Even today, the politics of religion does not allow the subcontinent to become civilized and its people to become truly educated.

If you are rich, it doesn’t matter whether you are Hindu or Muslim, that is how a capitalist society works. Take a look, poverty-stricken Muslims are in a similar situation. The rich, be they Hindu or Muslim, are subjugating the poor.

Sudhamoy consoled himself with the thought that it was not about Hindus and Muslims but about the strong torturing the weak whenever possible. Women are weak and so strong men torment them.

It’s foolish to confront a weapon with bare hands.

There are some people who are untranslatable.

If I say that I’m educated and was jobless in Dhaka, that I want to work here, build myself a healthy, beautiful life, the kind of life that everyone dreams of, they’d just throw me out of the country. Political asylum they may just allow, but economical asylum – never!

Riots mean fights – a conflict between one community and another is called a riot. But we cannot call these riots – these were attacks by one community on another. Torture. Persecution.

According to Abdul Kalam Azad, ‘It is one of the greatest frauds on the people to suggest that religious affinity can unite areas which are geographically, economically, linguistically and culturally different.

The Bengalis saw endless bloodshed and trouble from 1947 to 1971 and this culminated in the Liberation War of 1971. The blood of 3 million Bengalis helped earn this freedom and also proved that religion could never be the foundation of a national identity. Language, culture and history provide the foundations for a national identity.

Jonathan Swift: ‘We have enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.