India on edge as riot-hit Delhi questions its a secular future

Residents walking along a street in a riot-affected area, in New Delhi on Sunday (March 1), after violence broke out in India's capital. The violence was triggered by protests against a citizenship law seen by many critics as anti-Muslim and part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist agenda, capping a week which saw 42 killed and hundreds injured during the city's worst sectarian violence in decades. - AFP

NEW DELHI: Days and nights of unrelenting rioting in the Indian capital have damaged not only homes and business, but also a tenuously maintained communal harmony. The violence reveal the marked polarisation of Indian society and make some wonder if tolerance is truly possible.

In the wake of the worst episode of sectarian violence in the Indian capital in decades, fear and suspicion have gripped Delhi's residents, many of whom are too afraid to return to their homes they fled even as they stare at an uncertain future.