There is peace in Uttam Nagar. And yet the air is tense with the apprehension of violence. Something untoward might happen. Both statements seem to be true at the same time. The local administration, if we are to believe it, is doing commendable work. It has ensured that the mob that wishes to massacre Muslims has not been allowed to carry out the violence it so openly desires. At the same time, it has not stopped such mobs from taking out processions and raising violent, anti-Muslim slogans – slogans that openly express a murderous desire. Whether this counts as actual violence, or whether it will be treated as merely symbolic violence may perhaps be debated by philosophers and psychologists. But one might ask a simpler question: what happens to the members of a community who repeatedly hear slogans that threaten even their graves with desecration?If you were to ask the administration why it allows such mobs to gather, the answer might well be that people must be allowed to vent the anger in their hearts. They wish to ensure that the slogans about playing Holi with the blood of Muslims remain confined to the realm of slogans. If Muslims say that such mobs and such slogans terrify them, they may be advised to regard this as the natural reaction of Hindus to the killing of a Hindu, and therefore to bear with it. After all, has not a Hindu died? Would the blood of other Hindus not boil? Muslims, we are told, should count themselves fortunate that matters are limited only to threats and slogans. The police, so far, have not agreed to the mob’s demand that they withdraw from the scene for fifteen minutes and give the mob a free hand.One wonders, however, why those who wish to carry out violence demand that the police withdraw. The house of the accused in the murder of Tarun Khatik was burned under police supervision; it was looted as well. The police cooperated fully with the violent mob. This, of course, is entirely consistent with the normal record of the police in India. In 1984, not only in Delhi but in other parts of India as well, the police allowed Hindus enraged by the assassination of Indira Gandhi to loot and kill Sikhs as much as they wished. In many cases, it assisted the looters and the murderers. In the Hashimpura massacre, army personnel, along with the police, did not merely permit the mob; they themselves killed Muslims. Since Independence, Muslims have had ample experience of how the police often act as accomplices of violent Hindu mobs when violence is directed against them.It is therefore not surprising that in Delhi in 2020, violent Hindu groups were raising the slogan: “Dilli Police, lathi chalao, hum tumhare saath hain (Delhi Police, raise the stck, we are with you).” One might pause to ask: at what moment does a public that naturally fears the police begin to feel that the police belong to it? This unity between Hindus and the police at moments of violence against Muslims is one of the more troubling realities of India.Also read: Uttam Nagar Killing: Is a Local Dispute Being Given a Communal Colour?And yet it is also true that in Uttam Nagar, no Muslim has been allowed to be killed. Only slogans threatening their killing have been permitted. Even this, according to a local Muslim, is commendable. After all, how can the police take away anyone’s freedom of expression? The slogans calling for the genocide of Muslims at Jantar Mantar were also allowed in the name of protecting freedom of expression. In India, this freedom of expression appears, rather curiously, to exist only for Hindus. If Muslims wish to take out a procession against an attack on Iran, police officers advise them to go to Iran, or be prepared to face police action.As it is often said, the situation is tense but under control. Only houses have been demolished, according to the rules. Mostly Muslim houses. This is being done, if one chooses to believe the administration, as part of a campaign against encroachment on government or public land. Some Hindu houses, too, have been partially demolished. When wheat is ground, the weevil too must be crushed. Everyone knows that all this is being done to cool Hindu hearts. The fire of revenge burning in them after the killing of Tarun may, perhaps, be soothed a little. This, we are told, is the compulsion of the administration.But the crowd, thirsty for Muslim blood, is not satisfied with this. It is telling Rekha Gupta to learn from the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh under Adityanath. Or to look at Assam under Himanta Biswa Sarma. Or at Uttarakhand under Pushkar Singh Dhami. Muslim houses, they say, must be demolished in such a way that the destruction is total, not merely partial. It should not remain symbolic. This, it seems, has become the new administrative protocol in India.Two Muslim friends of mine returned from Uttam Nagar and told me that the trouble is being created mostly by outsiders. Local Hindus, they said, understand what the matter is. Muslims stand in line outside Hindu shops to make purchases. There is no visible animosity between them. It is quite another matter that Muslims engaged in small jobs are returning to their villages. They will celebrate Eid there. Do they go to their villages every year for Eid? Or is it that this year, after hearing slogans about playing Holi with their blood, they feel afraid? No one stopped them. No one even seemed to think it necessary. The police may well say that this is not their responsibility – that they are leaving voluntarily.Friends outside India are astonished when they hear all this. They see that a quarrel occurred between two families. There was a fight. One family was Muslim and the other Hindu. People from both sides were injured. One man from the Hindu family was fatally injured. After that, almost all the members of the Muslim family were arrested. Now, surely, there will be an investigation. There will be a trial. The Muslim family, too, has its side of the story. They too were injured. After the police investigation, the court will consider every aspect and deliver its verdict. That, they say, is how things are done everywhere in the world.But then they ask: why was the house of the Muslim family demolished? Why were looting and arson allowed in it? Has anyone been identified for these crimes? Has an FIR been filed? Has the police arrested even a few among those involved in these acts? Is any departmental action being taken against the policemen who watched this silently, failing in their duty?These friends abroad also ask: if initial action has already been taken against the accused, why are mobs coming from outside and threatening Muslims? Why are announcements being made that Holi will be played with blood on Eid?We may laugh at their innocence. They do not know the India of our times. But what they are asking is something all of us should be asking. In India, where Hindus and Muslims live together, it is natural – as in any society – that occasional violence may occur between the two. But when a Muslim is killed, do neighbouring Muslims begin to demand that Hindu houses be demolished? Does the administration demolish the houses and shops of the accused Hindus? Do Muslim organisations begin to incite violence against Hindus? Does the media launch a campaign of propaganda against Hindus? We know the answer.Therefore, we must say that what is happening in Uttam Nagar – what is being allowed to happen, what is being made to happen – is not merely wrong; it is a crime. The propagation of hatred against Muslims is a crime. To allow that hatred to be propagated is to become complicit in that crime.Even today, we must raise questions about the silence of the government in the face of this propaganda of hate. It is the responsibility of the government to provide security to every section of society and to ensure that people feel secure. Why does it not consider itself accountable for the safety of Muslims? Why do the police and the administration not consider this their duty?Political parties that go to people’s doors asking for votes – why are they absent from Uttam Nagar at this moment, when their voters feel insecure? Why can they not go there and speak with both Hindus and Muslims?Eid is only a few days away. Is it honourable for any society that its neighbour should await a festival not with joy but with the fear of violence? What do the Hindus of Uttam Nagar, of Delhi, of India think?Apoorvanand teaches Hindi at Delhi University.