In the 24 hours since the bombings, Gujarat has been witness to a very different side of the Modi administration. There has been no rhetoric, no rabble-rousing, no talk of Gujarat Asmita, in fact no talk anywhere of any backlash.

Proving critics wrong and moving swiftly, the Chief Minister and his team got down to work almost immediately after the blasts — he went on air, appealing for restraint and calm, while his government got in touch with the Army within half-an-hour of the first explosion.

Modi described the terror strikes as “an attack on humanity” while Minister Jay Narayan Vyas chose to call it “an attack on India”. The BJP too has shown restraint, very unlike February 2002 when, in the wake of the torching of the Sabarmati Express that killed 57 kar sevaks, it called a bandh which was supported by the state government.

In 2002, the bandh sparked off violence and the Modi government delayed taking a decision on calling in the Army — the first columns reached Ahmedabad 48 hours after the train carnage sparked off retaliatory violence.

But on Saturday, the state government contacted the Army within half-an-hour of the first blast. Top police sources said that at the high-level meeting held at the Ahmedabad Police Commissioner’s office, the Chief Minister’s instructions were very clear: “There should be no reaction.” It was the same Modi, who in the midst of the Godhra riots, said: “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.”

But this time, by late evening, 24 companies of the State Reserve Police (SRP) were mobilised along with five companies of the border wing of the Home Guards, and four companies of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) to prevent any retaliatory violence.

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