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The Rediff Special/N Sathiya Moorthy

Scarred for Life

"I was at my hair-dresser's this morning, and had to wait a full hour before someone could attend to me. There wasn't much of a crowd, and there were enough spare chairs. But none to do the hair-dressing." That is how a local journalist responded when asked to describe the state of Coimbatore a year after the killing of traffic constable R Selvaraj on November 29, 1997, led to anti-Muslim riots.

Nineteen Muslims were killed in retaliation as policemen, criminals, and 'pro-Hindutva' militants took to the streets and the law of the jungle prevailed for two days until the army was summoned.

In a way, the Coimbatore blasts of February 14 were a response to the riots, which have receded to the background. But together, the two events have changed Coimbatore.

Said the journalist, quoting the owner of the saloon: "The boys who went home for Diwali are yet to return. And they may not return until after November-end. It's not homesickness, but the fear of getting caught in a bomb blast or some other 'memorial service' of the kind on November 29."

Actually, the saloon-owner will not be surprised if his boys return only after February 14, after another fearsome anniversary has passed. "In between, you have the Ayodhya demolition anniversary on December 6 and the Tamil festival of Pongal on January 14, when the boys anyway go home for a week or more," the journalist quoted him as saying.

That's the plight of Coimbatore, once famed as the Manchester of the South and until recently known as the 'Ancillaries City'.

Actually, in these days of unemployment, it's only in Coimbatore, nearby Tiruppur, with its hosiery industry, and Sivakasi further south, home of India's match and printing industry, that labour is still in demand. 'Help wanted' placards outside these units, big and small, proclaim this fact -- and their own age besides.

But there are not many takers. Coimbatore has become a ghostly city, with the fear of the unknown nagging every resident, high or low, even as he celebrates a wedding, attends to his daily chores, or stands in a long queue at a cinema hall or a ration shop.

"Even a minor disturbance on the street makes you wary these days," said Mangala, a housewife. "You want to scoot from the place without a thought. At the same time, you want to know what the commotion is all about, as thoughts of your husband and children away at office and school cross your mind."

Upper-class housewives like Mangala now face restrictions on going out: their husbands insist on accompanying them wherever they go. Said Mangala, only half in jest: "As if that is going to make any difference to my safety from a bomb. But it feels nice to know that he is concerned."

Real-estate prices and rents have crashed, more so after the blasts, though some people believe there is no connection between the two events. "I will not link the real-estate crash to the riots or the blasts," said V Ramanathan, who owns a unit manufacturing textile machinery parts. "It's part of the general economic recession in the country. It started in Bombay and elsewhere much earlier. But just as the real-estate boom was late in coming to Coimbatore, so was the crash. It's just that the crash coincided with the riots and blasts."

Sounds like a valid explanation, but the fact remains that many in the city, industrialists, traders and commoners alike, believe that the riots and blasts caused the economic downturn. "That's not good for the city's psyche," said A Venkataraman, a chartered accountant from nearby Ooty who has been "in and out" of Coimbatore.

As Venkataraman pointed out, "Every drawing-room conversation in the city turns to the family getting worried about someone coming late from work, or someone else slashing the rent-expectation on his premises, with no takers still in sight. It's not visible, but the fear is there."

A hosiery-trader acquaintance of his from Bombay, who visits Coimbatore and Tiruppur every month, has made it a point to call home at least twice a day, if only to reassure his wife, Venkataraman said.

Muslims feel harassed and embarrassed

It's not been any better for the Muslims in Coimbatore either. For the residents of Kottaimedu, the much-talked about locality, Al-Ameen Colony, and Ukkadam, in whose vicinity constable Selvaraj was killed when he tried to stop two weapon-laden cars, it has been a nightmarish year. First, it was the retaliation of last November. Then came the blasts, which has made these localities and their residents suspects in the eyes of the police and loathsome to others.

"They feel both embarrassed and harassed," said a politician who did not want to be identified, "by the frequent police searches, particularly with the electronic media in attendance. Some of them feel as strongly against the February 14 blasts as anyone else, but they have no voice to protest. Not that their protests would be taken seriously by the majority community."

Academic S Kalyanaraman conceded the point. "There is the danger of even moderate Muslims taking to militancy because of such over-exposure. Midnight knocks and door-to-door checks by gun-toting cops can be humiliating, particularly when you see it from a community's point of view."

But, he cautioned, "there is not much the police can do in such a situation. They seem to be acting on one tip-off or the other, and they cannot afford to take chances. Not after the blasts that killed 60 people, certainly not after being blamed for failing to act on intelligence information."

No action yet against the rioters

Also, there is resentment among the Muslims that the government did not take any action against the perpetrators of the riots. Muslim residents were attacked, and their businesses were targeted for arson and looting. "It was so very systematic and thorough that you would have suspected pre-planning at every stage," said the journalist quoted earlier.

Apparently, Lal Kishenchand Advani's election meeting was targeted on February 14 only to hit back at the Hindu militants who had participated in the riots.

Recalled the journalist: "There were reports of irate cops and RSS militants blocking the riot victims' way to the government hospital. This is believed to be the reason for a bomb being planted in the hospital on February 14, when blast victims from elsewhere in the city were expected to be rushed there."

There is another side to the story, though. Gruesome pictures of the riot victims, with their post-mortem bandages removed, are doing the rounds of the Muslim community, be it in Tamil Nadu or the rest of India or the Gulf countries, where non-resident Indian Muslims live. "Videotapes of the dead and their funerals are being freely used by Islamic fundamentalists to raise money for the victims' families," said a volunteer of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

Politically, however, the blasts benefited the BJP, the party bagging Coimbatore and neighbouring Nilgiris in the Lok Sabha election that followed. Its allies led by the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, also won handsome victories elsewhere in the state. The rival DMK-Tamil Maanila Congress combine got a drubbing.

The Muslims didn't forgive Chief Minister Muthuvel Karunanidhi either for not visiting the riot victims' kin. On the other hand, he visited the blast victims the very next day. "Who says Karunanidhi is biased towards the Muslims?" said a Muslim politician of the DMK.

Security is far tighter today, but the fear remains

The police are keeping their fingers crossed, and refusing to take any chances with the riot anniversary. Every vehicle is checked, every suspect frisked. Restrictions on entry into the railway station and airport remain, and every 'tip-off' is checked out. An additional 4,000 policemen are being drafted for bandobust duty for the next one month. That includes personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force and the Rapid Action Force as well as Tamil Nadu's own Swift Action Force and Special Armed Police. Thirty jeeps fitted with sirens are to join the existing 12 for round-the-clock patrols, for emergencies, and to boost the morale of the citizenry.

If the 17 checkposts and 32 police pickets will convert Coimbatore into a city under siege, peace committees are also being formed to involve the people and politicians in morale-building exercises. The police have banned a proposed protest day for November 29, planned by the Dravidar Kazhagam. A similar 'policemen's rights protection day' too has been banned.

Yet, Coimbatore will never be the same again. As Mangala, the housewife, remarked: "Coimbatore is safe today, but you can never feel as safe as you felt just about a year back. The injuries may heal, but the scar will remain."

Inquiry commission exonerates Coimbatore police

The Rediff Specials

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