Myth 7: Only Muslims were rendered homeless and suffered economically

Fact: As early as 5 March 2002, out of the 98 relief/ refugee camps set up in the state, 85 were for the Muslims and 13 were for the Hindus. As on 17 March 2002, as per the report of a newspaper as anti-BJP as The Times of India, more than 10,000 Hindus were rendered homeless in Ahmedabad alone. As on 25 April 2002, out of the 1 lakh 40 thousand refugees, some 1 lakh were Muslims and 40 thousand were Hindus.

The Indian Express devoted two full reports exclusively to Hindu victims of Ahmedabad. Dalits were attacked by Muslims in Ahmedabad and were rendered homeless. The Indian Express dated 7th May 2002 and 10th May 2002 gave two reports on the plight of Hindu victims. These Hindus were not only rendered homeless-they did not even have refugee camps to live in-and hence had to live in temples. Many others were forced to sleep on the streets.

See link: http://www.indianexpress.com/storyOld.php?storyId=2401

The Times of India dated 18 March 2002 also devoted a report exclusively to the Hindu victims of Ahmedabad. The report was titled-“Riots hit all classes, people of all faith” and says-“Contrary to popular belief that only Muslims have been affected in the recent riots, more than 10,000 people belonging to the Hindu community have also become homeless”. This was the case only in Ahmedabad. What happened to Hindus in Muslim dominated villages outside Ahmedabad and in other cities like Vadodara was not reported by The Times of India! This report also indicates that Muslims attacked Hindus unprovoked on February 28 itself in some areas of Ahmedabad. The Hindus who living in minority in Muslim dominated areas of Ahmedabad suffered horribly. The Dalits suffered heavily at the hands of Muslims.

This report can be read on http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4193006.cms

The Hindus also suffered economically. As per the reports of none other than The Times of India, as many as 50 Hindus shops were torched in Revdi Bazaar area of Ahmedabad on 23 March 2002 by Muslims. The financial loss was as much as 15 crore rupees. Many more Hindu shops were looted in the rest of Gujarat too. The Tribune dated 30 April 2002 also reported that 36 Hindu shops were looted on 29 April 2002.

To read the report of The Times of India on the burning of 50 shops in Ahmedabad, see this link- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4609603.cms

(An article on some facts about the media can be read here “NDTV is CPM Today“. And another article which is worth reading is “The channels strategy of attacks”. Note that these articles are purely the view of the blogger and not of Gujaratriots.com )