Whatever their political or religious affiliation ... the people experienced in common during 1992 and 1993 ... various manifestations of disorder, ... political and criminal terror and the collapse of the authority of the state ... This is the primary focus of the report ...

After this report no one ... can fall into the trap of conflating the Shiv Sena with the whole Hindu community or believe that deeply illiberal and undemocratic organisations and violent methods can further anyone's interests ...

... The culpability of Bal Thackeray and other Sena leaders goes beyond incendiary propaganda and communal mobilisation. In the past, the courts and Maharashtra Legislature have responded weakly at best to Sena provocations. The Election Commission has on occasions been more firm. One after the other, the Congress and the BJP have chosen to come to an accommodation with it.

The Srikrishna report establishes that accommodation and more accommodation is not the road to peace and sanity ... The political and the legal systems (must) draw a line somewhere. it is not a Hindu-Muslim question. it is a question of how much lawlessness and organised political terror the system can tolerate and still be called democratic.

There were immediate and long-term causes for the collapse of state authority and the Congress party must bear the larger share of the blame for it ...

(Source: The Indian Express, 11 August, 1998)