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It's a bizarre dichotomy. In most of India, and even the rest of the world, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is perceived as a villain, a Hindutva hardliner who sat back and allowed the mobs to seek bloody revenge for Godhra. A man who was described by actress and Rajya Sabha member Shabana Azmi as a "mass murderer"; a man who is charged with forgetting that he is the chief minister, not an RSS pracharak; a man whose dismissal is being sought by angry opposition MPs in Parliament. In addition, he has been charged with making insensitive and provocative statements that, in effect, justify the attacks on the state's minorities.

TWO FACES: Modi has become a symbol of Hindu pride to some, chief monster to others

Within Gujarat it is a completely different story. Here, even the Opposition Congress balks at demanding his dismissal. "We are not here to play politics in this hour of crisis," said the Congress observer Kamal Nath who was in Ahmedabad three days after the riots began. Gujarat PCC President Amarsinh Chaudhary, who accused the Ram sevaks of provocation immediately after the Godhra episode, had to modify his stand four days later. It is a far cry from the Congress that sought the state BJP government's resignation after the Hindu-Christian clashes in Dangs in 1998-99 in which not a single person died.

INFLAMMABLE: The charred bodies of riot victims are prepared for burial

On the other hand, inside the BJP there is already talk of how the party has finally found a worthwhile leader to lead the charge for next year's assembly polls. At a closed-door meeting with party President Jana Krishnamurthy in Ahmedabad, MLA after MLA of the BJP talked of reverting to the Hindutva track. "After the post-Godhra spontaneous Hindu upsurge the party will have to consider the people's strong feelings on Hindutva and nationalism," said BJP MLA Bharat Pandya.

It was also evident from the public mood. At a relief camp where the displaced Hindus were lodged in Ahmedabad, Modi's visit drew an enthusiastic response. When he spoke at a chamber of commerce meeting on March 5, the captains of commerce and industry had no word of criticism. Vishal Patel, a college student in Ahmedabad, put it in chilling terms: "The very fact that anti-national elements were effectively paid back during his tenure is reason enough for us to salute him."

SPARKED BY DEATH: Riots followed the cremation of the Godhra victims

Modi blundered by giving in to pressure from relatives to allow cremations in different places.

The emergence of Modi as a symbol of Hindu pride, however, begs the question of the chief minister playing out his constitutional obligations. The question which is now being hotly debated is: were the massacres of the Muslims orchestrated by the Hindutva brigades under the benign gaze of the Modi Government or was it just plain inefficiency on Modi's part during the initial period which gave a long rope to the rioters?

Even if the chilling accounts of the 18,000 Muslim survivors huddled in various camps in Ahmedabad of the collaboration is partially discounted, few can deny that on February 28 the police had virtually become passive onlookers at many places in Ahmedabad and collaborators in some places. Says a seething Sarmuddin Shaikh, an autorickshaw driver who lost six members of his family in the carnage at Naroda Patia in Ahmedabad and whose daughter-in-law Zarina was allegedly raped and then killed by a blood-thirsty mob: "The police were party to the carnage. They either looked the other way or collaborated in the massacres." Adds Ameena Belim, whose family survived the Naroda massacre but who saw many neighbours being roasted alive from a terrace where many Muslims had hidden: "The cruelty can't simply be described in words. The jawans in the State Reserve Police (SRP) headquarters just next door refused to let us in saying they didn't have orders from the top. Had they allowed us in, dozens would have been saved."

AMONG THE RUINS: Fernandes surveys the damage during his visit to Ahmedabad

The Muslim community is seething with rage. The Gujarat Chand Committee, a body of Islamic preachers, has called for the immediate dismissal of the Modi Government. Says Committee Chairman Mufti Shabbir Ahmed Siddiqui: "Clearly, the state Government had virtually directed the police not to take action against mobs attacking the Muslims. The Modi Government should immediately be dismissed in the larger interest of communal peace."

That the police was ineffective is clear. But was this intentional? Ahmedabad has a police force of 6,000, including 1,500 armed personnel. In addition, the entire state has just four companies (530 jawans) of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) of which only one company could be spared for Ahmedabad. Considering that the mobs that simultaneously surfaced at nearly half a dozen places numbered from 2,000 to 10,000, the forces proved woefully inadequate. At one point on February 28 there were at least 25,000 people targeting the Muslim localities in Ahmedabad alone.

What's more, the police was expecting trouble in Ahmedabad's walled city, which has been the scene of communal violence in every riot in the past two decades. This time, however, it wasn't the walled city where the troubles began. At Naroda Patia, the scene of the worst carnage, there was no police presence worth the name to prevent the mobs from grouping in the morning and going on a rampage. There were at least three mobs of 4,000 to 5,000 each attacking Muslims. Among them were members of a tribe called the Chara, who have a township not very far from Naroda. Till now the Charas were known for thefts and bootlegging. Last Thursday, they earned a reputation for rioting too.

In Chamanpura area where nearly 40 persons, including former Congress MP Ehsaan Jafri and his family members were killed, there were just a few armed guards when the crowd began assembling. Reinforcements did arrive but by that time the mob had swelled to 10,000 and even though police firing killed at least five persons on the spot-in all police firing led to 40 deaths in Ahmedabad alone-it didn't stop the carnage. The situation was aggravated further by Jafri firing from his revolver on the mob injuring seven. Others in the housing complex are said to have thrown acid bulbs too.

Last Thursday, the Ahmedabad police received at least 3,500 calls for help from fear-stricken residents, mostly Muslims, against the normal average of 200. The fire brigade which has the capacity to handle 100 fire calls received 400 calls on February 28. Says Ahmedabad Police Commissioner P.C. Pande: "In my 32-year career I have never seen something like this. It was an upsurge, unstoppable and unprecedented. A stage came when it became physically impossible for the police to tackle mobs running into thousands".