Ahmedabad,October 07: On Saturday afternoon, hundreds of people were seen gathered with bags and their little kids under the Chanakyapuri flyover in Ahmedabad as they waited for buses back to their states of origin after having lived in Gujarat for years.
Driven by the fear of attack by mobs, north Indian migrants from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh were seen fleeing from Ahmedabad and neighbouring districts.
The police on Friday had said that more than 180 people were arrested in Sabarkantha, where the 14-month-old was allegedly raped, Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Mehsana and Patan for attacking non-Gujaratis, especially the migrants from UP and Bihar.
While a woman from Madhya Pradesh waiting for a bus to return to her village in Bhind told the media that her children, including a four-year-old, were playing outside on Thursday night when the mob targeted them. She along with her husband who is a painter was living there for seven years.
More than 1500 Hindi-speaking migrants from UP, MP and Bihar may have reportedly fled from their homes in Mahadev Nagar neighbourhood over the past few days, ever since the outbreak of violence following the rape of a minor in Sabarkantha.
In place of a single bus that used to leave for the states once in two days with only about 25 passengers, more than 20 buses are reportedly leaving with around 90 people, as per a private bus agency operator.
Different people reported receiving threats by masked men who asked them to leave the state before the next morning after questioning them where were they from.
Vehicles and kiosks are reportedly being set ablaze and many migrants in the painting profession are leaving for their homes just before Diwali, the peak season. Landlords are asking their tenants to leave as soon as possible. People were seen boarding the first bus they could get, leaving only their clothes in their rented apartments, not knowing when to return.
Prasanta Patnaik