‘We’re not making excuses but fear was all around’

Why is it that on February 24 during the by-elections in Gujarat this year, the Congress candidate won the Sayajigang seat by a margin of 21,000 votes, while on December 12 of the same year he lost the same seat by a whopping 1.07 lakh votes? Why was the Congress completely wiped out within a 100-km radius of Godhra, Central Gujarat and even in Ahmedabad (barring the two Muslim dominated constituencies here)? Why is it that in central Gujarat, a large number of sitting Congress MLAs, many of them community leaders in their own rights, bit the dust?

We are not making excuses but the fact remains that the riots and their aftermath created an atmosphere of terror and fear all around. It changed the mental psyche of the people; the attack on the Akshardham temple added to this atmosphere. This becomes clear when one sees that out of 65 seats where violence broke out after Godhra, the BJP captured 53 seats. In contrast,the Congress—which gained a 4.5% vote share—started winning in the areas which were farthest from the epicentre of the violence. Our victories, ironically, included the temple towns of Somnath, Dwarka and Ambaji as these places were not affected by violence.

What happened in Gujarat was not just the BJP brand of ‘Hindutva’ but ‘Hindutva’ tainted with blood. BJP has no choice but to try the Modi-Togadia politics elsewhere too. This is because ‘Hndutva’ has failed, Vajpayee has lost his shine and sheen and the BJP, proclaiming to be the party with a difference, has turned out to be a party with indifference.

But rest assured, the BJP’s gameplan will not work in other states; we will not let it happen. The Modi-Tagodia triggered politics has worked in Gujarat because for the BJP it was a do-or-die battle. We in the Congress ruled states will not allow this scenario to unfold again.