It was in Bihar that Mahatma Gandhi had made his first mark, politically speaking, after returning from South Africa in 2015. It was where the  Champaran Satyagraha gave him an unbreakable grassroots connection with the poorest Indians. In 1946, alongside the bloodletting in Bengal, there was a pogrom in Bihar. If in Bengal it was the Hindus who were targeted, in Bihar it was the Muslims. The time was ripe, this time for Hindu extremists, to fan the flames and urge Biharis to take revenge on Muslims for what had happened in Bengal. All the dry powder needed was a spark.

We are in conversation with Tushar Gandhi, great grandson of the Mahatma, a great chronicler of the Mahatma’s life and a peace activist.