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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