Communal Egos and Inter-Community Conflict

authorities. If you hand over the matter to the authorities to handle, you extricate yourself from the controversy, as it were, and leave the authorities and the person who is bent on creating trouble to handle it between themselves. True and effective effort is always silent. It does not make a hue and cry. If in the face of an unpleasant situation you start shouting and agitating, it only shows that you are overwhelmed by your emotions. People who are driven by their emotions cannot take any meaningful steps. Meaningful and effective action emerges from serious reflection and contemplation. Making a hue and cry in the face of a difficult or challenging situation renders a person completely incapable of seriously considering and evaluating matters. This rule about conflict-avoidance applies as much in the case of individuals as it does in the case of entire communities. 13 The Solution to Communal Conflict O ne day, I spotted an Urdu poster in a Muslim locality in Delhi. In bold letters, it declared: Indian Muslims, wading through blood and fire, demand to know!