VISITING AHMEDABAD AGAIN

Visiting Ahmedabad Again

Starting from 2004 every 3 years I travel to Ahmedabad. In the first week of December 2010 I joined a team of fellow journalists on a 3-day visit to Ahmedabad primarily to write on Gujarat’s investment potential for an international audience who will be attending the VIBRANT GUJARAT INVESTOR SUMMIT (VGGIS).

What makes Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar different is good roads and its economic exhuberance. I love Gujarati tali (meals) and its plentiful variety and tastes. In the 3-day hectic schedule I did a bit of shopping too while reflecting on my past trips to the growing city with nostalgia.

With the ambitious Sabarmati River Front project in progress Ahmedabad will be an Indian Hong kong in a decade or so.

Let’s now read through its history. Ahmedabad is the largest city in the state of Gujarat. It is located in western India on the banks of the River Sabarmati. The city has been under different rulers since its creation and thus had a rich history. The city has been a former capital of Gujarat (the present one is Gandhinagar). Ahmedabad is the cultural and economical centre of Gujarat and the seventh largest city of India.

In the early 15th century, an independent sultanate ruled by the Muslim Muzaffarid dynasty was established in Gujarat. Its Sultan Ahmed Shah made it the capital and called it Ahmedabad.

the occupation of Sultan Ahmed Shah, it was known as Ashapalli or Ashaval. In the 11th century the Solanki King Karandev I waged a war against the Bhil king of Ashaval. After his victory he established a city called Karnavati on the banks Sabarmati at the site of modern Ahmedabad. Solanki rule lasted until the 13th century, when Gujarat came under the control of the Vaghela dynasty of Dwarka.

In 1487 Mahmud Begada, the grandson of Ahmed Shah, fortified the city with an outer city wall six miles in circumference and consisting of 12 gates, 189 bastions and over 6,000 battlements to protect it from outside invaders. The last Sultan of Ahmedabad was Muzaffar II.

Gujarat was conquered by the Mughal emperor Akbar in 1573. During the Mughal reign, Ahmedabad became one of the empire's thriving centres of trade, especially in textiles, which were exported as far as Europe. His grandson Shahjahan spent the prime of his life in the city, and built the Moti Shahi Mahal in Shahibaug. During Mughal rule, Surat rose as a commercial centre and Ahmedabad lost some of its luster.

In 1753, the armies of the Maratha generals Raghunath Rao and Damaji Gaekwad captured the city and ended Mughal rule in Ahmedabad. The British East India Company took over the city in 1818. A military cantonment was established in 1824, a municipal government in 1858, and a railway link between Ahmedabad and Bombay (Mumbai) in 1864. Ahmedabad grew rapidly, becoming an important center of trade and textile manufacturing.

The merchant class tended to support the British, thinking the rule provided more security than under the Marathas, lower taxes (including lower octroi), and more property rights.

Unlike other Indian cities, Ahmedabad lacked a comprador class or dominant, Western-educated middle class.

The struggle for independence from the British soon took roots in the city. In 1915, Mahatma Gandhi came from South Africa and established two ashrams in the city, the Kochrab Ashram near Paldi in 1915 and the Satyagrah Ashram on the banks of Sabarmati in 1917.

On May 1, 1960, Ahmedabad became a state capital as a result of the bifurcation of the state of Bombay into two states of Maharashtra and Gujarat. A large number of educational and research institutions were founded in the city in the 1960s. In February 1974, Ahmedabad occupied the centre-stage of national politics with launch of the Nav Nirman agitation.