New Delhi, March 17 -- I was feeling jittery this Holi, as the fortnight prior had brought news of communal clashes in two states. Is Holi, a festival of love and universal kinship, fast becoming a relic?

I remember the 1980s, when I used to work in Varanasi and Allahabad (now Prayagraj). Those were my formative years as a journalist, and I used to attend meetings organized by the district administration at police stations ahead of Holi. These aman committee meetings (peace committee meetings) used to be attended by senior district officers, priests, sadhus, heads of mutts, muftis and maulvis, besides distinguished gentlemen of the city.

They would deliberate for hours and invariably conclude on celebrating Holi together. Officials at t...