The Lingering Impact of the 2002 Gujarat Riots: How the Violence Continues to Define India in 2023
The 2002 Gujarat riots, also known as the 2002 Gujarat violence, was a three-day period of inter-communal violence in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The burning of a train in Godhra on 27 February 2002, which caused the deaths of 58 Hindu pilgrims and sevaks returning from Ayodhya, is cited as having instigated the violence. Following the initial riot incidents, there were further outbreaks of violence in Ahmedabad for three months. The violence surpassed other periods of communal violence such as in 1969, 1985, 1989, and 1992 not only in the total loss of life but also in the savagery of the attacks.
