Where will this Hate Land us?

Ram Puniyani

In the last couple of months, we have witnessed various detestable incidents which reflect the degree of hate which is prevalent and exponentially rising in the country.

One recalls Mohit Yadav, a bus conductor who said he stopped his bus as a few passengers wanted to ease themselves and some others wanted to offer namaz. A complaint was lodged, following which Yadav and the bus driver were suspended from their jobs. Yadav died by suicide a few days later.

Tripta Tyagi, a primary school teacher, made a Muslim boy stand up for not doing his homework and asked other students in her class to slap him one-by-one. She also made a reference to ‘Mohammedan’ (Muslim) children during the incident.

Another teacher, Manjula Devi, singled out two Muslim students who were bickering and allegedly commented that India was not their country. There are reports from schools that Muslim children are prevented by Hindu students from playing with them.

To cap it all, the parliament of the ‘mother of democracy’ witnessed a most horrendous event when Ramesh Bidhuri, a BJP MP, used extremely abusive language against BSP MP Danish Ali, calling him ‘mullah’, ‘terrorist’, ‘anti-national’, ‘pimp’ and ‘katwa’ (a Hindi slur against Muslims).

This is a matter of detailed elaboration, but in sum and substance, there was only mild regret at Bidhuri’s actions. Om Birla, the Lok Sabha speaker, said that action will be taken against Bidhuri were he to repeat such an action.

While Danish Ali has written to the speaker to take action against Bidhuri for his offensive hate speech, many other BJP MPs and leaders have come forward to defend their colleague, accusing Danish Ali of provoking Bidhuri. Another one accused Danish Ali of staging drama in order to enter into the Congress.

Interestingly, when Bidhuri was on his hateful diatribe, two BJP ex-ministers, Dr Harsh Vardhan and Ravishankar Prasad, were having a hearty laugh.

While what happened in parliament may be the acme of the outcome of hate, incidents of the above nature may just be the tip of the iceberg. The sense of fear, insecurity and anger among the Muslim community may be an undercurrent, parts of which can be perceived with sensitive observation.

The marginalisation, frustration and helplessness of the Muslim community are the dominant observations, while the economic hardships, violence, humiliation and subjugation of Dalits, women and Adivasis are also equally frightening phenomena that mark the rising domination of majoritarian politics.

Hate is not a recent phenomenon

Is hate a recent phenomenon? Not at all: With the sowing of the seed of ‘communal streams’ – namely Muslim and Hindu communalism – during the colonial period, hate was promoted by communal organisations against the ‘other’ community, and this also laid the foundation for communal violence.

This communal violence is very different from the ethnic, sectarian violence during rule by kingdoms, when Shia-Sunni or Shaiva-Vaishnava conflicts marred the peace in society.

Today in Pakistan, this communal hate dominates against Hindus and Christians. India is seeing the continuing rise of this hate against Muslims as well as Christians.

The narrative of hate against these religious minorities has been constructed by communal organisations and spread and intensified by the media.

One recalls that this was recognised by our earlier leaders also. Mahatma Gandhi, in the wake of the murder of Swami Shraddhanand by Abdul Rashid, wholeheartedly condemned this murder in a Young India article titled “Shraddhanadji – The Martyr”, and wrote of the role played by newspapers in disrupting communal harmony by spreading hate and violence.

The role of the poison of hate spread by the major communal organisation was underlined by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, when in a letter to RSS chief M.S. Golwalkar he wrote,

“All their [the RSS’] speeches were full of communal poison. It was not necessary to spread poison in order to enthuse the Hindus and organise for their protection. As a final result of the poison, the country had to suffer the sacrifice of the invaluable life of Gandhiji.”

In today’s context, the hate does emanate from the source pointed out Sardar Patel, and has been amplified in an exponential way by various affiliates of this organisation, namely the corporate-controlled godi media, which is out to bow to the ruling party and to condemn opposition parties and the ruling party’s critics.

The television networks have been totally bought over by corporates who are in strong collaboration with the majoritarian party. This party, aiming towards a Hindu nation, has also opened a media cell and started lakhs of WhatsApp groups to broadcast its message of hate.

No wonder the INDIA alliance, out of its helplessness, had to decide not to attend TV debates by 14 news anchors. These anchors, in a competition to please their masters, have devised various mechanisms to defame opposition parties and religious minorities. The core part of their journalistic ethics – objectivity and speaking truth to power – is missing.

Critical phase in the life of our republic

This is a very critical phase in the life of our republic, where hate is being aggressively dished out from the hallowed portals of the highest institution of democracy. What will its impact be on social life and on the core value of our constitution – fraternity?

The naked defense of Ramesh Bidhuri is an indication that he is enjoying the blessings of his party. Hate speech, which is a crime, goes unabated and unpunished. Many of our Dharm Sansads and the ilk of Yati Narsinghanand are strolling through society with this dangerous weapon.

Professor Gregory Stanton, a genocide studies scholar, had predicted the 1994 genocide in Rwanda after studying the broadcasts of Radio Rwanda. As per him, India had attained the eighth out of ten ‘stages’ of genocide.

Can just remain mute spectators to this ghastly phenomenon? The question is, what can be done? Can the opposition stand in unison to oppose hate speech? More than that, can the political parties committed to the values of the Indian constitution, social groups and human rights groups come together and devise a way to promote fraternity at the community level? This is an urgent task which has become overdue.