A Rant or a Moan At least

 June 15, 2022

 

I’m churning. The country is churning. Someone (A) will say it has been brought here by the Hindutva agenda of othering Minorities, starting with the Muslims. Someone else (Z) will say it is here because of Minority appeasement and finally Hindus are fighting back. Z will say that Hindus have been tolerant so far, but they’ve reached their limit. A will say that Muslims have shown exceptional restraint in the current atmosphere in the country and their rioting last week was because a line was crossed. A might remind you of the genocidal comments that included rape threats against Muslims that were made at a Hindu conclave where the people who spoke are walking around free and doing the same again. 

 

Anyway, let’s forget about the whataboutery for a bit and go back to the main thread. The line crossed was that a spokesperson of the BJP made a comment on a national channel about the Prophet Mohammed. She said he was 52 when he married 9 year old Aisha. Apparently this is a truth written in the Hadith. I haven’t checked but I believe it must be written there. Z would say she only said it because she was provoked by the radical Islamist on the show who made a shivling comment. A would say that Muslims were upset when no action was taken against the woman who spoke. 

 

Initially I felt Muslims needed to stop being so sensitive, jokes had indeed been made about the alleged shivling that was found in a mosque. Then I saw a video clip. The spokesperson had been on three other channels on the same day and said the same thing. The way she said it was arrogant, inciting, and with intent to insult. She implied the Prophet was a pedophile. Z would remind you about the shivling jokes again here to justify or at least explain her words. Ten days later Islamic nations demanded an apology, and she was suspended but the damage had been done. 

 

Muslims in several parts of the country, it had to be planned I have no doubt, rioted after Friday prayers last week. Scenes of stone pelting, attacking policemen, and those of a leader of another political party calling for the BJP spokesperson’s beheading were played out on TV screens. It was horrible. Teenagers were among those indulging in violence.  

 

And another round of liberal bashing began. So called secular (or sickular) liberals (or liberandus) were asked to speak up about the death threats to the spokesperson. They were called hypocrites for speaking up selectively. As far as I know most free speech absolutists in India spoke up condemning it. Most didn’t bother to condemn the shivling jokes or the prophet comment though. Yet a series of articles were written mocking liberals, and blaming their selective speaking up for the current crisis.

 

Sorry for the long prelude. This is my rant now…  I am fed up with liberals being asked to comment on anything and everything. It’s like they should have their finger on the news and issue a statement condemning everything that needs to be condemned as soon as it happens and they should say it loudly and spread it far and wide so that everyone knows it’s been said. A set of rules is applied to liberals that people, who wrote these articles and quote those articles, do not apply to themselves. But it is worse that they don’t apply them to the PM of the country who has remained silent through all of this. 

 

In the state of Uttar Pradesh bulldozers began demolishing the properties of alleged rioters. Of course it was said that they were illegal constructions. A backdated notice — to the wrong owner, and not acknowledged by the said owner (but who cares about such details when one wants to spread hatred) — began floating around. There is a lot more to be said about the non-constitutional and bullying way in which this was done but I will just say these scenes brought tears to my eyes. There was an even more horrific video of men in custody calling for mercy but being repeatedly thrashed with sticks by policemen. A BJP leader shared it saying, ‘a return gift for rioters.’ The State's behaviour of being judge, and punisher all in one go is vigorously defended by the UP BJP and by supporters.

 

In the end this is what I will say, I am an ordinary citizen of India, and I will speak up about what moves me and not what someone else insists I do. Those article writers and spokespeople who are calling out liberals should just ask themselves what they haven’t spoken about and yes, ask the PM to break his silence. His words will have the maximum effect. 

 

If you made it through this rant… thank you… I needed to get it out… though I feel totally vulnerable sharing this I am just about to hit share…