AHMEDABAD, 30 October — Muslim leaders warned yesterday that looming elections in the riot-torn western state of Gujarat could spark fresh communal violence unless tight security is afforded voters so they can cast their ballots without fear.
Electoral officials on Monday set Dec. 12 as the date for what is considered a high-risk poll after India’s Supreme Court backed their contention that the situation was still too volatile to hold the vote any earlier. The Hindu extremist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which heads the Gujarat state and the central governments, had argued for an early poll on legal grounds.
The state government, led by the BJP, has been accused by the opposition of failing to prevent the blood bath. While many Muslims who fled to camps to escape the violence have in recent weeks begun returning home, those interviewed by AFP believed an election could cause tensions to soar once more, preventing a free and fair poll.
"To ensure that the elections are free and fair, it is important that the commission’s guidelines, such as the transfer of election officers who have been in one city for more than four years, should be followed strictly," said Inamul Iraqi, co-ordinator of one of the relief camps.
"Military forces should be deployed in places which are BJP strongholds so that Muslims can cast their votes without fear," Iraqi added. Muslim leaders said they would campaign for the election even if it meant risking their lives.
"Our Muslim leaders will come out and campaign as they feel it is better to die than live in fear every day," said local Congress party official, Chandrakant Ramcharan Srivastav, who saved many Muslims when they were attacked by Hindu mobs during the riots in March and April.
Muslims said they would vote for Congress, the main opposition party, but would prefer a "third force" to emerge in the state that would offer another alternative.
"None of the Muslims will vote for the BJP after what happened to them after the Godhra train carnage, so we have only one option and that is to vote for Congress, said Muslim leader Zubeir Gopalani.
