The publication of the Report of the Kanpur Riots Enquiry Committee in 1933 was greeted with a ban by the colonial government. Set up to enquire into the violent communal riots that broke out in Kanpur in 1931, the six-member Committee appointed by the Indian National Congress produced one of the most insightful analysis of the genesis and spread of communalism in modern India as well as remedial measures to counter it. The challenge before the Committee was to offset the pervasive and deeply ingrained thinking that Hindu-Muslim relations were inherently and historically antagonistic. By taking a broad historical view, the report provides telling evidence of the centuries-long association of the two communities forming a rare cultural fusion transcending all socio-economic, religious and political barriers. The authors also make an impassioned plea against the ‘perverted view’ of Indian history as portrayed by colonial writers and administrators. This abridged version of the report, now reissued for the first time after seven decades for a wider readership, remains as compellingly relevant as it was then.
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