The camps are raging. Nobody seems to be able to swallow the fact that the BJP has actually asked Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to continue. Worse, they cannot believe the Party has asked Modi to recommend dissolution of the House and seek a fresh mandate. ‘‘First, the government fails to control the violence in the state, next it fails to rehabilitate victims and now it plans to spend crores of rupees on elections!’’ says 42-year-old Mehboobbhai Aamirbhai, a tailor by profession, and one of the worst affected by the Gujarat riots. Mehboobbhai, currently living at the Shah Alam Relief Camp, lost his young son to the riots, while his wife, Sairabanu was injured in police firing. The Shah Alam Relief camps play host to almost 12,000 people belonging to the minority community, largely from areas like Naroda, Naroda-Patia, Saijpur-Patia, Rakhiyal, Danilimda, Saraspur, Piplaj, Vatva and Gomtipur. ‘‘We do not earn and therefore cannot afford to buy food. We survive on what we get in the camp. We do not have a house, we cannot start our lives. We even have to think twice before leaving the camp. And under these circumstances, the government wants to hold an election! What about the thousands like us? Our safety, our lives, don’t we matter?’’ asks 55-year-old Abdul Razak Shiekh Karim, a resident of Millatnagar. ‘‘I am not surprised,’’ says Jammiat Khan, a vegetable seller in Naroda area, about the government’s decision. ‘‘It is not their fault. We were stupid enough to vote for them. And we will not make that mistake again. If elections are held, one thing is for sure, we will not vote for Modi,’’ he says. Reshma Nadeembhai Saiyed was one of the riot victims the Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee had met during his visit to the camps. And the 30-year-old cannot stop criticising the government’s decision and blames the PM for it. ‘‘I knew the PM’s visit wouldn’t serve a purpose and he has proved it,’’ she says. Arif Abdul Karim, a resident of Saijpur-Patia, strongly believes the PM should have taken strong action against the Modi government. ‘‘We had some hope after the PM visited us. But violence continues in the city. Now, when they speak of elections, will they bother about us?’’ Says 58-year-old Habib Khan Naserullah Khan, who worked as a cook at Taj Hotel in Rakhiyal: ‘‘For more than a month now, the government has been claiming the state is returning to normal. Only last Friday, my house in Gomtipur was attacked and we had to rush to the relief camp. We cannot trust the BJP government. They played a role in the massacre of our men. They know we need help but they choose to ignore it. It looks like the next elections will demand the blood of thousands of innocents, apart from votes.’’
