How did the governments reaction to the violence in Gujarat compare to government action in past violence?
How did the army’s actions compare in previous acts of communalism? In September 1969, Ahmedabad had one of the biggest riots India has ever seen. The state machinery broke down, but the chief minister did not make the kinds of statements Modi did. That is a critical difference. For all practical purposes, Modi did not act as Gujarat’s chief minister, but as an RSS pracharak. He may be proud of the latter, but he failed to live up to the oath he took as Gujarat’s chief minister. The army is the body sent out to quell communalism, and some suggest that in turn harms its secular fabric. Do you think continued reliance on the army for such matters is a dangerous trend? An overuse, not the use per se, of the army — to quell domestic disturbances — can have negative consequences in the long run. Luckily, India’s domestic disturbances, though sad and periodic, have not reached the Yugoslav, Rwandan, or even Sri Lankan levels, nor will they due to the self-correcting mechanisms of Indian de
