(Published in oHerald on June 29, 2019)
The latest lynching of Tabrez Ansari in Jharkhand, now with an excuse of theft and not over ‘Gau Mata’, is another addition in the number of incidents of communal violence against minorities and Dalits. But these heinous crimes just do not stir the conscience of the nation like in the Nirbhaya episode.
What is so different from that horrific and brutal rape which saw the nation’s anger spill on to the streets, when compared to these series of most barbaric and spine-chilling mob lynchings of Muslims which should disturb any normal citizen? Was it then the case of the victim’s religion in relation to a non-Hindutva govt? Or, was it about right-wing and left-wing opportunism attempting to bring down the government? Perhaps, with incarnations or avatars of gods now in government, psychopathic and sociopathic behaviour are being considered perfectly ‘normal’.
Deriving sadistic pleasure from the barbaric torture of a victim, so believed to be ‘enemy’ of Hindus and their nation, appears to be the new ‘sanskriti’. This can be understood from videos showing the women giggling and cheering the mob at the sight of blood being spilled of the victim. Videos of such crimes then get widely circulated for brainwashing and instigating others.
While Islamic fundamentalists are known to invoke the name of God before killing the enemy, in the case of these ‘desi’ lynchers it is just the opposite. The recognisable pattern in these hate crimes is about forcing the non-Hindu victim to recite the names of Hindu Gods while being tortured and done to death. These are far from spontaneous reactions and isolated incidents of violence. The crimes appear well planned and choreographed to make them appear as spontaneous public reactions, and the locations chosen for such holy lynchings depends very much on the political party in power and the police officer in that area.
The government has been quick to condemn the recent US State Department’s report making allegations of ‘mob attacks by violent extremist Hindu groups against minority communities in India’. However, a prompt and categorical condemnation on the lynchings of minorities in this country is hard to come. Even an injury to a cricketer’s thumb receives a prompt twitter response from the PM. But when it comes to lynchings, there is a standard justification for the silence of the PM with an argument that “he cannot be expected to comment on every such incident around the country”. While the PM may at a much later date dramatise his pain over the lynchings, he is also quick to label them as just ‘any other crime in the country’.
Interestingly, the PM and his parivar do not consider ‘triple talaq’ as just any crime and remain adamant in pushing for a special law. So, should the nation not be asking the government as to what is the prescribed limit for such holy lynchings and murders to be classified as an epidemic? Are there two definitions on what constitutes a hate crime, one for the Hindutva brigade and another for the rest?
Till such time the killings and harassment of minorities on one pretext or the other do not stop, the ‘sab ka saath’ assurance given recently by the PM will remain hollow and merely for international consumption. In the backdrop of a sworn commitment to the Hindutva ideology, this claim of inclusivity by the PM is a contradiction. While it is believed that a majority of the 966 million Hindus in this country do not subscribe to this Hindutva hate politics, yet the ‘Not in My Name’ protests have not resonated across the country. In fact, such protests have not prevented the terror accused and hate mongers from getting elected to Parliament with huge vote margins. As possibly a first in Parliamentary history, the nation saw how a Muslim MP got heckled by the ruling benches with slogans of ‘Jai Sri Ram’ while taking oath in Parliament.
If rowdyism and sadism is not about Indian ‘sanskriti’, then how should one explain the latest fact that 43% of the MPs with serious criminal records have been elected to Parliament in 2019, which is a 109% jump from 2014?
The country is suffering from a bout of irrationalism induced by the demagoguery of political opportunists, taking refuge behind a mask of nationalism. Irrationality, sadism and lynching are probably part of the political script for making India a $5 trillion economy. The ordinary citizen is being vaccinated for immunity to evidence and rational arguments in social and political discourse. Political thinking is now driven by populism and irrational fears, and is blind to the actual realities. Absurdities and phobias dictate political thinking even after 70 years of access to education. Amidst such mental disorientation we tend to embrace the destructive as ‘desi’ and reject anything constructive as being ‘videsi’.
Goa too, is not an exception to such irrational nationalism which plays out as the politics of ‘Goenkarponn’ and ‘Goan’. Drunk tourists get beaten up instead of the policy makers and promoters of such perverted tourism. The latest proposal to the govt for a law defining ‘person of Goan origin’ simply stinks of the same bias and exclusiveness as in the case of the controversial National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the official script for the Konkani language. Perhaps, it is not sufficient to suspect the EVMs alone, but also keep in mind another factor of low EQ (Emotional Intelligence) and SQ (Spiritual Intelligence) of the voter, which could result in such bizarre electoral outcomes. When citizens develop an appetite for irrationality and sadism, the victory of fascism is to be expected.
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