From Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh to Ratnagiri in Maharashtra and various pockets of the country, the festival of Holi became the platform to bring out the worst fissures of Indian society – religion, caste, and gender. The festival of colours and joy, heralding spring and new beginnings, falling on a Ramzan Friday, saw the local police in high-tension areas resort to foot patrolling and drone surveillance and the paramilitary doing flag marches to keep the peace.

This is not new to India, but the question Indians must ask themselves is: why should the celebration of a festival descend into aggressive sloganeering and blatant threats of violence, if not an immediate incident, against the ‘other’, whether the religious or caste minority or women?

When the Holi revelry turns into an open threat to Muslims and mosques, forcing them to change prayer timings or cover the structures in tarpaulin, the festival becomes less reverent than it should be. When the fun and play allow the upper castes to mock and name-call others, the festival loses some of its colour and “phagun” fervour.

When the joyous exuberance turns into a cover for men to transgress personal boundaries with women, sometimes women they hardly know, Holi becomes reduced to male muscle-flexing; sexual harassment is clothed in the meaningless ‘bura na mano, Holi hai.’ It does not have to be so.

There have been stories also about a few Muslim-dominated areas stopping Hindus from playing Holi, which are held out to justify the Sambhal or Ratnagiri-type incidents. Majoritarian muscle-flexing cannot be the response. To invoke Mahatma Gandhi, an eye for an eye would make the world blind.

When celebrated in true spirit, any festival of any religion is meant to offer reverence to the elements, spread joy and bring people together in a collective manner. Festivals are meant to be inclusive, not descend into excuses for provocation and violence.

If they are being turned into occasions of muscle-flexing and aggression, it is time that people understood the nefarious designs of the power elite – a few with political, social and economic power – to keep unemployed, WhatsApp-educated young men in a state of constant fury about the ‘other.’

The more divided the people, the easier for the power elite to stay in power. The colonial British used this strategy to their advantage, after all. To be sure, the trend of festivals as religious or casteist muscle-flexing is not a feature of today’s India.

It dates back in history, and independent India has seen its share of festival-related violence. That it continues to happen without people realising that they can celebrate in a more harmonious and inclusive manner is a marker of how festivals have been weaponised.