What used to be seen as isolation and aberration in India is now clearly visible in the 21st century, begging the question whether we are really modern
What used to be seen as isolation and aberration in India is now clearly visible in the 21st century, begging the question whether we are really modern
A picture on social media last week said a lot about the India of today. Waseem Sheikh of Khargone, Madhya Pradesh standing in front of cleared land of a settlement. Shaikh’s ‘Gumti’ or small grocery shop was ransacked on April 11 as he was said to have pelted stones during one. Communal riot a day before, Sheikh has no hands; He lost them in an accident in 2005. It does not matter. He is a Muslim in an area where violence took place and that is reason enough for the state to destroy his only source of income.
This is where India is heading, or where India has already reached. A society without humanity that is violent, targets minorities, and operates above state law.
‘New’ India
Our ‘new’ India is one of revenge and hatred towards another imagined. This is where governments do not operate the law but violate it. This is the place where, throughout India, Gangs terrorize Muslims And if there is any riot, then follow up by the administration Destruction of homes and workplaces of Muslims, This is where the leadership of the major political party is silent – as this violence reinforces hatred and reaps electoral dividends. This is where the police take guidance for what they want from the political mood, not keeping the peace. This is where victims of violence are turned into suspects and jailed without bail. This is where courts often look the other way, or do nothing more than rap governments on the knuckles. And this is where all classes, who are otherwise identified as civilized people, feel a sense of satisfaction and even enjoy this violence against their fellow citizens.
This is where we celebrate 75 years as an independent nation.
“Demolition of the Law”which is the best way to describe it bulldozer violence, comes with a fig leaf of legitimacy to clear illegally occupied land. Everyone knows it is just a cover for the fake news factories and WhatsApp University to argue that “the law must follow its course”. It is believed that this form of government Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Very famous Now others are copying it. Gujarat is practicing it And Madhya Pradesh has enthusiastically followed And elections are to be held in both the states in the next 18 months. The new weapon reached Delhi last week, where the local administration, citing technicalities, was able to strike a taunt in the Supreme Court, for a few hours.
The bulldozer violence is the latest in a march of state-promoted communal violence across India. It is getting worse day by day and what is shocking today will become routine tomorrow. Lynching and economic boycott have ended now. New horrors pile on top of the old that have been forgotten. Who now remembers the lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri in 2015, or the murder of 15-year-old Junaid on his way home during Eid in 2017? Or even just seven months ago, Moinul Haque, from Assam, was shot by police while clearing an “encroachment” and his body was mutilated by a photographer hired to record the events. Had given?
Now open call for killing of muslims have become a routine. When the first such incident happened in Haridwar late last year, there was a stir in the local police. Now a police report in Delhi can boldly claim that such public calls for mass killings are only to protect one’s religion.
Do we need to fear mass murders? As many have pointed out, you don’t need to organize horrific single-incident communal violence when the same results can be achieved with “1,000 cuts every day”. There are gangs of volunteers across the country, albeit mainly in the north and now also in Karnataka, who have been “outsourced” to harassment, intimidation and local murder. they are”freelancer“They may not be part of any political party and may not receive any instruction from political functionaries, but they have absorbed the poison of bigotry and have done the work expected of them.
vote on communal lines
The action of these checkpoints creates hatred and fear of the other, which, in turn, strengthens voter support that holds elections after the elections. This is not welfare ( beneficiary, Hindi word for beneficiaries of government programmes) who is deciding the election. It is a consolidation of votes, plain and simple, on communal lines. It is pointless to ask the political leadership to speak out against mob violence when it is part of a larger political climate that has been used successfully in elections.
If the mob is now free to target one minority, it will soon be encouraged to go after the others. Which religious minority will be next? Which ‘low’ caste will be next? Violence of vigilantism being carried out under the benign eyes of the state cannot be controlled. Soon it will outshine its masters and India will finally bite the whirlwind.
Pen-pushers like this author think they can awaken the conscience of the people against the devastation we face. But we are wrong, we are impotent in the face of this tidal wave of violence, which is fueled by vendetta ideology, muscular nationalism and inhumanity. All in the name of “correcting historical wrongs”. The intense hatred of Muslims, which is now being fueled, is another layer on top of the centuries-old violence against Dalits. It has brought to the surface a certain face of India which we did not want to accept.
To revise historian Upinder Singh’s observations, the messages of ‘peace’ that Mahavira, Buddha, Ashoka and Gandhi preached were exceptions in the history of a violent society for a few thousand years. The violence of India is now being seen in full force in the 21st century, which is considered a modern nation governed by an extraordinary constitution.
There are exceptions and these are the varieties of humanity that we must stick to and hope that we will come out of this tunnel. to like Madhulika Rajput of Karauli, Rajasthan, which gave security to a dozen young Muslims and stood in front of a gang seeking entry in search of Muslims. either young hindu shopkeeper Told a reporter in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri, “I am a Hindu, he is a Muslim… We are friends, we help each other in distress… Mob is ready to destroy our lives. If a bulldozer comes to destroy the mosque, I will stand in front of the mosque to protect him, even if he is alone.”
We can rest our hopes on the strength and faith of such Hindu brothers and sisters.
(Editor is C. Rammanohar Reddy) India Forum)