[Reader-list] Modi govt orders study of Gujarat population

[Rakesh Iyer]

Dear Anupam,

My feeling is that the polarization has certainly taken place, (news of
distress sales and increase in Muslim population in the old areas of cities,
not only in Gujarat but also elsewhere). But our Modi bhai is actually
thinking now of becoming the PM of the nation.(which he will of course deny)
And since the BJP is in no position to gain absolute majority on its own, he
needs to become the leader of the NDA.

Unfortunately for him, the post-Godhra violence is an albatross around his
neck. That is something people are not forgetting, and so can't he. The
problem is that he has to raise issues of minority appeasement when it comes
to Gujarat elections, but at the Centre he would like them to be forgotten.
But that is not happening. And this scuttles his position to be the leader
of the NDA. And more importantly, to be the PM of India.

Therefore, my personal perception is that the BJP has called for this survey
either to prove that no polarization has taken place, or if it has, communal
riots have had no role in it and Muslims migrated on their own without any
provocations or contexts for the same.