#SambhalViolence | While markets and schools had reopened, there was fear throughout the city. “Markets have started closing down at 6 pm,” the lawyer said. “Everyone, including non-Muslims, compare it to how things were before the incident.” Like most people we spoke to, they accused the media of peddling the administration’s lies and of stoking communal hatred. At a press conference we attended, several journalists referred to the mosque as an illegal structure and asked the police when it would be demolished.

“From Somnath to Sambhal and beyond, this battle for knowing the historical truth is not about religious supremacy,” the RSS mouthpiece Organiser claimed in a recent editorial. It portrayed the construction of temples in the place of existing mosques as a matter of national identity and civilisational justice. The editorial came a few days after Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS sarsanghchalak—supreme leader—took a jibe at aspiring Hindu leaders for stirring up disputes at various places modelled on the Ram Janmabhoomi campaign. Zia-ur-Rehman Barq, the Samajwadi Party MP from Sambhal, said that this dichotomy showed the vast difference between the Sangh’s words and actions. “It’s either that, or they don’t listen to their own people,” he said. “In which case, whom do they listen to?”

Read @shahidtantray and @SunilKashyap0's report on how an atmosphere of fear persists in the wake of the Sambhal violence:Or watch the video report on YouTube:
#SambhalViolence