3 min readNalanda/ Rohtas/ Aurangabad/ GayaAug 24, 2015 07:44 AM IST
First published on: Aug 24, 2015 at 02:53 AM IST
Naushad (left) wishes he’d never pulled up boys for jumping a wall for a kite.
March 3, 2014: A fortnight before Holi, a cricket match between two local teams in Gaya’s Chandauti village turns ugly, escalates into a communal clash.
January 24, 2015: A dispute over a kite that landed inside a graveyard in Sasaram in Rohtas triggers communal violence, killing one and injuring 17.
May 17, 2015: In Aurangabad’s Daudnagar, the theft of a buffalo turns into a communal clash, killing one and leading to a three-day curfew.
How did these minor disputes escalate into communal clashes? The answer lies in local police records: these were the final triggers in these areas of Bihar where an atmosphere of tension and mistrust had already built up due to existing fault lines.
WATCH VIDEO: Express Investigation: Bihar Simmers Before Polls
[App users click here to see video]
With just two months to go for the Assembly elections, they are also the last strokes of a frightening picture that has taken shape in the state, where the number of “communal incidents” has surged three-fold since the BJP and JD(U) parted ways on June 18, 2013 — 226 from Jan 2010-June 2013 to 667 from June 2013-June 2015.
[related-post]
It’s not just about cricket disputes, drifting kites and minor thefts. The Indian Express found during its investigation of police records in 18 of the 24 districts, which recorded nearly 70% of these “communal incidents” since June 2013, that these triggers also include cases of eve-teasing and even minor road accidents.
Full Coverage: Bihar simmers before polls
Consider this:
* Police recorded 92 such incidents that sparked communal clashes from January 2010-June 18, 2013, when the alliance split. It jumped to 445 between June 18, 2013-June 30, 2015.
READ: From cricket to clashes and buffalo ‘theft’ to bullets
* Between January 2010-June 18, 2013, 19 incidents of eve-teasing resulted in communal clashes. From then, till June 2015, police recorded 145 such cases.
READ: When tying up a goat, fishing, broken bulbs can lead to violence
INTERVIEW: We are approaching a harvesting season of communal violence, must prepare a strategy, says Sharad Yadav
As The Indian Express reported on August 22, these minor incidents come on top of deliberate attempts in those areas to stoke communal tensions such as the carcasses of pigs and pieces of beef being thrown inside places of worship, tweaking of procession routes to include sensitive areas and disputes in use of common land.
Naushad (left) wishes he’d never pulled up boys for jumping a wall for a kite.
Share
