Indore is the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh. There are 5,000 big and small industries in and around the Indore city with a turnover of Rs 250 crore a day. It employs over 3.5 lakh labourers.

A Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is also coming up in Indore, which used to be the Island of Peace. Now, after 16 years, a curfew has been imposed in the city.

In fact, in the last four-and-a-half years of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rule, there have been four incidents of riots. Is Indore losing its sheen?

There are 1200 big and small industries at the Sanver Road Industrial Area and about 1.5 lakh workers.

Close by, the Peethampur Industrial Area has some big names.

For three days now, all the shutters have been down. Curfew is back in Indore after 16 long years. Over Rs 40 crore are already lost. For a city that rarely sleeps, this is forced rest.

''The government's attempt to attract investment in the state by calling it an island of peace has taken a beating,'' said Gautam Kothari, president, Peethampura Industrial Association.

''Some political parties feel that they will return to power by resorting to religious intolerance. They have blown the electoral bugle through this violence,'' said Ashok Jaiswal, president of Association of Industries in Indore.

Indore has been organising summits to attract more investment. The BJP knows a knock on Indore's image can prove costly.

''The image of Indore takes a beating due to such incidents. The growth of the city also gets hampered,'' said PWD Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya.

Violence during bandh, followed by curfew in Indore, indicates that vote bank is more important than industries and growth for the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh.

Source: NDTV
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