LOSING HOPE: Lehriben Nainaji, a resident of the Bhilvas slum colony in Ahmedabad who lost her house along with 75 others

Muslims are being held responsible for Pakistan's policies.

The VHP and other Sangh organisations not only perceived the anger but also streamlined it successfully. Aware that people would shy away from blatant aggression in their own areas, outsiders were recruited to attack pre-targeted localities. In most cases, the locals didn't protest and actually egged on the rioters, so intense was the hatred of the "other".

There was also a deliberate attempt to mar the economic interests of the Muslim community. Not only were shops and establishments with obvious Muslim names attacked, but in a chilling revelation of the meticulous planning, so were those with names like Aashirwaad or Saffron that were jointly owned by Hindus and Muslims. Armed with information on share-holding and partnerships, they swooped down on establishments that variously included a medical shop near Ellis Bridge, the Honda franchisee on Gandhi Nagar road and the truck operator who carted Opel cars at Halol. The approximate loss suffered by business in six days of violence: Rs 500 crore a day.

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"It was not a communal flare-up, it was all political" Sanjay Joshi, chemist, Ahmedabad A 15-year-old friendship, a three-year-old partnership-Sanjay Joshi and Zahiruddin Tirmiz's A1 Medical Shop near Ahmedabad's Ellis Bridge could well have symbolised India's popular "unity in diversity" slogan. But as the finance minister read out the budget on February 28, their shop was being pelted with stones. A few hours later, the mob, now almost 10,000 strong and led by a local politician, set it ablaze after looting it. Their loss: Rs 5 lakh in stocks besides the store. But the greater loss was the shattering of their faith that a Hindu-Muslim partnership could stand as a bulwark against politically incited communal mistrust. "It was not communalism, it was politics," says Joshi. And they are determined to rebuild their store and their belief. Joshi(right) and Tirmiz The VHP not only sensed but streamlined the public anger.

Worse, there is a sinister move to impose economic sanctions against Muslims. The thrust is to choke credit to Muslim businessmen, even those with Hindu partners, by using the credit risk rating systems to make funding costlier. E-mails to this effect are said to be doing the rounds.

The exactitude of planning is demonstrated by the assault against the mercantile Bohra community-it has never been targeted in any of the earlier riots. The Bohras suffered immense losses in the Panchmahal and Sabarkanta areas, with Dahod alone accounting for Rs 40-60 crore. Almost every Dawoodi Bohra establishment-shop, mill or factory-has either been looted or torched. Nearly 70 per cent of the pulse mills around Dahod are owned by Bohras; none has been spared.

Though the state Government is at pains to explain that the attackers are criminals or Adivasis, it is hard to understand how they were able to mark out Bohra shops from the rest. The Adivasis form a large part of support base for the Hindu frontline outfits which is how the BJP wrested the Dahod parliamentary seat from the Congress in 1999. Its MP Babubhai Katara is incidentally the chief of the Dahod VHP unit. Though on the face of it the Adivasis have been enrolled in 11,500 bhajan mandals across Dahod and Godhra, these mandals-founded with the VHP's blessings-operate as hubs from where the mobilisation for the attacks is said to have begun. Last week, Sanjeli village was looted and torched by an Adivasi mob. Every family is homeless and over 700 villagers have shifted to a relief camp near Dahod.

HOLLOW VICTORY: Burnt shells of cars throng Ahmedabad after the riotous frenzy

Kishinbhai Mamnani, vice-president of the VHP's Dahod unit, does not agree. "Nobody is promoting or sponsoring the riots by using the Adivasis. They have simply reacted against their exploitation by the Bohras." He adds that they now recognise themselves not just as ''tribals but Ram bhakts". If that is indeed so, the transition to a Hinduised identity hasn't had wholesome consequences.

What these riots have revealed is the extent of hatred in society. It is a hate that crossed the bounds of mere prejudice and descended to murder. Which is why when young boys at the Muslim refugee camps speak coldly of retaliation, the future looks frightening. The only state to persist with prohibition could do with some sobriety.

-with Uday Mahurkar