By Jyoti Malhotra, Special to Gulf NewsOn September 11, a hundred years ago as well as today, India has a message for the world and for itself.
Malegaon, a small town in Maharashtra, India's richest state, was last week caught in the crucible of a Hindu-Muslim confrontation when a handful of bicycle bombs went off just as the town's Muslims were emerging from their Friday afternoon prayers.Forty-one people died in the bomb blasts and nearly 300 injured in the stampede that followed. And yet, 24 hours later, Malegaon's Muslims were emerging from their shell-shocked hellhole, to walk across to the Wadia hospital in the Hindu part of the town to donate blood to the wounded.
At first, the way a local resident tells it, many Hindus thought this was a mob come to take revenge. The fact that it was the exact opposite averted not only a full-blown riot, but gave hope to a nation despairing that the recent blasts in Mumbai had irrevocably strained the city's cross-religious ties.(more...)
No comments:
Post a Comment