Gujarat pogrom arrestees were mostly lower castes, not upper-caste riot leaders

Evidence

In his essay “Blood Under Saffron: The Myth of Dalit–Muslim Confrontation”, Raju Solanki, a Gujarati Dalit writer who studied the pattern of arrests, says that of the 1,577 ‘Hindus’ who were arrested (not under POTA of course), 747 were Dalits and 797 belonged to ‘Other Backward Classes’. Nineteen were Patels, two were Banias and two were Brahmins. The massacres of Muslims occurred in several cities and villages in Gujarat. However, Solanki points out that not a single massacre took place in bastis where Dalits and Muslims lived together. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated
, 432

Categorization

  • XREF: Direct continuation of Ambedkar’s core thesis that lower castes are used as cannon fodder in upper-caste Hindu projects.
  • CANDY: That no massacre occurred where Dalits and Muslims lived together is a striking, conversation-worthy counterpoint to the ‘communal confrontation’ narrative.