From the memoir: Former politician Lav Bhargava reflects on his friendship with his political peers

When my son, Shivam, was about five, the entire city, state, and country faced a crisis of unexpected proportions. There were riots during the Ram Mandir movement in different parts of the country. Fortunately for us, Lucknow was relatively spared to some extent.

During this time, I walked the streets of the affected areas of the old city – sometimes accompanied by the competent and respected district magistrate, the late Ashok Priyadarshi, and his minimal security detail – to monitor and survey reactions on both sides of the communal divide in those intense moments when curfew was imposed. Cries of “Har Har Mahadev” rose from the Hindu side of Yahiyaganj, while “Allahu Akbar” echoed from the Muslim side. It was a time when only stray dogs were seen on these normally bustling streets.

Those battle cries still ring in my ears. That evening, I was summoned by Chief Minister ND Tiwari past midnight to his Mall Avenue residence for a first-hand report. Though it was an extremely tense situation, I tried to pacify him by sharing my observations. Nobody, I declared, was running out of their homes for confrontations; reassuringly, people were running back home for cover. Despite media provocation, people were...

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