[3] A distinctive feature of the violence was the attack on Muslim chawls by their Dalit Hindu neighbours who had maintained peaceful relations with them until this point.

However, the mid-1960s onwards, a number of under-qualified mill workers in Ahmedabad became unemployed, as the jobs went to the small units of Surat.

Several violent clashes involving the textile workers took place in the slums of the city, mainly between the Hindu Dalits and the Muslims.

[6] At the same time, the Hindu nationalist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) had established local strongholds in the eastern parts of the city.

[11] On the evening of 3 March 1969, a Hindu police officer moved a handcart that was obstructing traffic near the Kalupur Tower.

A copy of the Koran placed on the handcart fell on the ground, resulting in a demand for an apology by a small Muslim crowd standing nearby.

[11] On 31 August, the Muslims of the city held a large demonstration to protest the burning of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

[11] This incident, and the disparate treatment between events led to protests by Hindus, and the formation of the Hindu Dharma Raksha Samiti by the RSS leaders.

The Bharatiya Jana Sangh leader Balraj Madhok visited the city and made fiery speeches on 14 and 15 September.

[3] Another incident included an alleged assault on some Muslim maulvis, who were trying to construct a mosque in the Odhav village near Ahmedabad.

[5] On 18 September 1969, a Muslim crowd had gathered in the Jamalpur area of Ahmedabad to celebrate the local Urs festival at the tomb of a Sufi saint (Bukhari Saheb's Chilla).

[6] Sevadasji, the mahant (priest) of the Hindu temple, went on a protest fast, which he gave up after a 15-member Muslim delegation led by A.M. Peerzada met him and apologized.

Following this, the rumours spread and the violence escalated, resulting in several incidents of arson, murders and attacks on the places of worship around the area.

In the afternoon of 20 September 1969, a young Muslim man, angry at the destruction of his property by Hindus, announced that he would take revenge.

[15] In addition, despite a shoot to kill order, police only brought batons, allowing Hindu rioters to further commit violence for several days.

However, the commission refused to entertain this argument, since there was no report of damage to a Hindu place of worship near any police station.

[17] Journalist Ajit Bhattacharjea accused the police of not taking any "firm action for the first three days", and stated that "this was not a matter of slackness but policy".

An unnamed senior Congress leader told him that their government was reluctant to use force because it was afraid of losing power to Bharatiya Jana Sangh in the next elections in case it did so.

[18] The members of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh called the violence a revenge for the massacre of Hindus by the Muslim League in 1946.