The most saddening thing about the communal or ethnic riots between majority Bodos and minority Muslims that have been rocking Kokrajhar and some other districts in the eastern Indian state of Assam for more than 10 days is that this was a tragedy waiting to happen and as such could have been averted or contained, once the violence broke out, if there was timely action on the part of local authorities. The army has finally been called in, but crucial time and precious human lives (52 so far) have been lost because of the state government’s inability or unwillingness to read the warning signs. The administration has been slow in stemming the tension building up in Kokrajhar and surrounding areas. As a result the violence has spread across several districts. Reports coming out of Assam speak of brutal killings, random torching of houses and large-scale displacement of people.

That Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had to visit the state “to review the situation” or goad the local officials into some meaningful action shows how things have gone out of the control of the state administration.

Unfortunately, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi is blaming everybody from the federal government to the local media for the worsening conditions in his state. His government, says Gogoi, did not get any intelligence report from the federal Home Ministry about the possibility of a flare-up. There was delay in deploying the army. “It took four to five days for the forces to reach the state,” Gogoi told reporters.

This is an open admission of failure. The state administration could have contained the situation and minimized the extent of the carnage and destruction of property before the forces reached the state. The fact is the state government misread and mismanaged the situation in a district that has witnessed large-scale clashes between the two groups in 1993, 1994, 1996 and as recently as 2008. The worst single incident occurred in 1983, when more than 3,000 men, women and children were massacred.

The current situation has actually been building up for almost two months. Trouble was brewing in the last few weeks, after Muslim student unions and non-Bodo tribes began pressing their demand for greater representation in the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC).

It is difficult to believe that Chief Minister Gogoi did not know the “communally-sensitive” nature of his state where insecurities relating to land, forest rights and a shrinking job market have created a combustible mix. Muslims and Hindus, including tribals like Bodos, view each other with suspicion if not open hostility. It is even more difficult to comprehend why his administration did not act in time even after reports came in of the firing on two student leaders of the All Bodoland Minority Students’ Union and the All Assam Minority Students’ Union in Kokrajhar leading to the killing of four former Bodo Liberation Tigers cadres.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has promised an impartial inquiry into the riots. This can wait. The immediate task is to end violence. The army’s presence, one hopes, will restore order and some sanity to the Assamese people who are at each other’s throats. Equally important is the speedy rehabilitation of the displaced people. Most important is a campaign aimed at restoring trust between the two communities.