New Trends in Rioting

	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	Total
Incidents	711	677	779	698	761	943	826	701	580	668	7344
Injured	2261	2132	2066	2170	2227	2354	2424	2138	1899	3117	22788
Killed	193	134	124	133	99	167	125	116	91	94	1276

Legend

Pre-election year

Election Year

Post Election Year

Mid term Year

There are close to 734 riots every year in India with 2278 people getting injured and 127 people losing their precious life. The Average is 5.6 deaths per 100 injured in communal riots. The graph above shows the trend line shown in dotted lines shows there is a growing trend towards communal violence in India starting 2007 and it has reached an epic proportion in 2012.

2008 saw spike in the deaths but it was followed by momentary lull in the death rate in the following two years, but the number of injures are more even though the number of incidents less than the preceding year.

The trend (in dotted lines) shows communal violence is getting more vicious, rabid and it is resulting in more casualty than before especially when we have a new kid in town.

A survey of the some states that have notably high rate of Communal violence per million people is listed below with some explanation

State	Status	Incidents
Madhya Pradesh	BJP Ruling State	965 incident of communal riots between 2005 – 20013 – state with Highest number of communal riots with only 6% Muslim population 14 Communal riots for every one million  people1
Karnataka	BJP Active (Ex-ruling party)	Second highest number of communal riots
Maharashtra	Shiv Sena **	Various incidence of violence and organized communal riots
Gujarat++	BJP Ruling State	Registered one of the worst communal riots in the recent history
Kerala	Active RSS ***	Least casualty in communal riots -highest level of literacy

¹ population wise

** A regional rabid hindu nationalistic political party

++ officially between 1000 and 2000 people lost their life in 2002 communal riots , though unofficial figures are close to 5000 with most of the victims were Muslims.

*** sudden rise shakhas in kerala – a new foray of RSS in kerala ; Kerala registers the highest level of literacy and have a 30% Muslim population

National average of communal riots is around 5 per one million people with some notable exceptions

Some notable states with low communal incidents are,

States	Status	Riots per million population
Bihar	Once a hotbed of communal riots it registers a lowest communal incidents	2.8 /million
Haryana	Mostly rural around 6% muslim population with minor skirmishes	< 2 /million
Andhra Pradesh	A depleted Telgu desam party who once aligned with Hindu nationalist party now they are unpopular and there is also Telangana movement to chalk out a separate states but this state witnessed worst communal violence during 1990	< 2 /million
Chhattisgarh	Muslims are around 2%	< 2 /million
Punjab	Muslims are less than 2%	< 2 /million
West Bengal	The only exception where communal riots have not flared up even when Muslims are more than 25%	< 2 /million

Communal riots in India just don’t accidentally happen, there are meticulously planned and executed, I am sure there are planners and financier who does that. We have seen riots yet we have not seen any convictions. The brain of rioting has been cloaked by the political parties with fixed political designs. The Graphs and data presented were a simple exercise to prove it.

The minorities esp. the Muslims have been pawned and used in and around elections, number of riots increases as the election approaches , so does the severity and the casualty. The rabid hindu nationalist ideology has hijacked the polity of India and it has enormous polarizing effect in the society, often these polarizing factors have been the motivating factors in the rising communal incidents in India. Even the minorities who survives communal riots but thereafter they are subjected to extreme economic prejudice in form of loss of assets and employment.

Riots have played havoc to our economy and communal riots of epic proportion like Kandhamal in orissa (2007), Gujarat(2002), Bombay(1992), Bhagalpur(1989) and New Delhi(1984) where properties of minorities were targeted and destroyed. Some have suggested the net loss in Gujarat communal riots were close to $10 billion. We can now sense these riots are manufactured to condition sentiments towards one kind of political ideology , due to weak judiciary and mostly weak state government, the conviction rate of the rioting enterprise are abysmal.

Time for strong action in the form of  Prevention of Communal and targeted violence Bill and mandatory law making it essential to investigate these riots by special investigation team supervised by the supreme court, only accountability can act as deterrent and any other sops would be meaningless.

A Ramadan to Remember

Thirty years ago during the monsoon season in India

Thirty Years Ago ...

It started raining followed by a light drizzle, a pair of eyes slowly moved towards the adobe floor, carefully browsing the colourful food, freshly prepared for the very occasion – the holy month of Ramadan, often called ramzan in India. The little boy barely six six yrs old slowly moves his eyes towards the Gray gloomy clouds meandering in the late evening, his thoughts were suddenly broken by a firm hand put on his forehead to check his fever, he complained about the absence of fever, lack of free time to play with his friends.

As the evening came close to sundown, people started gathering around the room, a pinch of excitement, and the presence of an elderly and deeply spiritual person – suddenly there was an aura of calm , the gentle ticking of the clock, and that quick motion to check the time for iftaar - “we still have fifteen minutes to iftaar” says his father. The boy sheepishly wakes up from the notional slumber, quietly washes his face three time, washes three quarters of his hand , massages his forehead, and washes his feet three time. This entire ritual is knows as wazu or wadu or simply an ablution .

A stark voice announced his name from his elder to hurry up, the aroma of food from the nearby Kitchen has permeated his nostrils accelerated his washing, followed by a feverish dash to large room where luminaries are waiting to open the fast. The little boy huddled between his father and his brothers for the final dua, properly known as the time when God listens to the call of the humans – finally the hour came, everyone could hear the azaan, the call to the prayer. All of them started eating dates, and started gulping the sweet smelling red drink, which is followed by a sigh of relief on the faces of all the fasting gentlemen.

The small boy was handed a date , he quickly put it on his mouth and it tasted awful like bitter chocolate which he hates, next he tried his luck with the rich, red colored drink , aha tastes good but the glass is half full, so he went for refill but his brothers have emptied the jug – a quick gloom surrounded his face, not knowing what  to do next– suddenly there was a rush to vacate the room and jump start evening prayer, the first innings of opening the fast is over – the old spiritual man burped and then smiled with satisfaction – a job well done.

The rain has gathered pace and everyone huddled to the next room for the magrib prayer or the evening prayer after sundown. The little boy sheepishly followed his elders and did exactly what his brothers did. The spiritual man finished his prayers with gaiety and slowly went to the other room to start his second course of eating. The little boy was hollered by his mother and he rushed to his mom's lap and found more coloured drink which is often called rooh-afza, the summer drink of the east. The food was still fresh , and he hard time deciding on what to eat- he devoured some samosas, choley, pakoras, dahi vadas, fruit chats, and snacks.

Nightfall has settled it's time for him to take those perilous pills and say goodnight to the rest.