By
Sanjiv Krishan Sood
Aaj
mere pita ji ko mara ha, kal kisi IG ko marenge, parson kisi Minister ko
marenge.” This was the anguished cry of the son of the deceased Inspector
Subodh Kumar Singh of Uttar Pradesh Police in an interview to a prominent TV
channel. He further appealed to the public to ensure communal harmony and not
give in to fissiparous forces bent upon creating division amongst Indians. Most
importantly, he said that if we keep killing each other, the Pakistanis and
Chinese would achieve their purpose without having to do anything.
The
Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh — Yogi Adityanath, or Ajay Singh Bisht — has
his own priorities. And the gruesome murder of a brave policeman has not been
his concern. He has been occupied with more important matters like watching
light and sound display in Gorakhpur and assuring the voters in Telangana of
another name change.
When
the CM actually found time to devote to the matters concerning his own state,
he promptly ordered the police to arrest the killers of cows which supposedly
led to the incident. Arresting murderers of the slain policeman was of hardly
any concern to him. The IG Police of the area when asked had all the details
about persons charged and arrested for killing cows. However, he had no answer
to the question as to how the main accused in the murder of a policeman was
roaming free and even posting his videos on social media.
The
suspect also had the temerity to proclaim in the video that the deceased
inspector was “Hindu virodhi”. The spokespersons of the ruling party indirectly
justified the incident stating that it happened as a reaction to the killings
of cows. It is obvious that the life of a human being is less important than
that of a cow under the present dispensation.
It
is interesting to note that according to IndiaSpend, out of 99 (314 victims and
39 deaths) incidents of cow related violence since 2012 as many as 94 (299
victims and 39 deaths) have occurred since 2014.
Law
and order in UP in particular is at its nadir with lumpen elements branding
themselves as cow protectors roaming free. That some of these are followed by
prominent leaders of the ruling party further emboldens them. Almost 70% of
violence inflicted by gau rakshaks during last eight years in Uttar Pradesh has
occurred after Adiyanath became the chief minister. Four deaths have occurred
in six such incidents in UP during 2018 compared to one death in two incidents
in 2016. The state has become a den of lumpens calling themselves “gau
rakshaks”. Almost all the victims belong to minority community, or are Dalits.
It is clear that the aim of the gau rakshaks is to terrorise the minority
community. The derogatory manner in which a prominent spokesperson of the
ruling BJP refers to anyone who dares to disagree with him as “maulana”
displays the contempt he in particular and his party in general has for the
people from minority community.
Anti-Muslim
hate crimes get further encouragement by the open stance of powerful people
justifying them as a consequence of supposed involvement of victim in cow
smuggling or killing etc. Mob violence is thus being legitimised. Besides cow
related incidents, the mob has other reasons too to attack minorities, such as
“love jihad” or even supporting a Muslim identity like a beard or a skull cap
etc.
Brandishing
their faith aggressively through violence against Muslims has become a symbol
of patriotism.
Muslims
get no succour from the law enforcement agencies too because most of the police
personnel too are polarised on communal lines. Perhaps the heinous murder of
one of their own will spur them into action like it did once to Punjab Police
in controlling militancy when the militants started attacking police personnel
and their families.
Fault
lines amongst communities are now clearly visible and we are sitting on a
sociopolitical volcano if things are not brought under control soon. The
inaction, nay, passive encouragement to the communal goons is like riding a
tiger. These goons are already a law unto themselves as proved by the
Bulandshahr incident.
The
people of India are secular by choice in-spite of the communal nature of the
partition. The Muslims who opted to remain in India are equally Indians and the
have as much right over the resources of this country as any Hindu. Demonising
them is giving rise to insecurities and developing a ghetto mentality which is
not in the interest of peace, harmony and progress of our great nation.
The
people in power must follow their “raj dharma”. And the public at large must
hear and act upon the sane advice of the young son of late Inspector Subodh Kumar
Singh. Restoring communal harmony will be the most fitting tribute to the soul
of the deceased.
(IPA Service)
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