Should Eminent Citizenry Not Show Mirror to Rulers?
Ram Puniyani
Forty Nine eminent citizens, film personalities, writers, historian among others wrote an open letter to the Prime Minster drawing his attention to the phenomenon of rising incidents of anti dalit atrocities, mob lynching’s, and the ongoing process of converting use of Jai Shri Ram as an aggressive slogan. The signatories included the giants of the stature of Shyam Benegal, Adoor Gopalkrishna, Aparna Sen and Historian Ramchandra Guha. Right on its heels; came counter-letter from another set of eminent citizens like Prasoon Joshi, Kangana Ranaut, Madhur Bhandarkar and Sonal Mansingh, saying this letter is selective, one sided, politically motivated and aimed at defaming India and Modi in the eyes of the World.
They accuse that letter does not see the other side of the picture where Hindus have been made to flee Kairana, it ignores the atrocities against Hindus in Bashirhat, ignores the destruction of Temple in Chandani Chowk Delhi etc. Also they raise the question as to why Benegal and company were silent when the separatists gave of call for mayhem in Kashmir like burning of schools or when Naxal attacks take place in Adivasi areas or when the demand for dismembering of India was made by Tukde Tukde gang.
What these 49 Signatories are saying is about a trend which has picked up during last few years and more particularly from last few months. It’s focused on the incidents, which give the trend and are based on statistics from the impeccable sources. As the National Crime Records Bureau tells us that the cases of atrocities against dalits in 2016 have gone up tremendously, to 840 and rate of conviction has dropped down drastically from earlier years. Quoting the data from Citizen’s Religious and Hate Crime Watch, they point out that during last 9 years, of all the cases of lynching’s which have taken place during these years, 90% have taken place in and after 2014. In these cases also 62% of victims are Muslims (their population percentage 14.23) and 12% are Christians (Their population percentage 2.30%).
As far as the slogan of Jai Shri Ram is concerned they aptly point out that so far this was a slogan for greeting in the form of Jai Ram, Jai Siya Ram and Ram Ram. Now Jai Shri Ram is being used to heckle others as was done in the parliament by the BJP MPs when Muslim and TMC MPs were taking oath. There is a rise in incidents where lone Muslims are caught hold of on some or other pretext, and made to say Jai Shri Ram before doing them to death.
These are clearly discernible trends the society, which have come up as the affiliate organizations of Hindu nationalist RSS now feel that since it is ‘Their’ government they can get away with what they think is right. This also gets ratified in the popular memory as those involved in lynching related incidents have been honored by central ministers as in the case of Akhlaq lynching when the lynching accused, who died due to some concurrent reason, was draped in tricolor by the central minister and some of the accused being garlanded by the ex Minster Jayant Sinha.
Contrary to the propaganda that liberals have not condemned the exodus of Kashmiri pundits or the genocide of Sikhs in 1984, a lot of critical writing and protests has been put out by secular sections of society. Also critical writing is there against various violations of human rights against weaker sections of society. As far as the scattered isolated incidents which the sixty two eminent personalities are citing many of these like the exodus of Hindus from Kairana has been debunked by local police itself. The incident of Chandani Chowk Delhi where the temple was desecrated after the scooter parking dispute, the local Aman Committee with Muslims in the lead have already restituted the temple, and further as a model they did organize and intercommunity meals to bring the communities together.
The democratic elements have always been opposing the violence of Naxalite groups in the Adivasi areas. And ‘Tukde Tukde’ gang formulation is a clever ploy to defame those who have been critical of the ruling party and its policies. As such while it is good that Prasoon Joshi and company have brought these incidents to fore once again, all such incidents do require proper analysis. What Shyam Banegal etc. are criticizing (lynching, Jai Shri Ram) is a trend which is catching up at rapid pace, yet one more example of this came up when Jharkhand Minister literally forced the Muslim Congress MLA, Ansari to say Jai Shri Ram in front of camera.
The deeper question which needs to be addressed is that the Hate against minorities is on the rise in the society. It is due to intensification of Hate that such incidents are on the rise. This hate has been constructed around Holy cow, Beef, communal interpretation of History and around the concept of Hindu nationalism. America has passed a law against lynching last year. US style law against lynching has to be called far in right earnest. The deeper question is how we promote Fraternity in our society. The US versus them, that too around religious divides does not bode well for the health of our democracy.
The 62 eminent citizens also need to realize that criticizing the ruling dispensation is not anti nationalism. It does not bring defame to the country, what brings defame to the country is the actions leading to insecurity of minorities, the conversion of affectionate Jai Ram into aggressive Jai Shri Ram. What we should be worried about is not that the Government is being criticized, what should worry us is as to how we should rectify the social ethos in a way that incidents due to which communities are getting polarized are brought to a halt. Eminent Citizens need to show a mirror to the rulers rather they act like their courtiers.
