Review by Lewis Savarese
2025 marks twelve years since the deadly riots in the Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh, India and neither the country nor the global community have retreated from the precipice of political violence, but instead teeter on the edge. In The Once and Future Riot, a complex account of communal violence between Hindu Jats and Muslims in 2013, Joe Sacco issues a clarion call for the deescalation of political tension the world over, lest we plunge headfirst into the abyss.
The 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots resulted in the death of 42 Muslims and 18 Hindu Jats, with hundreds injured, and tens of thousands of Muslims displaced. Sacco began his investigation in 2014 with the help of fellow journalist Piyush Kumar, one of the Indian journalists to whom he dedicated the book. Sacco traveled to Muzaffarnagar in hope of uncovering the truth about the volatile events of the previous year, but as a seasoned journalist familiar with competing narratives, he knew he would have to cut through “untruth” and “bullshit.” Twice Sacco describes himself and Piyush as “giddy” when confronted with lies and half-truths. He juxtaposes these moments with panels depicting their local driver weaving his car through dense traffic as a visual representation of their resolve in the face of mounting bullshit.
Sacco takes us through the events that preceded the riots of early September 2013 with an emphasis on the cultural and political forces. He chronicles the lead up to the riots using a mix of linear and nonlinear storytelling, deftly navigating between the past and present. A four page history lesson, starting with the partition of India in 1947 and closing with the riots in the state of Gujarat in 2002, places 2013’s riots within the broader context of communal violence.
The more immediate and localized events that heralded the Muzaffarnagar riots were the rape of a Muslim girl by two Jat youths, the gang-rape of a Hindu girl by Muslim boys, and the murder of a Muslim boy by two Jat cousins in the village of Kawal, who were in turn lynched by Muslim villagers. Sacco highlights that it is not solely religion that divides the Hindu Jats and Muslims of Muzaffarnagar, as they are also separated into the landowning and labouring classes, respectively. Existing tensions are further exacerbated by political parties vying for power before an election, mainly the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Muslim-aligned Samajwadi Party (SP). From interviews with village chiefs and victims, Sacco learned that both parties mishandled the instability in the area. Some politicians even inflamed hostilities, like BJP politician Sangeet Singh Som who shared a video showing the death of the Jat cousins in Kawal (the video was later identified as taking place in Afghanistan).
Following bursts of retaliatory violence stemming from the Kawal incident, a Jat convoy is ambushed by armed Muslims and the riots begin. As these Jats returned to their villages, they meted out vengeance on vulnerable Muslims who were not party to the convoy ambush. Sacco does not sensationalize the violence, letting you infer from his meticulous renderings of large crowds the magnitude of destruction they left in their wake. His linework is assured, with every sword, country-made firearm, garment, and vehicle reproduced in his signature style. The faces Sacco draws tell stories themselves, from the faces of dispirited Muslims in displacement camps to ineffectual Hindu civic leaders attempting to calm an incendiary gathering.
Sacco closes the book with a question: will pluralistic democracies be overwhelmed by the violence they incite for political gains? If the 2023 war on Gaza and the 2024 anti-immigrant riots in the UK are any indication, the answer is “yes.”
