The Uttar Pradesh chief minister and his men watched calmly as incident after communal incident piled up in different parts of the state, culminating in the disgraceful occurrences of Muzaffarnagar
All communal riots are complex episodes, but none would go beyond a day or two if the state administration is alert, efficient, and leaves political considerations alone. The Uttar Pradesh government came a cropper on all of these counts in respect of the orgy in western parts of the state abutting the national capital, in particular Muzaffarnagar district and the economically prosperous areas that surround it.
Urban and rural parts of this district burnt for five days, with a glimmer of normality becoming available only on Wednesday after the authorities had been sharply criticised all around, and cracks looked to appear in the ruling Samajwadi Party, leading to calculations that the state’s Muslim vote might be in the mood to reconsider its sympathy for the SP in the next Lok Sabha election.
It is the minorities that have suffered in the main and the fear of losing their political and electoral backing seems to have galvanised the Akhilesh Yadav government into action. Upward of 50 communal incidents since it came to power about 15 months ago had already dented the Akhilesh government’s reputation. It is therefore all the more surprising that Lucknow adopted a business-as-usual approach even when relatively minor communal incidents began to occur after August 27, and took on a dangerous form in the wake of the “maha panchayat” of September 7.
Prohibitory orders were in place but the administration did not stop this event, which was attended by political leaders who made inflammatory speeches to arouse the communal monster. To heighten communal passions, a BJP MLA has been booked for uploading a three-year-old YouTube video from Pakistan with added comments that made it seem like it belonged to a Muzaffarnagar village.
With national elections approaching, there has been a more than apparent attempt by political elements to polarise society across religious lines in the hope of extracting political benefit. This is an age-old trick, but the chief minister and his men watched calmly as incident after communal incident piled up in different parts of UP, culminating in the disgraceful occurrences of Muzaffarnagar.
Over 40 people have been killed, hundreds injured and a very large number have fled their homes in panic. As usual, minor troubles acted as the trigger. The Muzaffarnagar riots have been the worst eruption of communal passion since the pre-Babri Masjid demolition of 1992, not counting the violent Gujarat disturbances of 2002.
This is saying a lot for a state run by a party that loudly proclaims its secular credentials. The top boys of communal outfits have still not been called to account, and the state government is busy making silly excuses about a conspiracy by its opponents to sully its image.
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