..VI. THE CONTEXT OF THE VIOLENCE IN GUJARAT

Economic Boycotts and Hate Propaganda  
A pamphlet calling for the economic boycott of Muslims has resurfaced in the state since the March 2002 attacks. The pamphlet was issued in the name of the VHP's office in Raanip locality though its origins have yet to be traced.²⁰⁶  

The pamphlet-the text of which is included in the appendix to this report-refers to Muslims as "anti-national elements" who molest Hindus' sisters and daughters and who use money earned from Hindus to buy arms. It calls on its readers to institute a complete boycott of goods and services proffered by Muslims, adding that Muslims should not be hired in Hindu establishments and should not be allowed to rent property. It also cautions Hindus to be "alert to ensure that [Hindus'] sisters-daughters do not fall into the `love-trap' of Muslim boys" and calls on Hindus to vote, but "only for him who will protect the Hindu nation."²⁰⁷  

Though the VHP has denied authorship of the pamphlet, it is already achieving its intended effect.²⁰⁸ According to an organizer of the Chartoda Kabristan camp in Ahmedabad: "The Hindus are not selling their wares to Muslims. A certain boycott is in effect."²⁰⁹ An article in the Washington Post also notes the difficulties relief camp residents in Ahmedabad are facing returning to their jobs for fear of attack, or because their employers have hired Hindus in their place.²¹⁰ A report issued by the Vadodara branch of the People's Union for Civil Liberties and Shanti Abhiyan also noted that pamphlets calling for an economic boycott against Muslims were being distributed in and around the city of Vadodara, Gujarat.²¹¹ The forced isolation of Muslim community members afraid to leave ghetto neighborhoods that have become affected, has also resulted in reports of acute food shortages and starvation in Ahmedabad.²¹² 

²⁰⁶ "Pamphlet calling for boycott of Muslims causing concern in Ahmedabad," rediff.com, March 12, 2002, http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/mar/12train4.htm (accessed April 10, 2002).  

²⁰⁷ The spread of hate propaganda in Gujarat is not unlike the propaganda against Tutsis in the years preceding the genocide in Rwanda where through the written press and radio, extremists taught that the Hutu and Tutsi were different peoples. Simplifying and distorting history, the propagandists insisted that the Tutsi were foreign conquerors who had ruthlessly dominated the majority Hutu. The propaganda also warned Hutu men to beware of Tutsi women, not unlike propaganda in Gujarat that warns Hindus to protect their daughters from Muslim men. The targeted use of sexual violence against Tutsi women during the genocide was fueled by the propagation of both ethnic and gender stereotypes. See Human Rights Watch, "Shattered Lives: Sexual Violence during the Rwandan Genocide and its Aftermath," A Human Rights Watch report, September 1996, http://www.hrw.org/reports/1996/Rwanda.htm (accessed April 15, 2002).  

²⁰⁸ Malekar, "Silence of the Lambs," The Week.  

²⁰⁹ Human Rights Watch interview, Chartoda Kabristan camp organizer, Ahmedabad, March 23, 2002.  

²¹⁰ Rama Lakshmi, "Sectarian Violence Haunts Indian City: Hindu Militants Bar Muslims From Work," Washington Post, April 8, 2002.  

²¹¹ The report also cited a confidential letter from the RSS calling for the boycott of all minority secular programs. People's Union for Civil Liberties, "An Interim Report to the National Human Rights Commission."  

²¹² "Threat of starvation looms large in Ahmedabad areas," Press Trust of India, April 6, 2002.