Its dangerous spin-off

What India needs to realise and address is that unlike the United States and large swathes of Europe, we are not battling immigrants from outside as part of building walls of ethno-centrism. He actually tweeted that the high court had suspended the sentence of the accused and had released them on bail. In Hapur, the police has been left red-faced for it had put together a strong case against the 11 accused based on video footage of the crime. These clumsy but violent attempts at intrusive and invasive behaviour are attacking the very idea, ideal and idiom of India — as our forefathers had envisaged it. Imagine, sitting ministers of this government are batting for these despicable people. Narendra Modi’s emergence as the "Hindu Hriday Samrat" against this backdrop acted as a catalyst for the spread of this unique cult.Angularities and idiosyncrasies aside, to become a captive to this degenerative dialogue is not ideal.Ditto in the Jharkhand case where in the Alimuddin Ansari lynching case, Vikram Prasad became the ninth convict to secure bail. When we look for leadership in society, we look to our politicians to provide direction, but sadly the BJP and its top deck don’t inspire too much confidence in this regard. Home minister Rajnath Singh’s move to come out in support of Sushma Swaraj was well appreciated.. No one can ignore this reality.

The behaviour of Central ministers, therefore, simply cannot be condoned. Giving credence to the fact that truth is nice, but rumour is priceless, a faux cultural nationalism is sweeping India, a cultural nationalism that has miasma and prevarication as its edifice. But not by all, for this transgression was symptomatic of a larger malaise.We live in anarchic times.India’s moral fabric is being torn apart and the general sense is that the ruling party is actively using its heft to protect the lynch mobs. Its dangerous spin-off is mob lynchings.Unfortunately, the actions of the uncouth have had a detrimental effect on India’s discourse, leading to Islamophobia and Muslim-bashing. Mob lynchers are out on bail, they are being garlanded by ministers while another minister is vowing justice for the riot accused. It’s distasteful. All this raises the suspicion as to where their loyalties really lie?With the BJP china fabric leadership choosing not to address these issues directly, divisiveness is taking root in India. As a society and as a nation, where are we headed with this narrative?Even as civilisations march forward, these are trying times in what is a throwback to India’s ugly past of a communal cleave which has left thousands dead. The trolls targeting India’s foreign minister are an extension of this same ugly discourse. The social media and its baggage of hate and venom are part of this neo culture, one that is tacitly being approved of and supported by the powers that be.

The polarised environment gives the proponents of Hindu majoritarianism a licence to indulge in public lynchings.In this theatre of the absurd, reasoning and rationale have been tossed out of the window as Hindu majoritarianism takes centrestage.This cannot be a happenstance since many of the accused are out on bail. Our junior civil aviation minister, Jayant Sinha, educated and erudite, is guilty of cheap theatrics to substantiate his actions. It is a dangerous trend that will lead to some sort of backlash sooner rather than later, for a particular minority community is being targeted repeatedly. The minorities are a part of India, and we cannot wish them away. The Prime Minister has never publicly succumbed to this negative debate, but equally he has not chosen to distance himself from this by openly criticising these hotheads.Mind you, the operative words are suspended now acquitted.

Another known hothead Central minister Giriraj Singh claims that Hindus are being suppressed in Bihar and the accused are being implicated in false cases. Like a terminal disease, this affliction is spreading quite rapidly. And if you go deeper into the concentric circle of this phenomenon, you can see a dangerous convergence of thought and ideas. Whatsapp is merely the messenger or instrumenatlity, what about the mood and the environment created by this shocking narrative which is leading to lynchings?Cattle smugglers, cow vigilantes, cow slaughter are the words and terms that have taken precedence over others to enter our lexicon. In this atmosphere of fear and hatred, anti-minorityism is ruling the hearts and minds of the mobocracy.Years of minority appeasement have taken their toll on the collective psyche of Hindus, who were distraught at the extent of this pandering. As usually happens in such an environment, the lumpen proletariat takes over. Hindus are the majority and we will remain so, this is our country, but equally it belongs to all the other minorities who are much smaller in number.