17 Sep, 2013
In Muzaffarnagar, back to the future – The Hindu
Generally, Hindu-Muslim relations are a great deal more robust today than they were in the 1970s when tension was always simmering under the surface — and a riot waiting to happen. While researching a book on the subject, I found a refreshing change in the attitudes of both communities. Young Hindus and Muslims say they have no wish to carry on with old grudges and simply want to get on with their lives. But what has not changed and may, in fact, have become worse as electoral politics has become more fiercely competitive, is the cynical use of religion and caste for votes. The pattern of events in Muzaffarnagar has an all-too-familiar ring: an incident, whose provenance itself is uncertain, blows up into a full-scale communal conflagration with a little help from an assortment of political interests united by an obscene greed for votes.
Read the rest: In Muzaffarnagar, back to the future – The Hindu.
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