Gujarat is the most indebted state of the Union. Its public debt stands at a whopping Rs 86,000 crore. Its 48-lakh farmers have a per-capita debt of Rs 15,526 on their heads. The power situation is abysmal with rural areas receiving six to eight hours of power every day.

On the law and order front, atrocities on dalits and violence against women has increased over the past five years. More than 100 Dalits have been murdered in the past 3 years.

Gujarat ranks eighth in terms of providing minimum wages. Evaluated on six fundamental indicators of population status, that is, health, basic amenities, education, unemployment, poverty and social deprivation Gujarat has slipped, over the past decade, from the fifth to eleventh position in rural areas and to the eighth position in urban areas.

Corruption is at a zenith in the highest echelons of government. The issue of gross irregularities in the Sujalam Sufalam irrigation project, shady land deals, tax breaks worth Rs 15,000 crore to select industrialists, purchasing power at padded rates of up to Rs 5.32 per unit from private producers thereby causing a loss of more than Rs 11, 000 crore to the state exchequer, are urgent issues.

Coming back to the first construct of minority-bashing, it would be sheer escapism not to point out that there are historical reasons for the continuing Hindu-Muslim divide in Gujarat. The great Indian Renaissance that harmonised Hindu-Muslim relations in the 15th and 16th centuries completely by-passed Gujarat. The lingering bitterness of Somnath and other invasions could not be reconciled. In the early 20th century the initial emigrants to Africa and other places were mostly Muslim entrepreneurs. Their remittances generated affluence for the brethren back home that created envy among the local Hindu populace. (Mahatma Gandhi, conscious of this historical legacy, laid great emphasis on bridging this divide). The textile mill riots in Ahmedabad in 1969 acquired communal overtones and set the stage for a fresh round of bitterness. Last but not least, successive governments from 1980-95 have been singularly unsuccessful in combating a canard spread by the Sangh machine that these governments were soft on criminal elements in the Muslim community.

... contd.