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UP under Akhilesh was on a short communal fuse this Dussehra -Parvez Iqbal Siddiqui
-The Times of India

LUCKNOW: What the demolition of the disputed structure at Ram Janmabhoomi could not do in 1992, stray rumours did in Faizabad 20 years later on October 24 this year. It was Dussehra day and the processions carrying Durga idols for immersion were passing through the city at their usual pace. Then suddenly rumours of a stone being thrown at idols spread like wildfire. Within hours, it singed the temple town, and Faizabad, known for religious tolerance and amity, was in the grip of a full-blown riot. One person was killed and property worth crores was gutted. A week down, the temple town is limping back to normal with curfew being relaxed, but people are stunned that the place, which remained peaceful even when the whole country burned after the Babri demolition, should break into riots now. 

And Faizabad is only the latest episode. Communal riots, unheard of during Mayawati's five-year rule, have occurred in quick succession at Mathura, Pratapgarh, Bareilly and Ghaziabad too. Lucknow and Kanpur saw minor skirmishes as well. Since May, eight major cases were reported in UP in which at least 15 persons were killed. Clearly these are not stray incidents; instead they point to the ugly politics of polarisation. In Mathura, violence broke out on June 2 following a dispute over using drinking water kept outside a place of worship in the Kosi Kalan area. On June 24, there was large-scale arson in Pratapgarh after a Muslim boy allegedly raped and murdered a minor dalit girl. This was followed by another communal clash in the same district when a person was killed in a dispute over paying richshaw fare. 

On July 23, three persons were killed in Bareilly following dispute over removal of loudspeakers from places of worship. On August 12 curfew was imposed in parts of Bareilly following fresh violence over a dispute during a religious procession. Later, Ghaziabad erupted suddenly. On September 16, at least 6 persons were killed in clashes following reports of a sacred book found desecrated. 

One thing stands out in all the cases. While there was always a trigger - be it a rumour or an act by someone - such large-scale violence along communal lines cannot be attributed to that immediate provocation alone. There is a host of factors combining to make a deadly communal cocktail leading to a tinder-box situation. 

Take the case of Faizabad. 

"It started on July 24 in fact when the two communities came face to face over a place of worship in Mirzapur village of the district. The saffron brigade staged a series of protests accusing the district administration of favouring Muslims," says Dr Abdullah. A private medical practitioner in Faizabad, Dr Abdullah believes unrest in the two communities had been palpable since the assembly elections. The general perception among Muslims is the saffron brigade has been restless since it lost Faizabad assembly seat to the Samajwadi Party (SP) in the 2012 assembly polls for the first time since 1991. 

The theft of three ancient idols at Devkaali temple in Faizabad added to the communal polarisation that had begun after the Mirzapur mosque incident. Miscreants fled with ashtadhatu idols from the temple said to be the first place Lord Rama was brought to by his mother Kaushalya after his birth. "There was growing resentment among the Hindus as they felt that administration was not doing enough to recover the stolen idols," says a local businessman. 

Tension between the two communities grew after reports that Yogi Adityanath — the firebrandBharatiya Janata Party MP from Gorakhpur — reportedly held a series of meetings in Faizabad warning the authorities of serious repercussions if the police failed to recover the idols and arrest the accused soon. During Navratra, the idols were recovered, but this did little to ward off the Dussehra clashes. "What bothers me most is that communal riots have become so frequent in UP ever since Samajwadi Party came to power," says Jameel Ahmed, a lawyer in Faizabad. 

Also, in most cases the trigger for riots was hardly ever an issue to galvanise communal passion on this scale. In Mathura, for example, riots broke out after a Hindu passerby used drinking water kept outside a mosque. 

"Such reasons are far too frivolous to trigger a communal riot," said retired IPS officer and former UP director general of police (DGP) K L Gupta. "It appears some people were waiting for an opportunity to destroy peace." 

"Every time a communal clash takes place, the government says it will take strict action. Riots continue in places they were never heard of, explains how strict government is in checking them," says Vipin, a general merchant in Faizabad's Chowk area. "The chief minister claimed riots were result of a conspiracy to malign the image of his party. Is the government incapable of checking such elements," he asks.