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4 Nov, 2013

Feeding on fires – The Hindu

Thanks to the manipulative politics of politicians and parties, primarily the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party, Uttar Pradesh remains a tinderbox. As elections approach, the State has become a battleground for clashes between castes and communities. A rumour or even an ordinary incident of law and order trouble can quickly assume communal overtones, heightening communal and caste tensions. Incidents that in other places might be dismissed as petty often gather momentum, and spread like wildfire in the State. Although the State government sees the latest violence as a “law and order” issue and not “communal” in nature, the truth is that it takes little to turn an ordinary law and order incident into a flashpoint for incendiary communal attacks.

Read the rest: Feeding on fires – The Hindu.