Shoaib Daniyal - Mass murder as mundane
On Sunday, yoga guru
Baba Ramdev addressed a sadbhavana, peace and understanding rally
organised by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in Haryana. The aim of the
function was to bring back peace after the brutal Jat reservation riots in
February. But Ramdev doesn't seem to have got the full memo. Instead of focussing
on peace, he seemed to hint at mass murder and the decapitation of lakhs of
people who refuse to say “Bharat Mata ki jai”.
“Some person wears a
cap and stands up,” began Ramdev referring to Muslims. “He says I will not say
'Bharat Mata ki jai' even if you decapitate me. This country has a law,
otherwise let alone one, we can behead lakhs. But we respect this country’s
law. If somebody stands up and speaks like this, that gives strength to
hooligans. We respect this country’s law and Constitution. Otherwise if anybody
disrespects Bharat Mata, we have the capability of beheading not one but
thousands and lakhs.”
Muslims and other
minority groups that believe in monotheism have pointed out that they can be
nationalistic without invoking India as a goddess.
Ramdev's comments came
just a day after Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavais demanded Indians
who woudn't say "Bharat Mata ki jai" to be expelled from the country.
In both cases, the
religious nationalism of the demand that all Indian chant “Bharat Mata ki jai”
as a proof of their patriotism is a convenient smokescreen to hide behind given
the BJP’s massive failures in governance.
Ramdev’s call to turn Haryana’s
attention to Muslims who refuse to chant a slogan is a poor cover for the BJP’s
complete faiure to control the terrible violence during the recent agitation
for reservations by Jats. So scandalous was the official response that the
Bharatiya Janata Party government in Haryana – apprehensive of more riots –
meeklyagreed to be arm-twisted into actually awarding the
quota. In Maharashtra, Fadnavis's rhetoric is a cynical attempt to distract
attention from the crushing drought in the state.
In 2013,
Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen legislator Akbaruddin Owaisi was arrested for hate speech. Were the same standards
applied to Baba Ramdev, the police would be pursuing him with equal vigour. But
given the climate of majoritarianism today, that seems an unlikely prospect.
