Thread by @ZahirJ

Thread on Gujarat 2002, part 2 of 3

24/ Now, onto what the sociologist Nandini Sundar calls "economicide." This is so often overlooked--the economic strangulation/boycott of Muslims in 2002 that, in some ways, still continues today.

25/ Sundar writes, "The Gujarat violence was unique for the manner in which Muslim homes and businesses--from plushest showroom to the lowliest laari--were systematically targeted." Source: A License to Kill, "Gujarat: The Making of a Tragedy," edited by Siddharth Varadarajan.

26/ In the Human Rights Watch Report about 2002 by Smita Narula, she writes, "An economic boycott against Muslims in certain parts of the state has helped to ensure their continued and long-term impoverishment."

hrw.org/reports/2002/i…

27/ Narula, contd: "Acute food shortages resulting in starvation have been reported in areas of Ahmedabad where Muslim communities are forced into isolation, afraid to leave their enclaves to get more supplies."

hrw.org/reports/2002/i…

28/ Narula, contd: "Children’s education has also been severely disrupted while the threat of measles and other outbreaks looms large in Ahmedabad camps."

hrw.org/reports/2002/i…

29/ I used to see VHP pamphlets all over the ground in 2002 calling for a boycott. One read, "From a needle to gold, I shall not buy anything made by Muslims, neither shall we sell them things made by us!"

HRW includes one such pamphlet in their report. hrw.org/reports/2002/i…

30/ These boycotts worked. Many Muslims I met during my reporting from 2011 to 2018 in Ahmedabad said they started their shops, schools, etc because of that boycott. Many feared boycott would return. Some said it never left.

31/ One line from the VHP pamphlet from 2002 was this: "Boycott wholeheartedly films in which Muslim hero-heroines act! Throw out films produced by these anti-nationals!"

That's happening today. Example: Shah Rukh Khan attacked in Gujarat in 2016: hindustantimes.com/bollywood/shah…

32/ I don't get when journalists say they are surprised w/ India today. Really? Didn't Modi show us who he was in 2002? If you believe Modi changed in 2014, where is the proof? Ex: mosques damaged in 2002 still not repaired; Modi yet to apologize for 2002 america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/…

33/ I don't get when journalists say they are surprised w/ India today. Really? Didn't Modi show us who he was in 2002? If you believe Modi changed in 2014, where is the proof? Ex: mosques damaged in 2002 still not repaired; Modi yet to apologize for 2002 america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/…

34/ A 2008 report by Harvard Law School students estimated Muslims in Guj lost $760 million in 2002 “through the large-scale destruction of homes, businesses and properties. These losses continue to economically cripple the Muslim community 6 yrs later." www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies…

35/ The Harvard report asks the Q: "What specific steps does Government of India intend to take to combat the effects of the continued economic boycott on Muslim businesses and to enable survivors to find employment and re-establish their livelihoods?" www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies…

36/ Report, contd: "The communal violence in Gujarat has resulted in the increased ghettoization and marginalization of the Muslim community of Gujarat. Muslims in relief colonies and across the State have been denied almost all of the components essential to adequate housing."

37/ Put simply: the violence of 2002 was not only about mob violence. It was also the refusal to work with/to hire/to buy from/to sell to Muslims, plus the denial of housing, the ghettoization of Muslims, the ongoing threats. All of this continues today in some form or other.

38/ When reporters say the violence lasted for weeks, it's a slap in the face of what Muslims in Gujarat, myself including, had to endure. It also misunderstands what was so horrific about 2002.

It was not a riot; it was ethnic cleansing.

un.org/en/genocidepre…

39/ Yes, I know. I've written some articles about Gujarat that referred to the violence as having lasted a few weeks. I should have stood up to editors about this, both in the US and India. I didn't. I regret it. I'm sorry and I am trying to do better.

40/ The prob, I think, is we see the 2002 violence as a chaotic, angry outburst. Sure, some of it was. But what chilled me was seeing the precision, the discipline, the calm. What chilled me was watching Hindu families holding hands, burning Muslim homes, dancing garba, smiling.

41/ I can't forget the laughter, the joy, the tenderness I saw during the 2002 pogrom: fathers holding their kids' hands; mothers carrying babies, offering rioters water and biscuits, all while they looted, burned, taunted, assaulted.

42/ None of this, of course, diminishes the horror of what happened at Godhra 20 years ago today. To read more about the Godhra train fire and the Hindus who were killed that day, I recommend "The Carnage at Godhra" by Jyoti Punwani in Siddharth Varadarajan's anthology.

43/ Nandini Sundar and others in that superb anthology write about some of the retaliatory violence that Muslims in Gujarat committed against Hindus. It did happen, but in very small numbers. Still, it too should be remembered today and cannot be denied.

44/ Meanwhile, this piece, from 2018, published in The Quint, re-visits some of the questions that still remain about the Godhra train attack: thequint.com/explainers/guj…

45/ I still have many Qs about Godhra train fire but IMO two things are certain 1) it was appalling and inexcusable 2) The dead bodies shd not have been paraded around Guj. That only inflamed tensions, as many told Modi it would, and used their deaths to cause more death. 2/3

46/ Today, twenty years later, after much self-work and reflection and reading, I don't have the same anger for Modi the way I once did. It's not that Modi was not at fault. He was. He is. I mean, duh. It's the enablers who I can't forget or forgive today. Nor will I ever.

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