01-Mar-2019
On February 28, 2002 a raging mob descended on Gulberg Society in Gujarat, baying for the blood of its residents. Many of them took refuge in the home of former Congress Member of Parliament Ehsan Jafri. Infact, when the crowd became uncontrollable, Jafri bravely stepped out to reason with them. But they lynched him brutally…
19-Feb-2019
Even before the embers of the funeral pyres of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) men killed in the line of duty in the terrorist attack at Pulawama, could cool down, political vultures have started hovering to make the most of this ghastly tragedy to further their own divisive agenda. Kapil Mishra, an MLA from…
13-Feb-2019
As per newspaper reports, the number of communal incidents all over India in 2018 has been the lowest in the past four years. The Centre for Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS) monitors reports of communal incidents in five newspapers every year. In 2018 the number of communal incidents reported was 38 as compared to…
05-Feb-2019
Sonda Habibpur village, Bulandshahr: “Sometimes, I feel like Gabbar Singh,” 44-year-old Shrikrishna said, unable to control his tears and struggling to look for documents in a thick stack, in the faint light of a single bulb in his courtyard. In the six months since he was publicly assaulted and humiliated, allegedly by mostly upper-caste men,…
04-Feb-2019
On January 30, the day of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by Hindutva activist Nathuram Godse, Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) launched our app, Hate Hatao, to allow citizens to submit reports of instances of hate that they may encounter. On that very day, Hindu Mahasabha national secretary Pooja Shakun Pandey was captured on…
04-Feb-2019
Naseerpur village, Mau: When the residents of Bholapur Hindoliya village in north-western Uttar Pradesh (UP) caught a 20-year-old outsider near a cattle-shed, trying to draw out a buffalo, they were enraged. Having suffered enormous losses due to frequent cattle theft, they thought they had finally found the thief. Eyewitnesses said the villagers, mostly Jats, then…
31-Jan-2019
Soi village, Bulandshahr: “Baba loved the village,” said Vakeel Ahmad, a year and a half after his father Ghulam Mohammed was lynched outside Soi village of Bulandshahr district in Uttar Pradesh (UP), where the family had lived for generations. “He always said there can be no better place than the village,” Ahmad said, on the phone…
30-Jan-2019
Kasganj, Uttar Pradesh: Recalling his reaction on hearing that all three of his buses had been set afire by a mob, Abdul* said his first emotion was not fear. It was panic. In January 2018, a ‘Tiranga Yatra’ (Tricolour March) taken out by Hindu activists on Republic Day triggered a communal clash in Kasganj in western…
29-Jan-2019
The following piece that first appeared in the Nov Dec 2002 edition of Communalism Combat examines the role of media in spreading hate during the Gujarat 2002 communal carnage. The Tribunal recommends that all the recommendations made by the Editors’ Guild in its report on the Gujarat carnage be implemented. India; Rights and Wrongs the Editors…
29-Jan-2019
Adhauli village, Bulandshahr: Now, with the benefit of hindsight, people can connect the dots and see the pattern emerging across hate crimes in Uttar Pradesh (UP). It starts with a minor incident, controversial enough to draw the crowds, but the situation remains on slow burn. Until people from outside the village appear, fueling passions and inciting…
28-Jan-2019
Varanasi: With 92 attacks, 2018 recorded the most hate crime in India in a decade, according to Hate Crime Watch, a database of religious identity-based hate crimes across India from 2009 to 2018, maintained by FactChecker. Uttar Pradesh, as per the 2011 Census, accounts for 16.5% of the country’s population. However, almost a third of the hate crimes…
23-Jan-2019
The January of 1999 began on a sombre hate-filled note. NDA had been in power for the second time under a seemingly affable Atal Behari Vajpayee as prime minister but the fires of hate had been lit signalled by the men at the top. LK Advani who had the bloody rath from Somnath to Ayodhya…
16-Jan-2019
In a major setback to the BJP, the Supreme Court of India has directed the party to seek fresh approval for a ‘rath yatra’ from the state government of West Bengal saying that the WB government’s concerns weren’t “unfounded”. The court, however asked the state government to allow BJP rallies and meetings in the state. BJP…
10-Jan-2019
One month after violence sparked in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, on December 3, 2018, a delegation from the CPI(M), led by Brinda Karat and Subhasini Ali visited Naya Bas and Chindraoti villages in Siyana block in Bulandshahr, on January 5. The delegation met with several people in the area, and has released a report indicating a…
09-Jan-2019
सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने राम मंदिर मंदिर मामले पर सुनवाई के लिए एक Constitutional Bench का गठन किया है। पर आखिरकार राम जन्मभूमि बाबरी मस्जिद अयोध्या मुद्दा है क्या ? सुनिए अयोध्या की कहानी , तीस्ता सेतलवाड़ की ज़ुबानी. और पढ़िए – अयोध्या में शांति के लिए एक विनम्र अनुरोध “खेत अधिग्रहित हो गया, मुआवज़ा…