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Indian politicians abandon Gujarati Muslims in elections

* BJP, Congress remain silent on shoddy rehabilitation of Gujarati religious riots’ victims even after 7 years since incident happened

ISLAMABAD: Muslims in the Indian state of Gujarat, who bore the brunt of the religious riots in 2002 say they have been abandoned by the political parties in the on going Indian general elections, BBC reported on Monday.

Anti-Muslim riots, sparked off by the death of Hindu pilgrims in the bombing of a train, led to the death of 1,392 people in five districts of the Gujarat state, according to official records. NGOs say the death toll was closer to 2,000. The riots also left over 140,000 people homeless, BBC reported.

Silent: Seven years after the incident, both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress remained silent on the shoddy rehabilitation of the victims and the delay in bringing the culprits to justice. “We cannot vote for the BJP and the Congress has a fixed deposit on our votes. So it’s a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea,” said an internally displaced person (IDP).

The Muslims IDPs were hardly interested in the polls and they turn their faces away in disgust at the mention of the polls.

“The BJP is an open enemy of Muslims, and the Congress is a hidden enemy,” one of the IDP said when asked about his voting stance.

Muslims make up 10 percent of the Gujarati population and the political parties feel they can ignore them, because they do not comprise a decisive vote bank,” the report said quoting an analyst. app

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