Revisiting Juhapura

Juhapura emerged as a “border” city in Ahmedabad in the wake of the anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat in 2002. In one estimate, before 2002, Juhapura was predominantly a Muslim neighbourhood with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. In 2015, it had an estimated population of 5,00,000.

According to Darshini Mahadevia (“A City with Many Borders,” Indian Cities in Transition: Beyond Ghettoisation in Ahmedabad, Annapurna Shaw (ed), 2007), the shifting of Muslim middle class to Muslim-dominated areas was completed in Ahmedabad between the 1989 riots and 2002 carnage. A reverse migration of the Hindu middle class also took place from Juhapura. Mahadevia’s field experience informs us that Muslim households displaced from violence-affected areas in Ahmedabad during the carnage of 2002, as well as those displaced from the rural areas of Ahmedabad and surrounding districts, moved into Muslim-dominated settlements, resulting in the birth of “border” cities in Ahmedabad, the largest one being Juhapura. To quote Mahadevia: “Borders have been drawn around the Muslim cities. The Borders are physical; high walls with gates that can be closed during the violence. The Borders are also mental and these borders are insurmountable at the moment.” Mahadevia also observed that state transport buses stopped passing through Juhapura after 2002.