Description

Many of the contribu-tors pointed to a disturbing trend, what Harish Khare described as the iron that seemed to have entered the Gujarati soul. Old time residents of the state were par-ticularly concerned about a growing culture of intole-rance-a vision of a nation with little legitimate space for anyone dubbed an outsider-Dalits, Christians and, above all, Muslims. The apprehension was that the emerging Gujarat, characterized by a provincial, mid-dle class, upper caste Hindu outlook, seemed to have shed its one-time accommodating, adaptive and wel-coming spirit. In brief, not a nice place to be in.

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