What exactly happened in the anti-Brahmin riots of 1948 in Paschim Maharashtra?

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https://www.quora.com/What-exactly-h...im-Maharashtra

Many people claim that it was Gandhi’s death (by a Chitpavan Brahmin) which led to the public outrage against the Brahmin community. But is this the only reason?

Gandhi’s death was just a pretext used by the Congress mob inciters to gather a votebank by creating hatred against a minority community which dominated the area administratively, culturally, economically, and educationally. Chitpavans had many important contributions to Indian nationalism which Maharashtrians today are proud of. Mahadeo Ranade, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Lokmanya Tilak, Veer Savarkar etc. were also Chitpavan Brahmins. The Peshvas who spread the Maratha influence outside Maharashtra and created a pan-India Maratha empire were also Chitpavans.

But as soon as Gandhi was assasinated by a Chitpavan Brahmin, the entire community bore the brunt of all the hatred. Their houses were burnt and they were forced to move to cities leaving behind their rural roots. Was this single act of Gandhi’s killing responsible for hatred against such a respected community? Let’s discuss what was the actual reason of this hatred.

These activities were restricted to the RSS (who are still seen as contenders) dominated areas of the ‘Desh’ belt of Kolhapur, Solapur, Satara, Sangli and Pune. Well, does this smell of a political conspiracy??

You will understand this better when you read the accounts of the affected people. So, let me present you one account by Arvind Kolhatkar:

“I was five years old. We lived in Satara, about 110 km south of Pune. Our home, 77 Shukrawar Peth, was located in an area in which most of the residents were non- Brahmins. We always had the most cordial relations with our neighbours; nevertheless, we were not spared by the mobs.

On February 1, 1948, my mother was preparing to serve lunch at 1 o'clock in the afternoon. Unexpectedly, a large mob descended upon our home. My grandfather, Hari Tatya, his younger brother, the famous actor Chintamanrao Kolhatkar, my mother and we children were the only persons in the house.

The mob politely asked my grandfather, as the oldest member of the family, to leave the house along with the family. The mob wanted to burn down our home. One miscreant very quietly and in real kindness addressed me as Bala (child) and asked me to go outside, as ‘otherwise I might be hurt!'

Argument was futile. All of us came out of the house and sat across on the other side of the road. The mob systematically smashed the furniture in our home. Then they destroyed the printing press and the type in our family business next door. Next, they threw lighted balls of kerosene-soaked paper onto the wooden beams of the house.

This went on for some time. Suddenly a shout went up that the police were approaching. Without waiting to check whether this was true, the mob melted away. Our neighbours came to our help, and put out the fire with water from a nearby stream. None of us suffered any bodily harm.

The Government gave us some cash compensation and a loan for the loss of furniture and machinery. It was difficult for my family to repay the loan. In the 1950s, one of the early actions of Y.B. Chavan on becoming the Chief Minister was to write off this and similar other loans.”

Do you still believe that it was the public outrage which led to the violence? Was this violence just against a particular caste or was this against an organisation whose cadre were the political enemies of congress? An opportunity to politically neutralize all brahmin leaders of that time like Savakar and gather votes in the name of hatred!!