Articles by Asghar Ali Engineer

The year 2002 witnessed episodes of communal violence in widely dispersed parts of the country, though it was the carnage in Gujarat which shook the country and the world both because of the scale of the riots and the well established complicity of the government in them.

Although there have been some serious communal incidents in the state, the government's able handling and that of local community leaders has played a significant role in limiting the damage. Only in the absence of community leadership as in Sholapur recently has the situation threatened to get out of control.

The BJP's defeat in the four state assembly elections signified the voters' lack of enthusiasm towards emotive issues of temple and mosque. Instead, it was a decisive pointer of their anxiety on basic issues of development, poverty and unemployment. The elections thus showed that a democracy cannot be run by communalising the polity.

The communal riots in Malegaon were the most serious in Maharashtra after the post-Babri masjid killings in the state in 1992-93. The riots have underscored once again the role of politicians in fanning communal tensions and the failure of the police and the administration to contain the violence in time and prevent it from spreading.

The stereotypical definition of Muslim education ignores changing realities. Though institutions are plagued by a lack of resources, and madrasa education is still favoured by the poorer classes, the growing middle class including increasing numbers of women has increasingly turned to modern, secular education.