An elderly Muslim man is beaten up by Hindu youths in a train, who threaten to throw him out of the train. The train keeps moving. They film their feat. A Muslim labourer is beaten to death by some Hindus in front of everyone. Administration rushing bulldozers to demolish the house or shop of a Muslims the minute he or she is accused of any crime. In a reflex move.
Bajrang Dal goons enter school and attack Muslim girls. People of the locality demonstrate against construction of a Mosque and launch an agitation demanding its demolition. Residents of a locality protest against a Muslim buying a house in their lane. A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA threatens to enter mosques and kill Muslims.
All this and more with some variation is what we get as news in the media on a daily or hourly basis. The media people seem to be bored with their repetition. Such news does not excite one’s imagination anymore. Readers or viewers also say that this thing has been said so many times and we know it. What is new in this? Now there is a boring familiarity to such news. People want to read or hear something new every day. Naturally the newspapers do such news space in the front page. There is no question of each attack or death getting the attention of the editorial pages.
There is nothing new when we report or say that that violence is being perpetrated against Muslims in India. Hatred is being spread against them. Does saying this once or twice end the matter or do people comprehend its seriousness? Especially Hindus? Administration and police? When this violence is perpetrated every day in different parts of India in different ways, should it not be talked about?
Those who get bored of this repetition should also keep in mind that the in each new episode of violence, a new person is targeted. Every person is different from the other, whose history and present is different from others. His world of relationships is different, his joys and sorrows are different.
The name of the person who was killed in Charkhi Dadri of Haryana is Sabir Malik and the name of the old man who was attacked in Maharashtra is Haji Ashraf Maniyar. Similarly, the 15 Muslims who were beaten up in Dol Bagan of Upper Assam have 15 different names.
Not only are the people being subjected to violence different, the perpetrators of violence are also different. But one thing is common in all these cases: the victims of violence are Muslims and the perpetrators of violence are Hindus driven by the Hindutva hatred. They kill the person not because he is a Sabir nor because he is a Haji Ashraf. The person who is killing does not personally know the person.
There is no reason for the Hindu to attack the person he attacks, who happens to be a Muslim. But something happens to the Hindu attacker when he or she learns about the identity of the person who would become her target. The Muslimness of the person is sufficient for the Hindu attackers to humiliate or violate of kill the individual who is for the attacker only a collective noun: Muslim.
I find it surprising that despite having gotten an open license to commit violence against Muslims for the last 10 years, the killers or perpetrators of violence still find it necessary to find and give an excuse for their violence. For example, a person was found carrying beef or another person did some mischief with a Hindu girl. But we have also seen that Muslims can be killed just because they offer Namaaz.
The reason given for this violence is that they are occupying public places in the name of Namaaz. But recently we saw the Hindu goons entering a closed premise of a school , force their way into a closed class room and assault Muslim girls offering Namaaz .That means now Muslims are being attacked by the perpetrators who break into their homes and private spaces.
Someone can be killed just because they look like a Muslim. After Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister for the first time, Mohsin Sheikh was killed in Pune only because his Muslim-like appearance had infuriated some Hindus. That is why the court also considered the crime of this murder to be less serious. The poor Hindus were offended by Mohsin’s Muslim identity , were provoked by it and attacked him! They are not murderers by nature!
Some reason is still to be given for all these attacks as if that justifies the violence. But now we can ask why should it be necessary to give a reason for killing a Muslim in India? Can’t a Muslim be killed in this country just because he is a Muslim? If not in India where else are we going to kill a Muslim? I think the courts need to make provision for this right to attack, humiliate, kill Muslim just because they are Muslims.
It was not long back when it was argued that it was not mainstream, fringe elements are involved in these acts of violence. There was a time when even Narendra Modi was not considered to be the representative of the BJP, forget about Amit Shah. When Modi used to give hate-filled statements against Muslims, it was said that the real leaders are Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Advani, Modi’s words should not be taken as BJP’s words. They should not be given importance.
But now we are seeing that whether it is the Prime Minister or the Home Minister or other ministers of BJP or the Chief Minister and its MPs or MLAs, all are involved in the acts to incite hatred and violence against Muslims. Earlier, RSS organisations like Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad used to openly commit violence against Muslims. Now hundreds of organisations have come up everywhere which commit violence against Muslims. Even ordinary people join this violence and enjoy it.
This violence has reached a new level because now the administration and police are actively committing violence against Muslims. As soon as any allegation is made against a Muslim, the administration arrives with a bulldozer to demolish his house. At many places, they celebrate the demolition of the house with DJ hired using the taxpayers’ money. Everyone should enjoy the violence and plight of the Muslims to the fullest!
The Uttar Pradesh government closed down meat shops during the Kanwar Yatra, which are mostly owned by Muslims. This year, an order was issued that everyone will have to write their full name outside their shop. Which means Shakeel cannot name his shop Sunny Stores. If he does, he will have to write that this is Shakeel Ahmed’s shop so that Hindus can identify him as a Muslim and decide not to do business with him because Muslims are not trustworthy. They keep scheming to corrupt Hindus, cheat them!
When it was said in the court that this is discrimination, the government accepted that this is temporary discrimination. They do not mind discriminating against the Muslims. Why can it not be done in India? If not in India, where else should Muslims be discriminated against?
Still it can be said that in a country with a population of crores, such incidents are not very frequent. Even among Hindus, those who commit violence on Muslims are very few. This is true but it is also true that the majority of Hindus are not affected by violence on Muslims. Professor VK Tripathi, who works against communalism, went to Charkhi Dadri in Haryana after the murder of Sabir Malik and talked to the Hindus living nearby.
He was very disappointed to see that Sabir’s Hindu neighbors are completely indifferent to this murder. This murder has not disturbed them. Professor Tripathi has been visiting the places where violence has taken place in the past years. He has generally seen that Hindus, who were not actively involved in this violence, have no problem with violence on Muslims. They don’t mind it.
Watch the video of the attack on Sabir Malik carefully. Some people are trying to hold the stick of the attacker. But they are doing it very reluctantly. Look at those who have surrounded Sabir and are watching the spectacle of his killing. This is the wider Hindu society.
Hindus get angry when all this is said and written. They say that they are being defamed. They allege that we are basically non-violent but Muslims have forced us to resort to violence. Now when we talk about stopping violence, it is said that we are like this and will remain like this, those who have a problem with this should go to Pakistan or somewhere else.
Hatred and violence against Muslims have spread like an epidemic in India. It has made the Hindu society sick but Muslims are paying the price for it. How long should they wait for the Hindus to be cured of this disease? How long?
