Customer Reviews

Gujarat: The Making of a Tragedy

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book delivers exactly what it claims, it is a permanent public record of the hell that was, and still is, Gujarat. As a human rights researcher recently back from India I can honestly say that this is the only accurate, verifiable and truthfull account thus far. Unfortunately it is horrific and terrible and difficult for Indian people to bear and as more of the truth comes out year by year the horrors, far from ceasing are being driven underground. It is a crucial read for people interested in understanding racism, conflict resolution, genocidal mania and a terrible time barely touched by international and Indian media. Today there is still no justice for the survivors.

This book is a must-read for everyone. Gujarat is the genocide that the world ignored, and those that didn't ignore soon forgot.

Read this book and find out what makes people review this as a one star book - find out what they want to hide for the world - put names to the 2000 dead, burnt in their own homes by mobs of thousands of fundamentalist Hindu fanatics, young girls gang raped by their neighbours, pregnant women who had their bellies slashed open and their foetuses thrown into the air and caught by swords. Also read about the brave Hindu families who sheltered many Muslims and other minorities, and some who even gave their lives before giving in to Hindutva terrorism.

Varadarajan and other journalists who have covered the genocide should be commended for their work. This is without doubt a five star book and stands forever as a record of the 2002 Holocaust (quite literally) in Gujarat.

Also read Martha Nussbaum's forthcoming book: The Clash Within: Violence, Democracy and India's Future. (To read a chapter online google search martha nussbaum gujarat yale)

Siddharth Varadarajan is deputy chief of the national bureau of the Times of India.perfect neutral opinion from author and amazing reporting of situation ! Excellent research behind the tragedy.
Any person wants to learn about Indian Political situation and how much strength you have when you have political power on your side! you should read this book

For the sheer clinical nature of the killing of the Muslim population in the Indian state of Gujarat (they form about 6 per cent of the population of this state which lies in western India), the violence of March 2002 has to rank up there with other gencoides like Rwanda or Bosnia.

What the editor and his contributors have given us is a step by step account of how the violence was engineered by the ruling party of the province (the party is the rightwing Hindu chauvinist BJP), the role played by the police and media, and also, how the civil society has reacted.

This book is a must for any university course on modern India.

This book leaves many questions in your mind. The author tries to draw parallels to some of the worst genocides of our times and it does not seem fair. Also, the discussion on the history of Hindu-Muslim relationship in Gujarat and much of the India is inadequate. It is highly unrealistic to form an opinion in absence of the analysis of historical events. At the same time, I firmly believe that the state government didn't try their best in stopping such a tragedy and this book brings a few good examples in front of us. Other than that, you'd be better off reading various news/web articles as they may offer a balance of thoughts for being written by authors with differing opinions than reading such a one-sided story.

This book is written by a Marxist ideologue with known Islamist like Seetalvad Javed Khan. Some 794 Muslims died, along with 300+ Hindus during the said period in Gujarat. 35% displaced people are Hindus. However, they never see these, rather create a monolith Muslim-Victim polemic. This one sided version, deliberately distorting facts has created this mess.

It may be noted Ahmedabad (Capital of State of Gujarat) is the chosen home of Mahatma Gandhi. During riots, when local Muslims went to take shelter in Sabarmati Ashram (founded by Gandhi), they were denied that by Gandhians. The biggest Riot happened in Ahmedabad in 1969, just one week prior to Gandhi Birth-centenary.

Nobody is supporting Gujarat 2002. But ignoring most of the facts, thus makes this book very very one-sided, Anti-Hindu. Its the Pro-Muslim policies of these groups, lack of courage to take on islamic terrorism/fundamentalism has created this mess. Just one fact would be sufficient to prove these peoples credential: They support reservation for Muslims (along religious lines) in a secular state like India.

These same people keep mum when some 400,000 Kashmiri Pandits are driven out by Islamic terrorists from Indian J&K. They are totally silent on decimation of minorities in Bangladesh. 30%+ Minorities thus reduced to less than 10% in matter of 30 years. Why they engage in this sort of outrageous double-standard?

This book is completly nightmare. If you are aware of Gujarat than you should read it so that you can laugh at it. IF you do not have any knowledge about Gujarat, than read it as a Fiction book.