Where was this magnitude of disbelief, shock and revulsion when a man was killed in his house on rumours of eating beef or after a 15-year-old boy was stabbed in a train.
I feel and share the pain and anger when I see images of frightened children in the Gurugram school bus. What I don’t understand, is the disbelief.
I am referring to the spectrum of reactions being voiced by the average Joes and Jills after the acts of terror unleashed by the terrorising group, which calls itself the Karni Sena.
Where was this magnitude of disbelief, shock and revulsion when a man was killed in his house over rumours of eating beef, or after a 15-year-old boy was stabbed in a train, or after people were beaten up for not standing up when the national anthem was played, or when lawyers beat up Kanhaiya Kumar at the Patiala House Court?
Don’t get me wrong, I am not engaging in a ‘where were you when…’ or whataboutery. I am simply saying I fail to understand our collective surprise at something we have sanctioned and approved of repeatedly. The breaking point for our acceptance of violence seems to have been reached only after the school bus incident.
Acts of violence have not made our society collectively say: “Violence is not acceptable no matter what”. No, we prefer to discuss the acts of the victim of the violence instead. What meat was he eating? Was he travelling with cows? Why couldn’t he stand up for the national anthem, what is the problem in saying Bharat Mata Ki Jai or singing Vande Matram, why did they chant those slogans etc.
Indians justified violence and vigilantism if it occurred for particular reasons. Many people believed that this violence or vigilantism will remain restricted to the ‘other’.
There seems to be a clear need to state the obvious: that is not how vigilantism or mob justice works. When you say vigilantism is OK because my sense of patriotism is hurt, the larger message that goes out is that violence is OK if you feel strongly enough about your cause. Then ‘vigilantes’ do not distinguish between stabbing a 15-year-old in a train, or throwing stones at a bus full of under 10-year olds.
As a nation and a society, we just have two choices: either violence is OK, or it isn’t. There is no place for selective and conditional OKs.
Some of you may feel that what is happening today is nothing exceptional, or new. After all, this is not the first time a group of people has claimed to feel offended and has rioted.
Sure, but some things are new. Never before have Indians been promised extraordinary economic prosperity, but received extraordinary hatred. Never have Indians absorbed and channelized hate on this scale, never have prime time news anchors made a living in this country by selling rage and hate. Never has any central government been accorded this amount of blind worship, never has a man been rewarded with the post of the chief minister for maintaining militias and provoking hatred in the name of religion, never has a government sent a cabinet minister to attend the funeral of a murderer, and continued to enjoy popular support. Never has the media been so pliant, never has the press directed most of its cannons at the opposition, instead of the government. Never has hate paid such rich political dividends.
Since the obvious is no longer obvious, let me tell you that this is not going to end here. This journey of violence may have begun from outside the school bus, but it will only end when goons reach inside schools. They will demand restricted interaction with the opposite gender, teachers and students will be beaten up for offending religion, caste, region, Padmavati, Akbar, Maharana Pratap, Shivaji, Golwalkar, peacocks, cows and what not.
Patriotism and ‘respect’ for sentiments of all kinds – national, religious, vegetarian values and others will be violently beaten into everyone. It is rather naïve to believe that our children will remain immune from the consequences of our political and social choices. Call me alarmist, but please don’t pretend you didn’t see it coming when it arrives.
Dushyant is a lawyer and columnist.
Please be honest in reporting. Dont make a small thing a wild fire. It is such immoral filmworld and media who makes films on people beliefs in name of liberty of speech.
Sir, I perfectly understand your views, your anger and pessimism. I am no supporter of violence whatever may be it’s stated reason or source and you are right that we either say ok or denounce violence without ifs and buts. None the less I have some straight forward observations. While elaborating on a number of shockingly violent incidents you excluded, hopefully not deliberately, hacking to death of several RSS workers and counter deaths also. Is it because any discussion on those deaths will invariably bring into focus, besides the usual fall guy some leaders who you don’t see as wrong or is it that the death of Hindus can be ignored? The fact is sir, and you know it very well, that all our debate / discussion/ anger today is Modi centric. This has started even before he was elected PM. I am not suggesting that he is above board, but when every incident is twisted to blame him to the exclusion of others, it lacks complete credibility. Perhaps that is the reason why people are not shocked. I am sure your pessimism is the product of same hatred which you are denouncing; only targets are different. Sir masses are much more understanding and level headed than the so called intellectuals, because they are not blinded by raw hate. India is a secular multi cultural country and it will continue to be so despite thinking intellectuals like you sir. I am very optimistic about it even with these occasional aberrations.
There are many checks and balances in a democracy of a billion people. When nothing else works, trust the patient Indian voter.