Communal violence

The state apparatus’ inaction in dealing with communal violence will have dire consequences.

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The incident of communal violence in Agarpur, Vaishali, Bihar in November 2015, clearly points to the widespread nexus among hoodlums, politicians with criminal records, and the police in the state. Dismantling this criminal patronage network, which perpetuates communalism and casteism and exacerbates lawlessness, is one of the biggest challenges that confronts the Nitish Kumar regime.

Communal Violence, Forced Migration and the State: Gujarat since 2002 by Sanjeevini Badigar Lokhande; New Delhi: Cambridge University Press, 2015;pp xii + 215, price not indicated.

The frequency with which communal holocausts have been taking place in India shows that there is something fundamentally wrong with our political system as well as our secular governance. The carnage in Gujarat did not occur suddenly and simply in reaction to what happened in Godhra. The Sangh parivar politically thrived only through hate politics, opposing everything that went in favour of minorities. Over the years it has created a mindset among the Hindus, who question not only the loyalty of minorities towards India but also consider them fundamentalist and fanatical, and the Hindus as liberal and secular.