Act sternly

The killing of a young IT professional, Mohsin Shaikh, in Pune by members of a Hindutva group was the worst type of communal crime imaginable in the country.

 He was attacked and beaten to death without the slightest provocation, for only wearing a skull cap and beard and looking like a Muslim. That shows that anybody who does not belong to a group is in danger of being killed. Sometimes reasons are invented or created, and an incident is deliberately made into a provocation. In the Pune case, there was the circulation in the social media of morphed pictures of Chatrapati Shivaji and Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray. The young man had nothing to do with it but he fell a victim to the hate campaign unleashed over it in the last few days. 

There were incidents of violence directed against public and private property in the wake of the alleged derogation. There were also communal disturbances and tension in parts of the state and in some places like Pune.  But the authorities failed to keep a watch on communal elements who were waiting for an opportunity to create trouble. The Hindu Rashtra Sena is a fringe organisation which has only a few hundred members and it would not have been difficult to keep a watch on their activities. But policing failure is only one part of the problem. A matter of greater concern is the birth and growth of such organisations and the rise of an environment which is conducive to them. Rabid communal sentiments, prejudice and violence against minorities are sought to be rationalised and justified in that milieu. 

The BJP’s impressive election victory may also have sent out a message of encouragement to such elements. Some of them may also feel more empowered now. Unfortunately, the party’s MP from Pune came close to justifying the killing by saying that some repercussions to the posts in the social media were “natural’’. This was similar to Rajiv Gandhi’s remarks after the assassination of Indira Gandhi. The BJP-led Union government should make it clear through words and action that there would not be any countenancing or encouragement of communal sentiment and actions. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaign was on a development platform. He has the responsibility to ensure that there is no majoritarian and triumphalist mood in the country which works against minorities and makes them feel unsafe and insecure.