Pradeep Shah and Ram Prasad Chaudhary of Durgauli VDC in Kailali district often have their morning tea together at a local teashop.

In these meetings the two men talk about many things from their families, their works, the community, to the country’s politics.

But what happened in their district on Monday seems to have affected their camaraderie.

When they saw each other on Wednesday morning, the two friends could not talk with the same ease and comfort like before. The bad blood drawn by the political leaders between the Tharu and the Hill communities has suddenly made these two friends self-conscious about each other’s race. Both of them resented this feeling, but could not get past it when they met.

“We had an awkward handshake and as we sipped on our tea we did not talk much,” Shah said. “The latest incident in the district has put our friendship in difficulty.”

The dilemma faced by Shah and Chaudhary, the former belonging to the Hill community and the latter to the Tharu community, is what many people in Kailali are facing after Monday’s riot. They fear that some groups are deliberately fomenting racial tension between the Hill and the Tharu people in the district.

Premlal Chaudhary, who belongs to the Tharu community, said the social harmony in the district had never been disturbed this way.

“I can feel that the people from both communities are fearful. There never had been such situation before, not even during the Maoist insurgency,” he said.

Their fear has also been heightened because of the rumour that two groups, one representing the Tharu and the other representing the Hill people in the district, are going about attacking one another.

National Human Rights Commission Spokesperson Mohna Ansari said the situation in Kailali has become very tenuous after Monday’s incident.

“It was an unfortunate incident, but it is wrong to indict or prosecute a single community for what happened,” she said. “It is the job of the government and the local political parties to maintain social harmony and peace at times like these.”