How much divisiveness is too much? Are we nearing its endgame in India or has it become a self-fulfilling enterprise, a gift that keeps on giving, and the only possible way ahead is to crank up the hate even more so the haters can gorge on its poisoned fruit and glory in the chaos it has let loose?
The last few days have been a testament to this bitter harvest of hate. They have been a testament to the fact that the process of tearing apart India’s social fabric has acquired a terrifying momentum. On April 10, violent clashes broke out between Hindus and Muslims in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand and West Bengal during Ram Navami celebrations. On April 16, there were more communal clashes, this time in Delhi, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti festivities. The same day, violence erupted in Hubli, in Karnataka, when one community, furious over a social media post showing a morphed picture of a saffron flag atop a revered place of worship, turned up at a police station and started throwing stones, injuring several policemen.
On both Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti, violence and arson took place when celebrants, high on their aggressive religiosity, marched past mosques shouting slogans, and in some cases, blaring songs targeting the minority community. Needless to say, each group blames the other for drawing first blood. And needless to say, whoever was responsible for the violence — Hindus, Muslims, or a bunch of thugs who simply wanted to foment unrest — must be brought to book.
However, the point is not which group was directly responsible for igniting this flurry of communal clashes around the country, or that the Hindu celebrants were provocatively armed with swords and lathis, or that the first stones may have been thrown from a mosque. The point is that after decades of living side by side in relative harmony, where communities observed their own festivals and often participated in those of others, the atmosphere is so vitiated now that Hindu festivals seem to have become occasions to bait Muslims, and Hindu religious processions seem to evoke insecurity and animosity amongst some members of the minority community.
But should we be surprised by this significant uptick in communal tensions? Haven’t we been hurtling towards just such an outcome for the last few years? The BJP, the ruling party at the Centre, has looked on mutely as its satraps in the states, together with shrill right-wing Hindu fundamentalist groups, have gone on a concerted drive to demonise, marginalise and terrorise Muslims. The lynchings over alleged cow slaughter and consumption of beef in the early years of this government were an indication of the shape of things to come. Today, India’s principal minority community, some 200 million Muslims, is under sustained and systematic attack in almost every sphere of their lives. Is it any wonder then that we find ourselves in a tinderbox where the slightest spark can set off a conflagration?
Karnataka, where the BJP is in power, has been particularly active in keeping Muslims — and also Christians — under pressure. In the last few months, there has been a ban on Muslim girls wearing the hijab in the classroom, a move to prevent Muslim vendors from setting up stalls at village temple fairs, protests against the use of loudspeakers during azaan, and even a cry for the boycott of halal meat. In other words, there has been an effort to restrict the community’s choice of attire, their freedom to practise their religion and, more devastatingly, constrict their right to livelihood. Karnataka’s capital may be Bengaluru, a hub of cutting-edge technology, modernity and inclusion, but its discourse is dominated by such things as hijab and halal, and the compelling necessity of keeping a minority community out of village temple fairs.
Many of these moves are legally contentious, and, arguably, in breach of the constitutional right to equality, the right to life and livelihood, and so on. But the powers-that-be display a brazen disregard for such concerns. There are always exceptions to be cited, excuses to be made, vague justifications to be invoked, and, on occasion, majoritarian muscle power to be used as a wrecking ball.
After the Ram Navami clashes in Khargone in Madhya Pradesh, the homes of the alleged rioters were bulldozed in complete violation of the rule of law and the judicial process. It was as if the courts and the criminal justice system had ceased to exist in this country, and the state had arrogated unto itself the right to deliver summary justice on those suspected of wrongdoing. Narottam Mishra, the home minister of the BJP-ruled state, declared that whoever had thrown stones would have their homes reduced to rubble. And on cue, scores of houses and shops belonging to Muslims were razed to the ground.
The Madhya Pradesh administration claimed that it was demolishing illegal structures that had encroached on public land. That’s not even a fig leaf. Besides, that exercise, too, has a due process under the law. But the state government, which has been keen on replicating Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s policy of bulldozing the homes of alleged wrongdoers, knows full well that it enjoys impunity, and perhaps endorsement, for taking such actions.
Meanwhile, in Delhi, the Hindu right-wing outfit Vishva Hindu Parishad has threatened to launch a “battle” against the Delhi Police if it moves against those who took out a Hanuman Jayanti procession in Jahangirpuri without obtaining the necessary permits. Clearly, the message from the Hindutvawadis is that majoritarian might can and must prevail over the laws of the land.
Today, every move against Muslims, every attempt to restrict their religious, cultural and social space, is fuelling an increasingly hostile and adversarial atmosphere between the two principal communities. No good can come of this. The rise in the incidence of communal clashes is an augury that the government would do well to heed. India cannot hope to achieve progress when its social equilibrium has been blasted, when its people are so sharply divided and preoccupied with sectarian concerns. The time to alter course is now.
(Shuma Raha is a journalist and author)
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author’s own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.