Vadodara: A strained show of normalcy…

Vadodara had last seen a major riot in 2006 when six people were killed after clashes over razing of a dargah, and has been communally vulnerable.

Though Commissioner of Police E Radhakrishnaiah kept reiterating that law and order was “under control”, at least five senior officers who had formerly done stints in Vadodara were parachuted to aid him. Radhakrishnaiah banned mobile data services for three days, disabling all communication based on mobile Internet services, on the ground that rumours floating on these channels were provoking riots. But there was no curfew imposed on ground and efforts were being made to ensure shops remained open in a show of normalcy.

No message of peace was run on the active social media handles of government functionaries either. Between September 25 and September 29, Chief Minister Patel’s twitter handle had posts related to Garib Kalyan Mela and Pre-Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summit among others, but nothing on Vadodara.

State Finance Minister Saurabh Patel, who is an MLA from a Vadodara constituency, visited a garba venue close to where communal clashes were on, for the third day running. However, he gave no statement on the violence. The police had, by then rounded up some 100 people — Hindus and Muslims — under prohibitory orders.

Health Minister Nitin Patel, who is the guardian minister for Vadodara, held a peace meeting only on September 28, the fourth day, as sporadic incidents of violence kept the walled city areas on edge. When contacted, Nitin Patel said, “The government response was not late. Action was taken step wise as per requirement.”

Asked why the CM, who holds the home portfolio and Junior Home Minister Rajnikant Patel did not visit the city during the clashes, Patel, who is also government spokesperson, said, “Things were being monitored from Gandhinagar. And, I did visit.”

What began as arson and plundering on the first day of Navratri, turned violent with incidents of communal stabbings as violence affected the Fatehpura, Yakutpura, Mandvi, Panjrigar Mohalla, Hathikhana, Bhandwada, Adaniapul and Taiwada areas of Vadodara.

Six senior police officers were brought in to control law and order – Subhash Trivedi, DIGP (Coastal Security & Intelligence), Gandhinagar, Rajendra Chudasma, SP (Intelligence), Gandhinagar, D M Waghela, DSP (CID Crime), Rajkot Zone, Maninder Singh Pawar, SP (Operations), ATS, Ahmedabad, IPS officers D S Vaghela and T S Bisht, additional DGP (Law & Order), Gandhinagar —were posted in Vadodara along with their teams. In addition, DGP PC Thakur also camped in the city for at least two days to oversee the law and order situation.

Vadodara faced rough weather the whole of September. First with the floods when the city was submerged for three days, just before the bypoll to the seat vacated by Prime Minister Modi who preferred to represent Varanasi.

Anandiben Patel visited Vadodara and met officials during the floods only when her public meeting for campaigning in the city got cancelled due to water-logging.