More on Spreading Hate

After suraj pal amu made derogatory and hate speech, he was made the spokesman for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). After the murder of Akhlaq in the beef-cow issue, one of the murder accused died, one central minister (Mahesh Sharma) arrived to put tricolor on the body of the deceased. When 8 lynching accused got bail, Jayant Sinha another Central Minister garlanded them. Not too long ago, when a central minster made the audience give the slogan “Goli maro“ he was promoted to the Cabinet rank. In this background if one sees the present disturbing events of spreading hate and inciting violence, the lack of action on the part of authorities can be easily understood. PM Modi, prompt at speaking when not needed generally either kept quite or spoke after a painfully long delay in the aftermath of murders of Juanid or Rohith Vemula.

 PM’s silence on the recent disturbing issues is very loud and clear. In the first incident on 19th December Suresh Chavhanke, the Editor-in-Chief of Sudarshan TV administered an oath to young boys and girls. The event was organised by Hindu Yuva Vahini (Founded by UP Chief Minster and Mahant of Gorakhnath Peeth). “We take an oath and make a resolution that till our last breath, we shall fight, die for and if need be, kill, to make this country a Hindu Rashtra”.

In another event organised in Hardwar hundreds of saffron clad Sadhus and Sadhvis had assembled for a meeting on the theme “Islamic Terrorism and our Responsibilities”. It was Dharma Sansad organised by Yati Narsinghanand, Head Priest of Ghaziabad temple. He himself set the tone by stating “‘Economic boycott (against the Muslims) will not work... No community can survive without picking up weapons...And swords won’t work, they look good only on stages. You need to update your weapons...more and more offspring and better weapons can protect you.” He gave a clarion call, Shastra Mev Jayate for inciting armed violence against Muslims.”

Annapurna Maa, (earlier, Poonam Shakun Pandey) general secretary of Hindu Mahasabha said, ‘we need 100 soldiers who can kill 20 lakh of them (Muslims)’. She is the one who couple of years ago reenacted Gandhi murder in Meerut and distributed sweets after that.

Those making such hate speeches which are criminal as per Indian law are very much reassured that no action will be taken against them. They know those in power quietly appreciate their speeches or such speeches or incitement may be a part of planning in the wake of elections. What is surprising is that all this is taking place at a time when Munwar Faruqui was arrested for a joke which he had not cracked. His shows have been cancelled times and over again.

What will be the impact of these provocative statements on the minorities, who are equal citizens of the country. The fear and intimidation will reach the peak. Economic boycott, threat to life and intimidations will further intensify the ghettoisation, already existing as serious problem. Can the Minorities Commission take cognizance of this and take action? Can the police take proper action apart from just filing FIR against the recent convert to Hinduism, Jitendra Tyagi (earlier Wasim Rizvi)? And why is Supreme Court not waking up to take suo moto action?

The World is aghast at this level of hate and open incitement of violence. Martina Navratilova tweeted that she is aghast. The trends were caught by global media when The Daily Guardian in a 2020 article states that “since achieving every single public interest is cumbersome; pointing towards the flaws of ruling party which may or may not have a religious back up and flaming the emotions of the public at large through continuous hate speech was a trend in early ’90s and the immediate years of second millennium. Hate speech was therefore procuring a wide scope with respect to democracy in India.” There is a turmoil world over on these incidents in India.    

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Frontier
Vol 54, No. 29, Jan 16 - 22, 2022