[2][3] In January 1985 the Gujarat government of Chief Minister Madhav Singh Solanki announced a change in its policy of reservation that increased the benefits to people from "backward" classes.

Ahmedabad's Muslims were the main victims; approximately 100 were killed, several hundreds badly injured, 2,500 of their houses destroyed, and 12,000 made homeless.

The rioting that was triggered by caste-related tensions thus turned into communal violence,[4] and Muslims, who played no role in the reservation debate, were victimized.

[5] The religious violence that occurred also strengthened the Hindu nationalist movement:[4][6] for example, the Bharatiya Janata Party's influence grew in Gujarat.

[1][9] In the election to the Gujarat Legislative Assembly held in 1980, the Indian National Congress government headed by Madhav Singh Solanki was returned to power.

[10][12] To solidify its support among lower caste groups before statewide elections scheduled for March 1985, in January of that year the government implemented this increase; in addition to reserved jobs for Dalits, Adivasis, and "Socially and Economically Backward Classes", 18% of government positions were now set aside for "Other Backward Classes".

[18][19] At that point, students of an engineering college in Ahmedabad decided to boycott their preliminary examinations, scheduled for 18 February, in protests.

The participants in the agitation were largely upper caste students, and the violence was initially confined to the western part of the city.

Elections to the Gujarat State Assembly were held as scheduled during this period, and the Congress, led by Solanki, won 149 of the 182 constituencies.

[23] The next day, the Indian army was summoned to restore order, but incidents of both religious and caste-based violence continued.

On 23 March the Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi visited the city; the same day, three members of AGERAC were arrested for "abetting communal violence".

Despite the army's presence, a dozen people were killed in the first two days after its deployment, and looting and arson also continued to occur.

[25] Complaints against the police became so frequent that a court barred them from entering some regions of the city; the army was tasked with patrolling them instead.

[26][28] Communal violence increased, particularly in the eastern neighborhoods of the city, where residents stated that Hindus were attacking Muslim houses, with the support of the police.

The strike ended on 7 May after the employees withdrew their demand, and the government committed to publishing the report of a 1981 commission studying reservation.

[29] Clashes between Hindus and Muslims resumed on 8 May after a police sub-inspector, Mahendrasingh Rana, was shot dead in a Hindu neighborhood.

[30] The Gujarat Chamber of Commerce called for another bandh on 5 June, citing the "government’s inability to maintain law and order".

[31][32] Widespread violence occurred on this day, including when a crowd of 200 women attempted to enforce the shutdown by stopping traffic.

Notably, a family of eight Dabgars, a Hindu community, were burned alive, and the fire brigade that arrived to put out the blaze was prevented from doing so.

[31] In response to these incidents, the Solanki government decided to delay the proposed changes to the reservation policy, and set up a judicial commission to investigate the violence that had occurred.

The subsequent day, thousands of Muslim women defied the curfew to protest the army's conduct during the violence, and demanding government action against the leaders of the procession.

[2] The violence at the end of June had led to conflict within the Congress party as well, with multiple allies of Solanki making public statements favoring his removal.

[34] Bombings and stabbings continued to occur,[2] prompting members of the Indian government and of the Congress party from Delhi being sent to investigate.

[2][37] The Muslim community of the city were the main victims of the riots; approximately 100 were killed, several hundreds badly injured, 2,500 of their houses destroyed, and 12,000 made homeless.

[2] According to scholar Ornit Shani, the commission of inquiry appointed to look into the riots reported a picture of "uncontrolled rage, destruction and at times the utter collapse of the rule of law and social order" both in the city of Ahmedabad and in other parts of the state.

The violence that occurred in 1986 was made more severe by a desire for revenge across communities in Ahmedabad, driven by the incidents of the previous year.

[39] 61 people were detained under the National Security Act, and an attempt by the same Hindu group to hold another procession was prevented by the police, who feared further violence.

[5] According to testimony from Dalits, members of the BJP legislative assembly who during the riots in 1981 had assaulted them gave them money, food, and weapons during the 1985 violence.

[42] The commission that investigated the riots found another incident, initially described as caste-based violence, which it stated was the result of conflicts between bootleggers.

According to reformist and activist Asghar Ali Engineer, the BJP organized the riots to cause the downfall of the Solanki government.