Sitting in a rehabilitation camp at Modasa town in Sabarkantha district, Amina Bibi recoils at the thought of the night when she lost seven of her family. “They simply hacked whoever came in their way,” she says.

Pandarvada village in neighbouring Panchmahals had reported one of the worst massacres of 2002—26 people of the minority community were killed on March 1. It’s been five years since Amina Bibi was driven out of her Pandarvada home. “I have given up hopes of justice. Tarikh pe tarikh pad rahi hai We keep getting new dates for court hearings. I am too scared to go back to my village,” she says. But she isn’t scared to vote. “I don’t care which government comes to power as long as it is not the BJP. I will vote for the Congress.”

Pandarvada is part of Lunavada assembly constituency. In 2002, the BJP, riding the Hindutva wave, had bagged the seat with party candidate Kalubhai Maliwad using the burning Sabarmati Express as a backdrop in his campaign posters. This time, he is cautious, after some of his supporters were convicted in a few riot cases.

Maliwad probably sensed the mood of the voters in the region. Jaising Ghori, a local tribal, says, “Tribals feel they were used by the VHP. Over 70 per cent support the Congress now. The BJP will lose both Lunavada and the neighbouring Santrampur seats.”