Political
Diary
New Delhi, 3 April , 2018
Communal Violence, Yawn
WORSHIPPING FALSE GODS
By Poonam I Kaushish
It never ceases to surprise how our polity is
swiftly sinking into the marshy cesspool of bloodied religious intolerance.
Whereby, the pseudo-secular wheel seems to have turned a full circle. Clearly,
communal violence is once again the cause
celebre this week.
In the past fortnight religious hatred barred its poisonous
blood-soaked fangs during the Ram Navami festivities in West Bengal’s Burdwan
district and Bihar’s Samastipur and Aurangabad. In the former, saffron outfits
clashed with the police for defying Mamata’s Government’s ban on sword-wielding rallies on the auspicious day. In the later, BJP, Bajran Dal and RSS activists took on
Muslims while processions were being taken out resulting in scores dead and many injured.
Predictably,
this led to a slug fest between Trinamool and BJP at one end and jailed Lalu’s
RJD and Nitish’s NDA Government at the other, with all indulging in
“competitive communalism” accusing each other of triggering communal
polarisation of voters prior to General elections next year. Never mind, if
Hindus were terrified to return home and Muslims scared to step out.
Thundered
an angry Mamata: “Did Lord Ram ask anybody to rally with arms and swords? Can
we leave the State’s Administration and law and order in the hands of these
hooligans, who are defaming Ram?” Adding to the fracas Union Minister Babul
Supriyo lost his cool and
threatened to “skin” people who confronted and shouted slogans against him when
he visited his constituency Asansol. Thereby, fuelling the
situation.
But this is not the first or last time when our
netas have played to the gallery. Recall,
last October when an offensive Facebook post of a 17-year-old apparently led to
benumbing violence in Bengal’s Baduria converting it into a war zone. The
situation deteriorated to such an extent that locals Hindus felt like aliens in
their own land as they were outnumbered by Muslims who had converted the
district into an extension of Bangladesh.
Alongside, in blatant disregard to secular
State values, Mamata provided honorariums to Imams and Muezzins from State
Government funds and prohibited Durga Puja immersion processions after 4 pm to
accommodate Muharram processions, disregarding the common Bengalis’ attachment
to the festivities.
This
too led to a public spat between Mamata and BJP which degenerated into a bitter
fight, with the Trinamool accusing the Saffron Sangh of playing petty communal
politics. Stormy petrel Mamata ticked of
Governor Tripathi for crossing the ‘Constitutional line’ by reminding him that
the “Raj Bhavan cannot be the BJP's office”, drawing a sharp reaction from the
Governor, “It would be better if the Chief Minister and her colleagues worked
for maintaining law and order instead of accusing him.” Sic.
Given
our polity’s obsession with
numbers coupled with appeasement rhetoric underscores the games politicians
play at the altar of political expediency. The skullduggery of conciliation given the political worth of
20% Muslim electorate, leaders and Mamata is no exception, go on an overdrive,
encouraging Maulvis like the one who offered a prize to anyone who could
blacken the face of Modi or turning a blind eye to Maulanas who banTV, music,
photography and interaction with Kaffirs.
It
is no secret that ‘secular’ leaders and Governments have encouraged appeasement
of minorities without offering any real development to them, which results in
recurring violence in a State and spreads across many districts. Add to this
the cavalier attitude towards governance combined with relentless lollipops to Muslims
has become a deadly brew.
The
problem has got aggravated with the onset of social media. Right-wing elements
associated with both Hindu and Muslim organisations are always ready to fill
the gap left by the vernacular media because of their silence on communal
violence. Primarily, as it is difficult to stop the spread of hate messages
through social media on a daily basis.
Shockingly,
India ranks fourth worst in the world for religious intolerance among 198
countries with religious hostility trailing only Syria, Nigeria and Iraq
according to the Pew Research Centre. More than 4,500 people have been killed
in 10,000 communal violence incidents since Godhra 2002, J&K 2008,
Muzaffarnagar 2013, Meerut 2014 et al, read over two incidents every day
somewhere in India.
Alas,
instead of mourning, Parties have reaped electoral benefit out of this divisive
politics using religious communities as loyal blocks during elections. Add to
this the practise of framing laws, policy and strategy aimed at assuaging the
religious minorities or majority Hindu community has reared the ugly head of ‘vote
bank politics’ to wean away chunks of voters from the stranglehold of other Parties.
The
BJP and its Hindutva Brigade invariably argues that India’s fragile social
peace is times out of number shattered by attempts to ‘appease’ Muslims and
other minority religious communities. It accuses the Congress of putting minority
communalism above Hindus and what is good for the community.
Consequently,
justifing it’s Ghar Wapasi programme,
Bhagwath Geeta teachings in Haryana’s
school curriculum and Gujarat’s
anti-conversion laws which do not allow people to adopt a religion without
permission from the district magistrate as attempts to dismantle minority
religions and rectify distortions in Hinduism. Big deal if social
prejudices are becoming deeper and social schisms widening further.
Certainly,
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. Else, who will be safe in this country?
Questionably,
what do protesters of such incidents achieve? Zilch. Only the aam aadmi and innocent security men
became targets. In fact nobody has the right to indulge in combustible attacks.
All forget that violence does not achieve anything and neither does insult of a
religious figures.
Undoubtedly,
no matter what the provocation, the rule of law cannot be made to go for a
toss. Nothing justifies violence or the call to commit violence in direct
contravention of the law. If a Hindu has anger against his Muslim brethren or
vice-versa they should take up the legal battle against them.
Tomorrow,
anyone looking to settle a personal score could accuse someone of being a beef-eating
Muslim or a Ram bhakt. 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 a while back.
Importantly, for Parties it is all about
political survival not national interest. For power, they will go to any
extent. There is no desire to uphold equal respect for various faiths. Instead
unashamedly they use religion to increase their so-called popularity with
voters. A political ploy to divide people on religious lines and gain votes!
Tragically, our netas seem to suffer no sense of guilt or qualms of conscience by fanning the communal quick sand. All fail to
understand that appeasement or turning a blind eye does not create legends but
only Frankensteins who devour the very people they claim to represent by
pushing them on a path of fundamentalism. Time they thought beyond vote-bank
politics and looked at the perilous implications of their decisions.
The country is being pushed towards brazen
communalism, ignoring national interest. India's destiny is larger than the petty
minds of secular-communal forces. All
forget that when one rides a communal tiger it is near impossible to dismount.
What gives? ----- INFA
(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)
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