Author: Palak Nandi
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: May 10, 2002
URL: http://www.indian-express.com/full_story.php?content_id=2401
Prem Darwaza in Ahmedabad is another
Panwad, though here Hindus are at the receiving end unlike the Vadodara
village. The locality stands out with its burnt houses, and broken bangles,
steel utensils and torn bedsheets scattered across the streets.
A half damaged wall full of charcoal
scribbles summarises the Vaghri Vas locality's feelings: ''Mini Pakistan'';
''Miya Vad, Karachi''; Don't come back or you'll pay a heavy price'', and
''Hindus not allowed''.
Before the riots, around 800 people
lived at Vaghri Vas, mostly Hindu Dalits. In the hate wave that followed,
both communities were targetted. While the Dalits fled, some Muslims dared
to stay put.
Now things have changed. Unlike
earlier, the minority community now calls the shots. Jeetendra Datania,
an autorickshaw driver, said: ''We were living here for almost 40 years.
Though outsiders attacked their (Muslim) homes on February 28, they avenged
it by driving us out on March 21. Now, not one of us dares to enter the
locality.''
A daily wager's wife, Bhavnaben
Naranbhai, said: ''We were more in numbers. But we dare not enter our locality
now. If we try, they shoo us away saying 'Jo tha, sab khatam ho gaya. Chale
jao, varna pachtaoge (Life's no longer the same. Run or you'll regret it).''
The Dalits have put up at a nearby
temple for when they returned home about a week back, they found dead animals
in their houses. ''The walls were full of warnings,'' said Raju, Bhavnaben's
younger brother.
Life is much the same at Bhanderi-ni-Pol
in Kalupur locality. As many as 518 riot-hit people from Kalupur Darwaza
and Kalupur Tower now stay at the Bahuchar Mata nu Mandir. ''We have no
choice. My shop was looted, our house pelted with stones and handmade petrol
bombs,'' said Jaswantbhai Modi.
The locality of the temple is the
''the border'' for just across live Muslims. ''A constant flow of stones,
petrol bombs and even bullets from across the border is regular,'' Nirmalaben
Dave said. She lost her house in the riots. ''We avoid going close to the
border.''
Though the camps here are registered,
the refugees have not been allotted a building to stay in. Refugees in
Kalupur sleep on the streets and those in Dariapur spend the days in a
building under construction.
