Opinion Missing a government

Communal clashes broke out in Saharanpur this weekend, after a festering land dispute between Muslims and Sikhs turned violent, killing three people and hurting more than 27. About 140 km away, a similar confrontation played out in Moradabad, where the installation of a loudspeaker in a temple flared into active conflict between Hindus and Muslims. All is not well in western Uttar Pradesh, where small disagreements and provocations now result in large-scale destruction and enmity. Last year’s Muzaffarnagar riots had broken a long lull of communal calm. Then, an ugly Lok Sabha campaign sought to exploit the rifts. At least in this riot-scarred region, the BJP, which eventually won 71 of the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh, was seen to resort to an old vocabulary, with now party president Amit Shah invoking themes of revenge and self-respect in Muzaffarnagar. The other parties in the fray, notably the SP and Congress, also brandished their own version of the politics of communal polarisation. Given that in the end the BJP reaped large rewards — Muzaffarnagar riot-accused Sanjeev Baliyan, for instance, is now a minister in the Modi government — all parties appear to have taken home the same message. Now, in both Moradabad and Saharanpur, by-elections are drawing close, and there seems little doubt that the impending polls form the backdrop to the renewed stoking of tensions between communities.]

Through it all, the Samajwadi Party government in UP continues to simply pin the blame on the RSS and BJP. Hindutva hardliners in the region may have been newly empowered after the Lok Sabha election, and could be looking to translate their dominance to the assembly. But it is also evident that stoking Muslim anxieties is seen to be an electorally helpful strategy for parties like the SP and Congress. This destructive division of labour between parties will create lasting dangers, unless the state government assumes control of law and order.

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The fact is that despite its grip over the police, it has failed to avert or control the riots, or provide the victims and the displaced, especially in the minority community, a sense of trust and security in the state’s capacities to protect them. Akhilesh has been weak-willed in governance, biddable by powerful elders in the party, and his immediate instinct is to deflect accountability. There is no end in sight to this spiral of communal animosity in Uttar Pradesh, unless its chief minister learns to take charge.