Political Diary
New Delhi, 11 January
2022
“What’s The Deal
Today”
YOUNG & VILE POISON
By Poonam I Kaushish
As India is busy
taking shots at recovery against Covid 19 latest variant Omicron, lost in
euphoria of taming it is the growing cacophony of hate crime once again. The
latest is when many Muslim women woke up to a horror of their photographs being
stolen and morphed for a webpage, hosted on code sharing platform Github with
the intent of “auctioning” them on New Year’s day code named ‘what’s the deal’..
From Sulli Deals, a
derogatory term used by right-wing social media trolls for Muslim women six
months ago to the Bulli Bai app. Already police have arrested five students between
18-26 years from Bengaluru, Rudrapur, Kotdwar, Jorhat and Indore for creating
these apps. Worse, they have no regrets for their heinous misdeeds which induced
raw emotions of hate.
Questionably,
what could have brought them all together in a mission to shame, embarrass, scare
and dehumanise over 100 Muslim women concertedly and brazenly? Alas, nobody
wants to address questions on why content on social media are becoming more
venomous and toxic?
Can
such issues which blatantly deepen religious cleavages by pitting Indians
against each other be condoned as done in ‘the heat of the moment’ thereby
unleashing a Frankenstein? How does one control the hate mongers and blunt
them? Is the Government capable of defusing this treacherous lethal keg?
Educated youth pursuing their degrees are using tech and Internet
to wage an online ideological war against communities. Targeted violent
contents are openly shared across Twitter, Facebook, Telegram, Instagram,
WhatsApp. Remember a Muslim man killed in Palwal video was shared on Facebook
along-with a 14-year-old Muslim boy beaten foe venturing inside Dasna Devi
temple to drink water video was uploaded on social media.
Shockingly, around 91% of hate crimes recorded in the last decade
took place after Prime Minister Modi came to power. According to Hate
Crime Watch, out of 287 hate crimes motivated by religious bias
from January 2009 to April 2019, 262 took place between 2014-19 whereby 99
persons were killed and over 703 wounded across 23 States.
Minorities were victims of 263 (73%) cases of which Muslims
accounted for 160 (61%), Hindus 37 (14%), Christians 27 (11%) and Sikhs 3 (1%).
In 80 (31%) hate crimes, the perpetrator’s
religion was not known. Among 182 cases in which religion of the accused was
known, 81% involved Hindus (148 cases). In 18% (33) attackers were Muslim. In
one case, assailant was a Sikh.
Cow vigilantism was the most common reason for attacks with 77
such hate crimes. Overall, there were 124 cow-related hate crimes. The other
frequent causes were opposition to interfaith relationships (15%) and communal
clashes (10%).
Last year Karnataka saw
39 hate crimes against Christians. Recall, 2012 when North Easterners were made
to flee Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad. Knocked out by hate SMS, “Leave
immediately or face unspecified action.” Socking ‘secular’ India a deathly
communal hatred -blow!
Why blame youth
alone? Our political tribe is worse. Given our netas have perfected intemperate language to inject poison in
society over the years, from communal hate speeches, taking crude and repulsive
swipes at rivals to stoking communal violence and sowing seeds of rabid
communalism. Namely, dangerous and diabolical machinations of vote-bank
politics, pitting Hindus against Muslims, creating fissiparous tendencies resulting
in a communal divide.
The Congress accuses
the BJP for engineering a Hindu majoritarian communal style of politics by
using tactics like attempting to electorally marginalise Muslims to patronising
communal violence, especially around the emotive issue of gau raksha, love jihad and
ghar wapsi. The Hindutva Brigade
slams its rival as a ‘Muslim party’ part of the “tukde-tukde gang” which protects terrorists and is “working on
Pakistan’s agenda” and belongs there.
Undeniably, we are
watching cut-throat communalism at work. Whereby, our netas have made nationalism and the Hindu-Muslim vote-bank the tour de force of politics. With every
leader propounding his self-serving recipe of ‘communal’ harmony harbouring the
same intention: To keep their gullible vote-banks emotionally charged so that
their own ulterior motives are well-served. Never mind, the nation is getting
sucked into the vortex of centrifugal bickerings.
Clearly, the level of
poison and hate coursing through political and social India injecting venom in
young minds and radicalizing them is worrisome and fraught with serious
ramifications. Certainly the youth have plenty to be angry about. One, acute
disruption of education and unemployment pushed many into online echo chambers
that are resolute with the cause of their suffering. Two, polarization thanks
to technology and social media is more extreme than any physical ghettoisation.
Pertinently, it
underscores that toxic inputs across society starting with rabid politics of
communalism, religious hatred leading to mob violence online and offline
creates a domino effect destroying young innocent minds and turning them into
monsters of venom and hate. Pointing to society’s
utter moral bankruptcy where communal elements openly target, vilify and
perpetuate sexual violence against women and minorities with alarming impunity.
Importantly, no
quarter should be given to those who fan hatred among people and communities.
Be it a Hindu ‘messiah’ or Muslim ‘mullah’. Both are destroyers of the
State, which has no religious entity. Thus, our moral angst cannot be selective
but should be just, honourable and equal.
In a mammoth one
billion plus country there would be a billion views whereby one cannot curtail
people’s beliefs and rights. One is free not accepting another’s view as it is
a matter of perception. A statement objectionable to one might be normal for
another. However, no licence should be given to anyone to spread hatred or
ill-feeling towards any community.
In this dog whistle surcharged
communalised atmosphere with dangerous ideas expressed in fissiparous language
which appeal to baser emotions and promises unapologetically sectarian beliefs,
the time has come for us to look at the perilous implications of the insidious
out-pourings which inject poison in society.
Today, India is facing
an existential crisis --- a pluralist, inclusive India is defending itself
against toxic religiosity. Averting this dystopia requires work on multiple
fronts: The police needs to look whether these youngsters were part of a larger
conspiracy aided by organized groups spreading hate. Alongside, tough policing
of hate crimes, effective social media regulation and politics staying away
from religious misadventures.
Time to adopt
zero-tolerance stance on offensive and disruptive toolkits. The message has to
go out clearly that no one belonging to community or group can spew hatred, and
if they do, they lose their democratic right to be heard. Such dangerous
proposals have no place in a civilised society.
In the ultimate, when
we do a cost-benefit analysis, we need to answer a simple question: Is this
toxicity really worth the price the country will pay? Who will bear the cross? Unless
the larger network fuelling such hate and bigotry is brought to justice the
anonymity and radicalization offered by social media and internet will continue
to incubate these acts.
Stringent and timely
action is the only apt response. India is a big country with enough room for
all to live in peace and goodwill. The aim should be to raise the bar on public
discourse and digital media, not lower it. India could do without citizens who
distort and in turn destroy democracy. ----- INFA
(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)
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