Vadodara Violence on Gujarat's "Gaurav" Day

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The demolition of an old dargah in Vadodara on May 1, 2006 by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation under the direction of its then Mayor, led to 5 deaths including the burning of a youth. A city that was just hobbling back to recovery after the traumatic episodes of 2002 (Best Bakery et al) was thrown into chaos again. Both the local Administration and the Police seemed to have gone awry for a few days with awful consequences. This book is a brief write-up and analysis of these unfortunate events, a case study of how not to handle the demolition of a 300-year old structure, revered by both Muslims and Hindus, a place where the late maharaja of Vadodara as well, as major annual Hindu religious processions of the city, would stop by to pay their respects.

This monograph would be of interest to a wide section of people including social historians, activists, NGOs, social organisations and the ordinary, concerned citizen who would like to understand why and how such events take place. In addition, it would be of particular interest to all social organisations, media persons, academicians and activists either from Gujarat or have worked on Gujarat. Anybody who has been affected by communal violence would find the monograph useful.

The authors and editors of this monograph all belong to the People's Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) Vadodara a national civil liberties watchdog organisation founded in 1975 by Jayaprakash Narayan (JP) during the days of emergency. PUCL Vadodara has played an active role in taking up issues of rural and urban displacement, violence against women, human rights violations of workers, religious minorities and slum-dwellers. It has also taken up issues related to impacts of draconian laws like POTA, TADA, etc.