Dadri lynching: Is this what has become of the idea of India?

Shortcut

The murder of a 50-year-old man at Dadri, just 45 kms from Delhi, over rumours that his family consumed beef raises just one question: where is India headed? Taking cue from a clutch of governments banning beef possession and then putting restrictions on meat eating during religious festivals, zealots have now signalled their intention to commit murder for the cause of the holy cow. The imposition of legal or social sanctions on traditional food habits by governments and communities in a climate of religious polarisation was certain to head down this path of violence and senseless loss of life. The murder of Mohammad Akhlaq signals an escalation of communalisation with dangerous implications for individual liberties and religious freedoms. We have seen communal violence erupt over alleged desecration of religious scriptures and structures and even over stray fights between members of different communities. But rarely, if ever, has it happened that a family is attacked within the confines of its home by a mob, over the choice of meat it consumed. A lakshman rekha has been crossed and the day could soon be upon us when both society and the state are allowed to enter the private confines of homes on the pretext of upholding social morality and religious strictures.
In the Dadri incident, the victims have testified that they had always maintained good relations with their Hindu neighbours. They have also insisted that the meat discovered in their house was mutton, indicating the role of troublemakers and rumourmongers in stoking communal tensions. While the political or cultural affiliations of the mob are not known, the political dimensions of the crime are hard to ignore. A fraying of social relations has been in evidence in Western Uttar Pradesh ever since 2012, after the Samajwadi Party came to power. This culminated in the Muzaffarnagar riots in 2013 in which leaders of the SP and the BJP have been reportedly implicated in the Justice Vishnu Sahay Commission’s report. Politicians have not been content letting matters rest, evident in Amit Shah’s “badla” remark and Azam Khan’s acerbic responses during the Lok Sabha elections.
The BJP’s phenomenal sweep in the Western UP belt, far from restoring normalcy, saw the birth of new slogans and campaigns like love jihad and ghar wapsi. While cattle theft has always been a source of communal tensions in rural UP, there is no evidence of Akhlaq or his son, who is critically injured, having indulged in such actions.

DNA

 

Dadri lynching: Is this what has become of the idea of India?

Shortcut

The murder of a 50-year-old man at Dadri, just 45 kms from Delhi, over rumours that his family consumed beef raises just one question: where is India headed? Taking cue from a clutch of governments banning beef possession and then putting restrictions on meat eating during religious festivals, zealots have now signalled their intention to commit murder for the cause of the holy cow. The imposition of legal or social sanctions on traditional food habits by governments and communities in a climate of religious polarisation was certain to head down this path of violence and senseless loss of life. The murder of Mohammad Akhlaq signals an escalation of communalisation with dangerous implications for individual liberties and religious freedoms. We have seen communal violence erupt over alleged desecration of religious scriptures and structures and even over stray fights between members of different communities. But rarely, if ever, has it happened that a family is attacked within the confines of its home by a mob, over the choice of meat it consumed. A lakshman rekha has been crossed and the day could soon be upon us when both society and the state are allowed to enter the private confines of homes on the pretext of upholding social morality and religious strictures. In the Dadri incident, the victims have testified that they had always maintained good relations with their Hindu neighbours. They have also insisted that the meat discovered in their house was mutton, indicating the role of troublemakers and rumourmongers in stoking communal tensions. While the political or cultural affiliations of the mob are not known, the political dimensions of the crime are hard to ignore. A fraying of social relations has been in evidence in Western Uttar Pradesh ever since 2012, after the Samajwadi Party came to power. This culminated in the Muzaffarnagar riots in 2013 in which leaders of the SP and the BJP have been reportedly implicated in the Justice Vishnu Sahay Commissions report. Politicians have not been content letting matters rest, evident in Amit Shahs badla remark and Azam Khans acerbic responses during the Lok Sabha elections. The BJPs phenomenal sweep in the Western UP belt, far from restoring normalcy, saw the birth of new slogans and campaigns like love jihad and ghar wapsi. While cattle theft has always been a source of communal tensions in rural UP, there is no evidence of Akhlaq or his son, who is critically injured, having indulged in such actions. DNA