Are we seeing a return to those terrible days of communal politics in India, where sectarian violence polarised us and compassion and good sense were lost or are events of the last few days just a shadow mimicking an evil past?

Ever since the conflict between Bodos and Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam began a few weeks ago, discussion is being edged towards the Hindu-Muslim divide, last seen with full vicious intensity during the 2002 riots in Gujarat.