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| Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav addresses press after meeting the family of Mohammed Akhlaq, who was lynched by a mob in Bisahada village of Dadri; at his residence in Lucknow on Oct 4, 2015. (Photo: IANS) |
New Delhi: A man being lynched merely on the basis of rumours of him storing beef not only sounds absurd, but also horrific. Its a shame that this is the India, we are living in- a nation build on great ideas and strong values of secularism has turned into a highly communal state.
A lot has been written and said about this issue. These cases are becoming so common that discussing it looks meaningless. We have been talking about this issue for the last four years at least. Killing of intellectuals, open threats to journalists who critically analyse BJP and Hindutva politics, lynching of a Muslim man on the basis of rumours of him storing beef- all this has emerged as a pattern. These unfortunate cases raise a question mark over secularism of the nation. This is not to deny the numerous riots that took place when Congress was in power. But nothing was done openly. The communal faces were actively working even then. But now everything seems to be in the open.
To everybody’s surprise the Prime Minister has chosen to keep silent on such issues. Modi has not spoken his mind on deaths and threats of the intellectuals, the FTII issue, the lynching of a muslim man. These issues have shaken the conscience of entire country. When Atal Bihari Bajpayee was the Prime Minister, he used to address such critical issues. Though he beloned to Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) and was a firm believer of Hindutva. But, law and order was an important issue for him. Modi, it seems is extremely conscious about the economic growth and little about the internal issues.
Economic growth is important for the country- very important- but how can the Prime Minister choose not to speak on such an issue and rather take out time to address rallies in villages of Bihar and talk about ‘Achche Din’?
The silence of the Prime Minister will lead to a bitter tomorrow. The increasing incidents related to religion is turning many young people communal. The fringe elements of the ‘other’ religion will capitalise on the opportunity and will give birth to anti-social elements in the society.
This is not the right politics. But we choose to keep silent, because we do not want to come out of our comefort zone and want to turn a blind eye. We made Modi the man he is. We voted him into power. A section has become highly sensitive towards religion which is leading to such communal cases, which is posing a hinderance in the overall development of the country. Our sorrows will not end if an entire community is killed. Our life will not be better. Our battles will not end. But in name of pseudo-nationalism we are allowing such ideas to flourish.
This silence is numbing. We are no more sensitive. We are no more alive. Silence of the good has always resulted in the evil to rule. We are witnessing this in India.
This article was first published on LokMarg on October 6, 2015
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