Memories of midnight

But most importantly, the framing of charges against Pathak and Bhatt have rekindled the nightmare that was 1985. Over a hundred people were killed during the anti-reservation agitation, whose communal overtones ushered the politics of communalism and casteism into Gujarat long before Mandal and Ayodhya.

The agitation initially sparked off a debate on the issue of the development of backward classes, as well as questioned the performance of reservations and of the education system. But these issues were soon overshadowed by the games politicians played.

The then Chief Minister, Madhavsinh Solanki, for the first time, spun the KHAM theory during the 1985 State Assembly elections, which earned him a majority of 149 from the total 182 seats. Evolved by party veteran Jinabhai Darji, KHAM meant the coalescing of Kshatriyas, Harijans, Adivasis and Muslims into a formidable votebank.

The Solanki Government got a huge boost by its decision to increase from 10 per cent to 27 per cent the reservation for Other Backward Classes (locally known as Baxi Panch castes after the judge who headed the commission that made the recommendation) in educational institutions and government jobs. There was already a reservation of 14 per cent for Scheduled Tribes, seven per cent for Scheduled Castes, and nearly two per cent for handicapped persons. With the increase, 50 per cent of seats were now reserved.

After the Solanki Government was re-elected, the anti-reservation agitation started to take shape — aided by Chimanbhai Patel, the then Opposition leader from the Janata Party, and the likes of Ashok Bhatt — and continued for three months, interspersed by sporadic violence. Chimanbhai tried to pressurise Congress chief Rajiv Gandhi into asking Solanki to step down and roll back the increased reservation, but Rajiv took heed only when the agitation turned communal.

Among the fall guys was head constable Lakshman Desai, who tried to disperse a mob in Khadia area, which is Bhatt’s stronghold. The mob, allegedly at the behest of Ashok Bhatt and Harin Pathak, then a councillor in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, attacked the policeman. According to the chargesheet, Kiran Shah, brother of Minister of State for Transport and Information Technology Bimal Shah, stabbed Desai with a sharp weapon. The cop succumbed to his injuries in hospital.

Even as the frustration among the embattled police force was growing, stray incidents of communal violence began spotting Ahmedabad. Egged on by inflammatory anti-police newspaper reports, which also alleged that policeman had run amok in the city, stripping and raping women in communally sensitive areas, a mob of policemen burnt down the office of the Gujarat Samachar newspaper. Another group of cops tried to attack the Patrakar Colony of journalists, but were prevented.

For over five months thereafter, hotspots like Kalupur and Dariapur remained under curfew. People stayed awake for nights on end, guarding their families, houses and property against possible caste and communal attacks. Now, they knew each other as high castes and low castes, Hindus and Muslims.

Tempers cooled only after the Congress high command asked Madhavsinh Solanki to step down and make way for Amarsinh Chaudhary, who is now Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly. The hike in reservations was put on hold, and, in supreme irony, was re-introduced seven years later by the very man who had vehemently opposed it: Chimanbhai Patel.

Interestingly, the three members of the committee headed by Justice Baxi, which recommended the reservation for OBCs, were all upper caste — Naagar, Brahmin and Patel. The first time OBCs were given reservation in Gujarat was also by an upper caste Chief Minister — Babubhai Jashbhai Patel. But the first attempt by an OBC Chief Minister, Madhavsinh Solanki, to do so was met with stiff resistance.

This aspect of casteist politics was evident during the anti-reservation agitation. A very important fallout of the 1985 communal violence was the BJP’s emergence to power in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation soon after. Another rising star was the emergence of Abdul Latif Abdul Wahad Shaikh, a bootlegger and later Gujarat’s unchallenged underworld don. Amidst a sharp communal divide, Latif set up a record of sorts by winning the AMC polls from five Muslim-dominated wards.

The communal divide increased as riots continued year after year from 1985. The riots were fresh in the minds of Gujarat’s people when L.K. Advani kicked off his rathyatra from Somnath to Ayodhya. The BJP sprang into political significance nationally, and tasted power for the first time.

The BJP Government has often said that no communal riots occur in Gujarat any more. The court order is a reminder of a time when they did.