Kailash Mali's murder on July 10 sparked off a communal conflagration ... No one, not even Mali's family, denies his involvement in the 1992 riots.
In Malpura's tense, curfew-bound bylanes, where people look down on deserted streets through chinks in their shutters, his friends and foes all agree that Mali was a man destined to die a violent death. If for commoners, Hindus and Muslims, he was a man whose path they preferred not to cross, for the saffron contingent, Mali was a hero. Police records show he was in the Bajrang Dal, though his family insists he was just an ordinary BJP member. Till the destruction of the Babari Masjid, he had been the average history-sheeter kasbas the Hindi belt abound in. A childhood associate recalled that after Mali failed his school finals, he turned to crime, making his 'debut' at 18 with the murder of a friend.
But when he returned from Ayodhya with the halo of a karsevak and played a leading role in the riots of December 9, 1992, he entered the big league.
For BJP leaders in Tonk district, locals said, his muscle power was "useful" at election time; and with the BJP in power in Rajasthan till 1998, he had a free run. Though named as an accused in 1992, it was not till mid-1997 that he was arrested and then let out on bail soon afterwards. This hero status lies behind the carnage that followed his murder. People from both communities took their turn. Ironically, six Muslims and six Hindus were killed last week. If Hindus feel "the Muslims" wanted to kill Mali to avenge the 1992 murders, Muslims ... said this was not the case. But they also added that many had begun to feel that justice would never be done.
One fact on which almost everyone agreed is that the administration goofed .... Indeed, the story of this week's communal violence in Malpura is a very Indian story: For it is about judicial delays, political patronage for history- sheeters, and administrative lapses. In the process, for the people of Malpura, the scars of 1992 have once again been opened. (Source: The Times of India, 16 July, 2000)
