What is particularly significant about the recent violence in Bangalore was that it was the first big round of communal violence since the city emerged as a major info tech hub. It was also the first period of communal violence in Bangalore since the BJP engineered an alliance with the JD(S) to come to power in Karnataka exactly a year ago. It is, however, not the first incidence of communal violence in the state under the present government. Last October, communal tension had peaked in BJP-dominated Mangalore district.

The present riots, taken with earlier outbreaks of communal violence, point to the increasingly polarised nature of politics in Karnataka, with the BJP-JD(S), on one side, and the Congress, on the other. Power games between the two entities could keep the state on edge. There is greater incentive now than ever before for political forces to drive a wedge between communities which had earlier lived in complete harmony.