The situation today? Peace, but not without conditions. As long as the police is there in a new avataar. As long as the State Government is under pressure -- as it is now -- to prove its secular credentials. Otherwise, the fear prevails among those who have returned and those who have not. Otherwise, the saffron brigade's passion is undimmed, its stance still aggressive.

In fact, it was the BJP's realisation -- though perhaps belated -- that aggressive Hindutva may prove its undoing that prompted a visit to Dahod last week by Minister of State for Home Haren Pandya and several other senior government officials. Pandya was reportedly dissuaded by the VHP from entering Randhikpur in the company of Hindus and Muslims, but he did ensure that 20 Muslim families returned, albeit under a massive police cover.

Pandya may have managed the return of men, but not of morale. Those who have returned are scared to talk, unless they are assured of anonymity. One of them says, in hushed tones, ``Many of us do not have the courage to stay back here at night. Who knows what may happen. Others haven't come because of fear.''

Another said, ``They have not brought the others. The 20 families were selected to be brought back, others were not. Nobody knows the basis of selection.''

There was no official confirmation of who was behind the selection, but sources say government officials and VHP workers had a large role to play. That still raises the question, however, of why some families have been brought back and others left behind. As one villager pointed out, if the situation is safe, why can't everybody return?

When asked, Dahod DSP K L N Rao said: ``More families will come soon. It was fear which led them out of Randhikpur. The situation is returning to normal.'' When asked where the others were, he said ``We are not aware.'' Asked if these families had returned after Pandya's visit, he said ``Yes, most of them. But people came even before that.''

And for those who have returned, there has been more trouble. ``Two persons had come a couple of days after we returned, asking us to give a written statement that we had left Randhikpur on our own'', said an elderly woman. Veteran Congress leader Abdul Rahim Khalpa, who submitted a memorandum to the Minorities Commission in Ahmedabad, said he had received similar complaints, but refused to give names.

The feeling that the situation will not return to normal soon is buttressed by the increasingly frequent signs of a schism between the local VHP and BJP over how the issue has been handled. VHP leaders accuse the BJP of `going soft' on the minorities and putting a spanner in their plans.

A local VHP leader, wishing anonymity, said: ``We will not tolerate the Government showing sympathy to the migrants. The Minister sweet-talked some of them into returning, but he forgot that the `kidnapped' girls have yet not been brought. The government is trying to show itself balanced after adverse newspaper reports. We will resign from the VHP if the government gets soft.''

District BJP president Prakash Jain backs the VHP, but says, ``We are not against the community, we are against the conspiracy to lure away Hindu girls.''

State BJP vice-president Bhupendrasinh Solanki told Express Newsline on Tuesday evening, before leaving for Vadodara with a VHP-BJP delegation to the Minorities Commission, ``the luring away of Hindu girls by Muslims must also be considered by the Commission since this is a deliberate move at religious conversion.'' He concedes the VHP wants the Government to be tough, but parries further queries.