In February 2002, 59 Hindu pilgrims perished when their train caught fire just outside Godhra station in the Indian state of Gujarat. The cause of the fire was never conclusively established; yet of the many unsubstantiated theories that still swirl around the fire, the one that had the most devastating impact on was the claim that the train had been set alight by a Muslim mob.
What followed was three days of riots that resulted in the deaths of at least 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus, with another 223 people reported missing and 2,500 more injured. Civil society groups estimate that the actual death toll was closer to double that number. Over two decades have passed since the Godhra train fire, but Indian society is yet to come to terms with its aftermath.
I’ve found myself thinking a lot about Godhra since three young girls were killed, and eight more children and two women injured, after being stabbed at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport last week. Online misinformation wrongly suggested their attacker was a Muslim man who had arrived in the UK in a small boat last year, sparking a frenzy of anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim riots in recent days.
