### SOCIO-POLITICAL CONTEXT OF SAMBHAL IN THE 1970S

The 1978 riot (communal riot) in Sambhal, a town in Uttar Pradesh, India, is an important but often overlooked chapter in the history of communal tension in the country. Sambhal, a historically mixed community with a rich cultural heritage, became the epicentre of violence that year, leaving deep scars on the fabric of local society. To understand