Blood is spilling in Muzaffarnagar, the western Uttar Pradesh district located between Ganga and Yamuna. The ‘Ganga-Yamuni sanskriti’ – the Hindi expression for communal syncretism – is gone. Muzaffarnagar is no stranger to communal riots. It has seen 11 of them between 1939 and 2006. But reports in Dainik Jagranand Amar Ujala agree that the latest riot is unprecedented in both ferocity and reach. It is for the first time that communal animosity has deeply penetrated the rural belt. Even the Army is reportedly having a tough time in quelling the riots accompanied by exceptional savagery.

The Annual Reports of the Ministry of Home Affairs – before it discontinued the practice in 2012 – used to list most common factors for Hindu-Muslim communal incidents in India. Cattle trafficking and ‘eve teasing’ (an Indian euphemism for sexual harassment) were most common factors. The Jat belt spanning across Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh are currently suffering both. If trafficking of cattle has become a hot issue in Haryana, eve teasing and ‘Love Jihad’ are greater problems in western Uttar Pradesh with substantial Muslim population. Both the issues saw convening of Jat Mahapanchayats last month. It began at Palachand village in Aligarh district where Jats decided to boycott the Muslims. It happened after a Jat woman had ran away with a Muslim man. But developments in Aligarh were soon overtaken by events in neighbouring Muzaffarnagar district.

At Kawal village near Jansath of Muzaffarnagar, a Muslim named Shah Nawaz, who had allegedly harassed a Hindu (Jat) girl, was stabbed to death by her bothers Sachin and Gaurav. The two men were killed in a revenge attack. As per a Dainik Jagran report, the police found their bodies at a busy square. The YouTube video circulating on the Internet (allegedly showing how the two youth were killed) has been declared as not authentic. The initial spark that flew from Kawal village near historic Jansath township has refused to die down.

The violence in the district took a turn for the worse on September 7. Nagla Mandor, where a Mahapanchayat was convened, became a symbol of Jat resistance on Saturday. Tens of thousands of Jats from Rehmatpur, Tejalheda, Baseda, Kakrala, Bhokarhedi, Chachroli had converged on the village for Mahapanchayat. It was held at Intermediate College ground of the village. The participants were aggrieved that the administration was biased against Hindus. The Hindus had appealed to the District Magistrate for impartial action, which was allegedly ignored.

But several Mahapanchayat goers, travelling in tractor-trolleys, came under stone pelting by Muslims at Shahpur. Many returnees faced worse. They came under firing from Muslims waiting in sugarcane fields. The sudden firing led to a stampede. Half-a-dozen persons were injured, while two others went untraceable. It was rumoured that their bodies had been dumped in Upper Ganga Canal. The attacks on Mahapanchayat participants added fuel to the fire. Violence spread like wild fire to the rural belt.