The ‘Wazirganj Terror Attack’: Sectarian Conflict and the Middle Classes
On 16 January 2013, a Sunni real estate developer opened fire at a Shi’a religious assembly in Wazirganj, a mixed neighbourhood in old Lucknow, India, killing one and injuring two. At its core, this was a business rivalry gone awry, but was soon labelled the ‘Wazirganj Terror Attack’ by Shi’a activi...
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| Language: | English |
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Centre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud
2015-07-01
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| Series: | South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/3936 |
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| author | Raphael Susewind |
| author_facet | Raphael Susewind |
| author_sort | Raphael Susewind |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | On 16 January 2013, a Sunni real estate developer opened fire at a Shi’a religious assembly in Wazirganj, a mixed neighbourhood in old Lucknow, India, killing one and injuring two. At its core, this was a business rivalry gone awry, but was soon labelled the ‘Wazirganj Terror Attack’ by Shi’a activists. Demonstrations were staged, politicians were arrested, and religious gatherings were invigorated. Based on 17 months of ethnographic fieldwork, this paper considers why the attack took place and why it escalated. The political economy of real estate and local politics are argued to have motivated the attack, but the attackers miscalculated and lost control of the incident. The subsequent escalation can only be understood in light of Shi’a clerical competition over new moral registers and an emerging middle class morality that replaces ethical concern for solidarity with narrow codes of ‘proper’ conduct. This underlines the importance of intra-group contestation to intergroup conflict, and the limits of purely instrumentalist explanations of sectarian violence. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-ff100db3c0bf4b698cec867f68fe099d |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1960-6060 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2015-07-01 |
| publisher | Centre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud |
| record_format | Article |
| series | South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-ff100db3c0bf4b698cec867f68fe099d2025-08-20T01:55:08ZengCentre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du SudSouth Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal1960-60602015-07-011110.4000/samaj.3936The ‘Wazirganj Terror Attack’: Sectarian Conflict and the Middle ClassesRaphael SusewindOn 16 January 2013, a Sunni real estate developer opened fire at a Shi’a religious assembly in Wazirganj, a mixed neighbourhood in old Lucknow, India, killing one and injuring two. At its core, this was a business rivalry gone awry, but was soon labelled the ‘Wazirganj Terror Attack’ by Shi’a activists. Demonstrations were staged, politicians were arrested, and religious gatherings were invigorated. Based on 17 months of ethnographic fieldwork, this paper considers why the attack took place and why it escalated. The political economy of real estate and local politics are argued to have motivated the attack, but the attackers miscalculated and lost control of the incident. The subsequent escalation can only be understood in light of Shi’a clerical competition over new moral registers and an emerging middle class morality that replaces ethical concern for solidarity with narrow codes of ‘proper’ conduct. This underlines the importance of intra-group contestation to intergroup conflict, and the limits of purely instrumentalist explanations of sectarian violence.https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/3936IndiamoralityMuslimsLucknowgroup violenceinstrumentalism |
| spellingShingle | Raphael Susewind The ‘Wazirganj Terror Attack’: Sectarian Conflict and the Middle Classes South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal India morality Muslims Lucknow group violence instrumentalism |
| title | The ‘Wazirganj Terror Attack’: Sectarian Conflict and the Middle Classes |
| title_full | The ‘Wazirganj Terror Attack’: Sectarian Conflict and the Middle Classes |
| title_fullStr | The ‘Wazirganj Terror Attack’: Sectarian Conflict and the Middle Classes |
| title_full_unstemmed | The ‘Wazirganj Terror Attack’: Sectarian Conflict and the Middle Classes |
| title_short | The ‘Wazirganj Terror Attack’: Sectarian Conflict and the Middle Classes |
| title_sort | wazirganj terror attack sectarian conflict and the middle classes |
| topic | India morality Muslims Lucknow group violence instrumentalism |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/3936 |
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