Quota Protests Put Gujarat on Edge

Extreme violence is nothing new in Ahmedabad and the rest of Gujarat, which has seen mindless riots for centuries. This was why when tensions mounted during the protests for an OBC quota for the Patel community, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for calm in his home state in a TV address in Gujarati. Modi, who was Chief Minister when riots broke out in the state in March 2002, knows only too well how minor acts of violence can snowball into a major law-and-order problem.

To keep the peace, the state government has called in the Army and imposed a curfew in several parts of the city, as also in other sensitive areas of the state, after 22-year-old activist Hardik Patel vowed to intensify the Patel stir.

With several deaths reported a day after a rally called by a Patel outfit, cellphone data services were blocked in Ahmedabad and other cities of Gujarat to stop rumours from spreading and prevent gangs from coordinating their movements. More stringent measures are in order.

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