"Nazi-type" vermillion crosses spotted on Ahmedabad's minority houses? Effort at pre-poll communal divide alleged

By A Representative
Well-known human rights site, www.sabrangindia.in, run by Teesta Setalvad, who has fought several cases for the 2002 anti-minority Gujarat riot victims, has claimed to have found that several of the Muslim houses in different parts of Ahmedabad have been identified and crossed, alleging these are similar to the "Nazi Germany like red cross markings" on Jew houses.
While the Gujarat officials have reportedly denied the Sabrangindia report, saying that the vermillion crosses were for garbage collection, the site has quoted local Muslims who reside in Ahmedabad as saying: "How come then only Muslim homes had these crosses?", adding, other media, meanwhile, have begun investigating on how this has happened.

According to Sabrangindia, "The communal demon is at it again. Desperate to polarise an electorate ahead of the upcoming state elections, a sinister deep vermillion cross ‘X’ has been spotted in different spots all over Ahmedabad", wondering whether the Election Commission of India in Delhi and its office in Gujarat would act.
Sabrangindia believes, "The flats/apartments following colonies with the sinister vermillion cross are: Aman colony (corner flats), Tagore flats, Al Aman flats and the Faize-e-Mohammadi society... It is clear that when all else is not working, the extreme right wing majority communal forces are bent on polarising the Gujarati electorate. Besides in the Paldi area too, the Muslim societies have been marked with the mysterious cross."

The site continues, "In addition, other posters warning against ‘Paldi becoming another Juhapura’ have emerged in the city. An example of this was visible in Paldi, a Hindu majority area located in southwestern Ahmedabad. A banner called upon voters to prevent the area from turning into another Juhapura – a Muslim dominated neighbourhood in New West Zone of the city."
Sabrangindia contends that "on a saffron background, the banner said ‘Bachawo, Bachawo' (Save, Save), followed by this dire call: 'Paldi Ne Juhapura Thatu Atkavo' (Prevent Paldi from turning into Juhapura).' It was spotted at Paldi Mahalakshmi circle."
It adds, "The banner did not have any symbol of a political party nor did it carry the name of who was issuing this scary call. After being on display for some hours, it was removed by unknown people after some local residents objected to it."
Juhapura is a mammoth Muslim ghetto situated seven kilometres away from the city centre of Ahmedabad, the business capital of Gujarat. With a population of about 1,00,000 before the 2002 Gujarat riots, the population has grown to close to 6,00,000 thereafter.

"Paldi, on the hand, is a mixed locality with both Hindu and Muslim pockets. Corporate offices and city centres of many national and multinational companies such as Gujarat Gas, WaghBakri Tea Group, Claris, Religare, Royal Bank of Scotland and ICICI Bankare located here", Sabrangindia says.
It adds, Paldi comes under the Ellisbridge Assembly constituency, once represented by Haren Pandya, an anti-Modi BJP leader who was murdered in 2003 in mysterious circumstances.

Comments

Uma said…

I hope there is no repeat of 2002

November 14, 2017

Anonymous said…

Scary af. And I am not even muslim. :( Please be safe everyone.

November 14, 2017

Covishield controversy: How India ignored a warning voice during the pandemic

Dr Amitav Banerjee, MD * It is a matter of pride for us that a person of Indian origin, presently Director of National Institute of Health, USA, is poised to take over one of the most powerful roles in public health. Professor Jay Bhattacharya, an Indian origin physician and a health economist, from Stanford University, USA, will be assuming the appointment of acting head of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USA. Bhattacharya would be leading two apex institutions in the field of public health which not only shape American health policies but act as bellwether globally.

When a lake becomes real estate: The mismanagement of Hyderabad’s waterbodies

By Dr Mansee Bal Bhargava* Misunderstood, misinterpreted and misguided governance and management of urban lakes in India —illustrated here through Hyderabad —demands urgent attention from Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), the political establishment, the judiciary, the builder–developer lobby, and most importantly, the citizens of Hyderabad. Fundamental misconceptions about urban lakes have shaped policies and practices that systematically misuse, abuse and ultimately erase them—often in the name of urban development.

'Serious violation of international law': US pressure on Mexico to stop oil shipments to Cuba

By Vijay Prashad In January 2026, US President Donald Trump declared Cuba to be an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US security—a designation that allows the United States government to use sweeping economic restrictions traditionally reserved for national security adversaries. The US blockade against Cuba began in the 1960s, right after the Cuban Revolution of 1959 but has tightened over the years. Without any mandate from the United Nations Security Council—which permits sanctions under strict conditions—the United States has operated an illegal, unilateral blockade that tries to force countries from around the world to stop doing basic commerce with Cuba. The new restrictions focus on oil. The United States government has threatened tariffs and sanctions on any country that sells or transports oil to Cuba.

When grief becomes grace: Kerala's quiet revolution in organ donation

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Kerala is an important model for understanding India's diversity precisely because the religious and cultural plurality it has witnessed over centuries brought together traditions and good practices from across the world. Kerala had India's first communist government, was the first state where a duly elected government was dismissed, and remains the first state to achieve near-total literacy. It is also a land where Christianity and Islam took root before they spread to Europe and other parts of the world. Kerala has deep historic rationalist and secular traditions.

Growth without justice: The politics of wealth and the economics of hunger

By Vikas Meshram* In modern history, few periods have displayed such a grotesque and contradictory picture of wealth as the present. On one side, a handful of individuals accumulate in a single year more wealth than the annual income of entire nations. On the other, nearly every fourth person in the world goes to bed hungry or half-fed.

Thali, COVID and academic credibility: All about the 2020 'pseudoscientific' Galgotias paper

By Jag Jivan The first page image of the paper "Corona Virus Killed by Sound Vibrations Produced by Thali or Ghanti: A Potential Hypothesis" published in the Journal of Molecular Pharmaceuticals and Regulatory Affairs , Vol. 2, Issue 2 (2020), has gone viral on social media in the wake of the controversy surrounding a Chinese robot presented by the Galgotias University as its original product at the just-concluded AI summit in Delhi . The resurfacing of the 2020 publication, authored by Dharmendra Kumar , Galgotias University, has reignited debate over academic standards and scientific credibility.

Bangladesh goes to polls as press freedom concerns surface

By Nava Thakuria* As Bangladesh heads for its 13th Parliamentary election and a referendum on the July National Charter simultaneously on Thursday (12 February 2026), interim government chief Professor Muhammad Yunus has urged all participating candidates to rise above personal and party interests and prioritize the greater interests of the Muslim-majority nation, regardless of the poll outcomes.

The Galgotia model: How India is losing the war on knowledge

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Galgotia is the face of 'quality education' as envisioned by those who never considered education a tool for social change or national uplift — and yet this is precisely the model Narendra Modi pursued in Gujarat as Chief Minister. In the mid-eighties, when many of us were growing up, 'Nirma' became one of the most popular advertisements on Doordarshan. Whether the product was any good hardly seemed to matter.

Beyond the conflict: Experts outline roadmap for humane street dog solutions

By A Representative In a direct response to the rising polarization surrounding India’s street dog population, a high-level coalition of parliamentarians, legal experts, and civil society leaders gathered in the capital to propose a unified national framework for humane animal management. The emergency deliberations were sparked by a recent Suo Moto judgment that has significantly deepened the divide between animal welfare advocates and those calling for the removal of community dogs, a tension that has recently escalated into reported violence against both animals and their caretakers in states like Telangana.

Search This Blog