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Gujarat braces for election
By Suhasini Haidar
AHMEDABAD, India (CNN) -- Anjum Bano says she hides every time politicians come to her neighborhood asking for votes. She says she hasn't yet got over the riots earlier this year in which her family home was burnt down. The noise of campaigning for legislature elections in the western Indian State of Gujarat, frightens her, bringing memories of rioting mobs and their terrified, screaming victims. Anjum said she was lucky to escape those mobs, but many of her neighbors in this Muslim area of one of the worst hit cities, Ahmedabad, were not. More than 1,000 men women and children, most of them Muslim were killed and nearly 100,000 left homeless in Hindu-Muslim rioting that began when a train carrying Hindu activists was set on fire by a suspected Muslim mob in the town of Godhra. Nearly 60 passengers were killed in the blaze, and angry Hindu mobs took to the streets all over Gujarat, demanding revenge. Muslim homes, shops and businesses were targeted. Anjum Bano's entire neighborhood of Mariam Bibi Ni Chawli was burnt down, and many homes are still being rebuilt nine months later. Human Rights Groups say the mobs were aided by the State Government- which is run by the right wing Hindu-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a charge the party denies.
Amid allegations that he turned a blind eye as thousands of Muslims were attacked in the riots post-Godhra, its leader, Chief Minister Narendra Modi is hoping to be re-elected in polls set for December 12th. Modi's campaign so far, has been a thinly veiled appeal to Hindu votes, which account for nearly 90 percent of the state's electorate. To packed crowds, Modi has been warning that a vote against him will strengthen India's Islamic neighbor and arch-enemy Pakistan. Analysts say a win for Modi in Gujarat will be seen as a win for fundamentalist politics nationwide. As a result, his opponent Shankar Sinh Vaghela of the Congress party is banking on the vote of the Muslims. Traditionally, the Congress party has been secular. However, sensing a strong Hindu mood in the state, Vaghela and other Congress candidates have been pitching to the right-wing vote as well. Both parties freely use Hindu symbols in their rallies and campaigns, including saffron Hindu buntings, and sacred Hindu threads on their wrists. "The choice in Gujarat is one of the lesser of two evils," says human rights activist Fr. Cedric Prakash. Too close to call"Neither side has really attended to the needs of the victims of the rioting. But the need of the hour is to defeat BJP today, so its people are punished for their compliance in the riots." Modi denies any complicity and says his administration should be complemented, rather than criticized, for bringing an end to riots faster than his predecessors had been able to, in this communally sensitive state. So far, opinion polls say the race between the BJP and the Congress is too close to call, although many here say the BJP has a slight edge. Vote counting and the results are expected on December 15th, for the election which has generated wide national and international interest. Observers from the U.S., the European Union, and other European countries are expected in Gujarat to see the election process.
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