About the Book
A DEVASTATING ACCOUNT OF THE WAY IN WHICH VIOLENCE AFFECTS LIVES IN MODERN INDIA
What makes a man stand by and watch violence being done to another? What does a woman do after her husband has killed a pregnant stranger? What latent tensions and complexes did the instigators of violence draw upon to unleash the carnage of 28 February 2002?
Investigations into mass violence in India, and Gujarat 2002 in particular, have focused on the consequences, the victims, the political apparatus. The mob has always been a faceless, unidimensional machine. But the act of turning around and looking at individuals from that crowd changes everything. If we see the mob as amorphous and their hate as shifting, given to complex personal motivations and vulnerabilities, we are much closer to understanding it—and to opening up conversations that can lead to change.
Revati Laul’s unforgettable narrative, built on a decade’s worth of research and interviews, is the very first account of the perpetrators of 2002—and a crucial new addition to the literature on violence.
About the Author
Revati Laul is an independent journalist and activist. She started her career in television with NDTV, then shifted to print, writing for publications like Tehelka, The Quint and the Hindustan Times. As an outcome of her work on political violence, she created the Sarfaroshi Foundation in the district of Shamli in Uttar Pradesh, where she now lives. This is her first book.
