1980, October–1981, May: Godhra (Gujarat)

51% Hindus, 46% Muslims

Chief Minister of Gujarat: Madhavsingh Solanki, Congress Party, June 1980–August 1985

A series of communal incidents which occurred over an almost one-year period took place in the city of Godhra (Gujarat). They resulted from a local rivalry between Sindhis (a deprived Hindu group from the Sindh region, which migrated to India after Partition) and Ghanchis (an Other Backward Classes [OBC] Muslim group). The first major incident occurred on 29 October 1980 when two street hawkers (one Sindhi and one Ghanchi Muslim) quarreled over the position of their handcarts. Sindhi and Ghanchi crowds rapidly gathered, each setting fire to shops and houses belonging to the other community. A family of five Sindhis was burned alive. On March 1981, further violence took place when the municipality allowed the Sindhi community to rebuild shops that had been destroyed, while the Muslims were formally denied permission to do the same. Attacks and counter-attacks took place until September. About ten lives were claimed.

***(Engineer, 1984b: 246–261)