1985 Gujarat riots

1985 Gujarat riots
Part of Religious violence in India
Location of Gujarat state in India
DateFebruary 1985 to August 1985
Location
Cities of Gujarat State, India
MethodsKilling, arson, looting.[1]
Led to 220–275 deaths, thousands of injuries and displaced tens of thousands.[2][3]
Part of a series on
Violence against Muslims
in independent India
Major incidents

The 1985 Gujarat riots began in February 1985 and lasted till August, in the Indian state of Gujarat. Most of the rioting occurred in the city of Ahmedabad; some other cities, including the state capital of Gandhinagar, were also affected. Between 220 and 275 people were killed in the violence, while several thousands of others were injured, and tens of thousands were displaced. The riots also caused widespread property damage.[2][3]

In January 1985 the Gujarat government of Chief Minister Madhav Singh Solanki announced a change in its policy of reservation that increased the benefits to people from "backward" classes. Resentment over this policy among upper castes led to an agitation against it that began in February 1985. The agitation initially took the form of boycotts and protest marches, but quickly turned violent. Government property and buses were targeted by largely upper caste protesters. Beginning in March, communal violence also began to occur, as the city's Muslim minority were targeted. The state police frequently condoned, and in some cases participated in, the violence. The Indian Army was called in to patrol the city, and curfews were frequently declared. The violence died down in August 1986, after Solanki had resigned, and an agreement had been reached with the agitators. Ahmedabad's Muslims were the main victims; approximately 100 were killed, several hundreds badly injured, 2,500 of their houses destroyed, and 12,000 made homeless.[2]

Historians and commentators have stated that the caste-related violence and the communal violence had a common origin.[4][5] Upper castes felt threatened by the increasing social and economic opportunity available to lower castes, and by political alliances between underprivileged castes, Muslims, and adivasis. The rioting that was triggered by caste-related tensions thus turned into communal violence,[4] and Muslims, who played no role in the reservation debate, were victimized.[5] The religious violence that occurred also strengthened the Hindu nationalist movement:[4][6] for example, the Bharatiya Janata Party's influence grew in Gujarat.[7] According to the government commission that investigated the riots, members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and the Vishva Hindu Parishad, along with those of the BJP, also played a role in exacerbating the violence.[8] Solanki's government was also described as using the violence for political gains.[1][9]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Iyengar&Patel1985 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c Shani 2007, pp. 87–88.
  3. ^ a b Spodek 1989, pp. 765–766.
  4. ^ a b c Fuller, C. J. (2011). A Companion to the Anthropology of India. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 2004. ISBN 978-1405198929.
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Spodek2009 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Shani 2007, pp. 158–160.
  7. ^ Engineer 2003, pp. 12–13.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Sheth&Yajnika2005 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Spodek 1989, p. 769.