continuity. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-275-94086-7.
- ^ Subrata Kumar Mitra (2006). The Puzzle of India's Governance: Culture, Context And Comparative Theory. Routledge. p. 140. ISBN 978-0-415-34861-4. Retrieved 6 February 2013.