Mumbai blasts: Business community targeted

As much as the three blasts were a strike on the city’s financial and trade epicentres, the casualties were a body blow to the city’s trader communities. Of the 17 persons who died in the blasts, 11 were Marwadis and Gujaratis.

From 35-year-old Gumansingh Rathod, who came from Rajasthan a couple of years ago to join his brother in the jewellery business, to 49-year-old Himmat Gadhiya from Gujarat, a diamond broker at Opera House, the victims were representatives of the enterprising communities that have a stronghold on the city’s trade and commerce.

Whether by default or by design, all the three spots of the blasts are traditional strongholds of the Marwadi and Gujarati communities. While Zaveri Bazaar is a hub of Marwadis from Rajasthan’s Pali, Jodhpur, Sojat and Bhinmal districts who control the city’s gold and silver wholesale business, the Kabutarkhana Chowk in Dadar is also Marwadi stronghold, housing leading establishments of household appliances and readymade clothing. Incidentally, the Jain temple at Kabutarkhana also houses a dharamshala and is always teeming with visitors.

Not to mention the Pancharatna building at Opera House, the headquarters of the country’s diamond trade, predominantly run by the Gujarati community.

“The blasts were clearly targeted at commercially active places where there would be maximum damage with a minimum effort,” said Dhiren Kamdar, a businessman who resides near Opera house.

A section of the community even feels that the blasts could have been a fallout of the Gujarat riots. “The terrorists know that they cannot create havoc in Gujarat, hence they are targeting Mumbai, especially areas which are Gujarati hubs,” said advocate Manoj Bhatt, who has his office in Zaveri Bazaar.

Even the Marwadi communityfeels a sense of helplessness. “For all our economic might, we are always the sitting ducks for everyone — be it politicians, underworld elements and now terrorists,” said Hastimal Jain, the owner of a jewellery store at Zaveri Bazaa

Posted in: India News