On the margin

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Sirajuddin Ahmed does not believe in votes. Last time he stood in a queue to vote was on February 14, 1983. Four days after that Ahmed's parents and two of his daughters were killed and his wife's hands were chopped off because they went out to vote. Ahmed speaks very slowly. His words almost come out in slow motion. He is unsure about his age. "I think 65 or 70", he says. "I will show you the place where they killed everyone because they went out to vote against the boycott call given by the All Assam Students' Union. They came at 8 am and it went on till 4 pm." I was with Sirajuddin at the killing fields of Nellie. A quiet village in Assam that shot into unwanted prominence after 3,000 men, women and children were killed by a rampaging mob. Muslims in Nellie were killed because....