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Violence Rhetoric Of Today: VENERATING FALSE GODS, By Poonam I Kaushish, 4 July, 2017 Print E-mail

Political Diary

New Delhi, 4 July 2017

Violence Rhetoric Of Today

VENERATING FALSE GODS

By Poonam I Kaushish

How hypocritical is Mera Bharat Mahan. Two incidents last week underscore this. In Srinagar a DSP Mohammad Ayub Pandith was stripped naked, kicked, beaten and lynched to death by an angry mob outside a mosque for doing his duty, guarding separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. In the other a 15-year old boy Juniad Khan was mobbed, thrashed, punched and killed at Ballabgarh by four people over a seat in the Delhi-Mathura train.. Both incidents accentuate violence is the rhetoric of the times wherein red splashes of gore is the new black!

Worship

One would expect both would evoke similar horror as both were Indian Muslims. But the comparison ends there as they were killed for very different reasons. Pandith’s public lynching portrayed the intense fault lines between the police and locals wherein the security forces are seen as an extension of the Indian State and blamed for all that's wrong, .but never has the animosity reached such a level of brutality.

Alternatively, it could be due to the increasing divide within the J&K security forces which mirrors the pro-Pakistan-pro-India segregation fueled by the ruling PDP and BJP playing their respective power games. Bringing things to such a pass, that the police is damned if it does and damned if it doesn’t.

Junaid’s death was stark tragic and smacked of pure hatred.  Of a young lad returning with his brothers after Eid shopping who was accosted of wearing the skull cap, accused of carrying beef in their bags, was called “anti-national”, lynched and then thrown off the train. Resulting in a wave of anger across India with 'Not In My Name' protests by citizens against incidents of lynching of Muslims and Dalits countrywide over the last three years. Democracy and secularism in danger, they rallied.

These unpleasant incidents were still fresh, when two cattle traders were hanged from a tree by  gau rakshaks in Jharkhand’s  Latehar district and another  killed and his house burnt allegedly for carrying beef in Ramgarh. Forcing Prime Minister Modi to declare, “Killing people in the name of Gau Bhakti is not acceptable. This is not something Mahatma Gandhi would approve.” Sic.

Recall, NaMo had voiced similar sentiments in his first public denouncement of cow vigilantes, in August 2016, stating he felt enraged at such anti-social elements who indulged in crimes by the night and masqueraded as cow protectors by the day. Putting the onus on State Governments he urged them to prepare dossiers on the so-called cow protectors and put them on a tight leash.

Really? How? Given there is a complete breakdown of law and order with no respite in sight. The cow protectors feel any action taken to protect the cow is justified, even if it means taking the law into their hands. From Dadri, Una, Saharanpur, Alwar, Jameshedpur and Raipur, from love-jihad, ghar wapasi, beef consumption to cattle trading the victims are either Muslims or Dalits victimized by vigilant cow marauders who revere the bovine as sacred more than human life. And has a central place in religious rituals.

Look at India’s paradox. On side is Brand India, Start Up India, Make in India, Digital India et al on the other Asli Bharat were myths override sane thought and rationality. Of the Kamdhenu Gau Mata whose every bit is useful, including its urine which has miraculous medicinal value. It is valued as a panacea to consolidate the majority community against beef eaters, cow traders and those skinning dead cattle for leather aimed at further polarizing society and a proxy war by cow vigilante groups against Dalits and Muslims A new moribund social order which needs constant fortification.

More worrisome however is that the various occurrences show the political, intellectual and hoi polloi secular-communal divide. Scandalously, Pandith and Junaid’s death was not only politicized, but worse compartmentalized according to religion. 

Arguably if a Muslim lynches another of his ilk, it is OK. Because both are ‘secular.’ But if a Hindu lynches a Muslim it smacks of communalism. How? What has secular-communal got to do with the killing of a fellow human being? How can we stereotype the colour of blood? Pandith death is justified by asserting he was a policeman, it was the job of the State Government to protect him. But he was killed by his fellow Kashmiris? Is that acceptable?  Isn’t he a first a person?  

Of course, the BJP and Sangh-affiliated outfits are guilty of putting a lower premium on human life and they should be brought to book. One cannot call anyone a cow hater because he eats beef, which is the staple diet in the North East. It is akin to calling a Muslim “anti-national” because he prays in a mosque? Equally, why doesn’t our ‘secular’ class baulk at the mutilation of soldiers, hold rallies against Pakistan and bray for terrorists blood who kill innocents.

Do we still have rule of law? When did we become a morally corrupt society that does such things? Were we always like this or is this something new?  If today we are lynching a boy for wearing a skull cap, the dress he wears, carrying food that is thought to be beef and the religion he follows? Tomorrow, society might demand that our religion be recorded on our identity papers.

Importantly, has the Hindutva brigade developed Islamophobia? Stereotyping everyone as either pro-Hindu or anti-Hindu, why not simply Indians.  Who are these aam aadmis who get carried away by a rising tide of anger and vilification that they will stereotype an entire community be it Muslims or Christains and refuse to differentiate between good people and evil?

Undoubtedly, warped religious nationalism spun by self-styled religious-political authorities and their cheerleaders who consider members of a certain community as pariahs and who spread fear and hate amongst the minority community need to be “taught a lesson.

In this milieu who is safe in this country? Tomorrow, anyone looking to settle a personal score could accuse someone of being a Muslim eating beef. And without a second thought, a mob may lynch that person. Even worse, they could charge someone with sedition by accusing them of supporting Pakistan’s cricket team in the Champions Trophy as was done in Madhya Pradesh recently.  

Clearly, the lynching marks a dangerous political trend of mob violence and intolerance towards minorities. If this trend goes unchecked society will get dangerously fragmented. Our leaders need to remember India was conceived as a democratic rather than majoritarian country wherein minorities have certain basic rights. This is the essence of being secular. 

A person is Indian not because of the culture they follow or the god they worship. He/she is Indian by being a citizen of India as this is the only thread that truly unifies us. Nobody should be asked to declare or prove their patriotism to X,Y,Z or the Government. People our binders not Ram or Rahim.

Thus, the The recent incidents make it imperative that we rethink how we want to shape New India.  Time now to consider a ban on divisive politics because if not corrected immediately the day is not far the country would be marked unsafe for people of ‘other’ religions who are attacked for simply worshipping a different god. Which would be a national shame. India's destiny is larger than the petty minds of secular-communal forces. What gives? ----- INFA

(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)

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