The polarisation of western Uttar Pradesh

Amid fields of ripening wheat and tractor trolleys carting loads of freshly-cut sugar cane to the mills, the road to Muzaffarnagar 120 km northeast of Delhi is a smooth highway drive, presenting a picture of peace and plenty. Just under the surface, though, there is a political churn taking place in 10 constituencies, the prosperous Jat heartland of western Uttar Pradesh, that go to the polls on Thursday. The after-effects of last September’s communal conflagration that left 60 dead, the majority of them Muslims...

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