In February this year, activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the sangh parivar’s student wing, vandalised the office of the History department at Delhi University and manhandled the head of department, Professor SZH Jafri, as part of their so-called protests against the "objectionable" essay two years after it was first included in the university syllabus for undergraduate students of History.

Multiplicity of beliefs and practices, coupled with playful yet devout renderings of the divine, are a profound challenge to an ideology that wishes to use militarised gods as modern-day vehicles of domination and hate. Witness the transition in North India of the everyday folk greeting, Jai Siya Ram (Hail Sita and Ram), to the more belligerent Jai Shri Ram (Hail Lord Ram) during the mid-1980s. The curious aspect of such violent protests is that they traverse cultural and religious frameworks. Remember the Christian outrage to Jesus Christ Superstar a few decades ago? Or the growing Muslim rigidity against feminist and democratic interpretations of their holy book, not to mention South Asian Sufi traditions, writings and practices?

Even as the violence against Christians in Orissa over Christmas and the New Year is relegated to distant memory, the lynching of a Hindu worker in Pakistan’s Sindh province, after his eyes were gouged out, for the ‘sin’ of loving and aspiring to marry a Muslim girl, reminds us once again of the strong current of communalism running across countries in our region. The apathy of the Pakistani establishment, especially the Pakistan Peoples Party, to the incident does not bode well for the protection of minority rights in that country. Meanwhile, the quashing of Tibetan protests around the globe and the Indian government’s open support of the Chinese regime reflects poorly on its commitment to democracy in the region. A few weeks ago, Nepal, a former monarchy, made the transition to a parliamentary democracy as the Maoists, headed by their leader, Prachanda, were elected to power with a thumping two-thirds majority. We hope to bring readers further reports from our Himalayan neighbour.

As we go to press, re-investigation into major Gujarat carnage cases by the Special Investigation Team appointed by the Supreme Court of India (following a petition by the National Human Rights Commission and Citizens for Justice and Peace) has begun in right earnest. The team’s report is slated to be submitted to the apex court by August 2008.

Violence between cadres of the RSS and the CPI(M) in Kerala, an ongoing phenomenon for several years, has indeed been bloody. Many such incidents resurfaced in November 2007 and spiralled again in March this year. CC brings its readers a special report that attempts to explain the battle for turf between two ideological opponents. Meanwhile, parts of Maharashtra, a state that goes to the polls months after the parliamentary elections in 2009, have seen the outbreak of a spate of communal incidents following the distribution and public rendering of a provocative song, Kasam Ram ki khatein hai; Mandir wahin banaaenge (We swear by Lord Ram, We shall build the temple there). Despite local ban orders on the song being played, the state government is struggling with legal niceties that preclude a statewide ban since the song does not actually go on to state where the dream temple will in fact be built. However, anyone with even a superficial knowledge of Indian affairs would and must understand the intended metaphor. The preplanning and brutality of the attacks and the scale of destruction of minority property in Maharashtra suggest a cynical manipulation of public sentiments, which bodes ill for communal harmony in the state.