Smouldering Solapur

But most people feel that the storm was long brewing and the anti-Prophet remarks only acted as a catalyst. The real reason for the unrest lies elsewhere, perhaps in the town8217;s fast declining economy and increasing population of unemployed.

8216;8216;The trouble was brewing. Solapur hardly reacted in the post-Babri frenzy. Yet criminalisation of politics and economic distress have led to the current situation,8217;8217; says P.H. Bennur, a retired professor.

Traditionally a transit point for unskilled labourers from neighbouring Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, Solapur is today synonymous with its dying textile industry. The economic slowdown began in 1964, when the Juni Mill closed down. Subsequent years saw the closure of six other cloth mills as well as two spinning mills. This saw the emergence of cottage industries like the jacquard looms, which produce the famous Solapuri chaddars, and beedi making.

But the jacquard looms had a short life span. Caught between a sharp fall in production and a downward trend in the price of cotton, yarn and fabric, the cotton textile sector has been battling a steep recession for the past four years. Unseasonal rains and a leaf curl virus which afflicts the cotton crop have worsened the situation.

The government did not help matters. Powerloom owners faced stiff competition from their counterparts in southern states and Haryana, which could sell at lower rates due to better facilities provided by their state governments. According to Ramchandra Jannu, a powerloom owner-turned-BJP corporator, neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka even lured Solapur8217;s weavers with attractive incentives. 8216;8216;Andhra has proposed a powerloom town on a 500-acre land near Hyderabad,8217;8217; he says, adding that quite a few people may shift. The Andhra Government has reportedly promised power, water, land and finance at much lower interest rates.

Today, with over 80 per cent of the jacquard looms closed, several thousand families depend on a lone female member who rolls beedis for a living. 8216;8216;In Solapur, a woman must know how to roll beedis in order to survive,8217;8217; says a CPM activist.

8216;8216;Solapur has changed from bad to worse in the past few years,8217;8217; says former CPIM MLA Narsayya Adam. Sitting in his tin-shed office Adam, son of a beedi roller, adds: 8216;8216;You8217;ll find the lal bavata red flag at the gates of many industries, but people hardly contribute to the ideology.8217;8217;

While politically, the town has seen changing fortunes 8212; the Congressmen and Communists have given way to Sena leaders, there has been no change in the lot of the labourers. 8216;8216;There is no hope of reopening the mills. Our unions and government are of no use,8217;8217; says Kanta, who used to work in one of the mills. 8216;8216;We are yet to receive all our dues,8217;8217; he adds. There are hundreds of others like Kanta, who sit outside the mills each day in the hope of some development.

8216;8216;The jobless youths provide ready fodder for fanatics,8217;8217; points out a social activist. Little wonder then that the names of organisations like the banned Students Islamic Movement of India and the Deendar-E-Anjuman are now doing the rounds of this once peaceful town.