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http://www.ndtv.com/blog/when-mobocracy-lynches-democracy-1225707?pfrom=home-opinion
The senseless and bone-chilling lynching of a 50-year-old man at his home in
his village just about 40 kms from the national capital should jolt us as a
nation.
Mohd Akhlaq and his son Danish were assaulted by a blood-thirsty mob of about a
hundred of their fellow villagers just because someone announced from the local
temple that a cow calf had been slaughtered in the village. Only two Muslim
families live in the main village, which is predominantly a Rajput hamlet. The
other house belonged to Akhlaq's elder brother, who, incidentally, was out of
the village on that fateful Tuesday night. So the "angry", or the "excited" mob
as the former BJP MLA from Dadri, Nawab Singh Nagar, put it, descended on
Akhlaq's family like the agents of death.
The madness lasted for about 30 minutes and left, apart from an old man dead
and his son in ICU, the amity of Bisara in tatters and stained in Akhlaq's and
Danish's blood.
The alleged cow meat recovered from Akhlaq's fridge is now with the forensic
lab and some people have been arrested by the police for the murder. A
magisterial probe has been ordered. The wheels of law will turn at their own
pace. The test report of "that meat" is now immaterial. "Will they bring back
my father, if it doesn't turn out to be beef?" asked Akhlaq's daughter.
But the question that stares We The People in our face today is this: What took
over that mob of Bisara village on that night. The law might uncover in due
course who killed Akhlaq, but as a society, we have to face up to WHAT killed
Akhlaq and left his son in the ICU? Was it just a gang of blood-thirsty
murderers that got "excited" by an announcement from a temple? What sort of
hate rushed through their minds and veins, blinding them for those 30 minutes
in which they smashed a family that lived in their midst for decades, if not
for generations, with brick and rods? What gripped Akhlaq's neighbours that
they became deaf to this one family's cries of pain and for help? What made a
young girl from the village say that this ghastly act "may be sad but will be a
good deterrence for others"? Yes, the sister of an accused actually said that!
This incident cannot be seen in isolation. For months there has been a
concerted effort to develop an anti-meat and anti-meat eaters' sentiment.
This latest murder should also be seen in continuity with the recent killings
of rationalists and with the lynching of a Muslim man in Kanpur who was branded
a Pakistani terrorist.
It tells us a lot about the kind of society we are fast turning into. Who are
these people who go about "teaching lessons" to people? Who has decided that
law be damned in this country? Instant and mob justice. My way or No way. Fall
in line or fall out.
There is toxicity in the air. Rank majoritarianism is fast becoming order of
the day. The country is sought to be divided in clear, binary, black and white
Us Vs Them quarters. Live according to what is being sold as the majority view
or be prepared to die. And the worst part is there are many in the real and the
virtual world who dish out justifications to all the barbarities and excesses.
A wave of hate has hit the country and is threatening to engulf all those who
refuse to swim along.
And people seem to be happy surfing this wave at the moment. It gives a
temporary politically hormonal rush but deep down are the currents of hatred
that propel this wave. This hatred won't stop at the libtards, sickulars,
minorities, beef eaters. It will turn against all and sundry. It won't stop
till people are converted into unthinking, walking zombies who do nothing but
prostate in front of the hate.
We have a tall task. To save our country, our sanity from getting drowned in
this black hole of hate that churns out the mob like the one in Dadri.
There is a grand "Silence India" project going on. The only antidote to it is
the noise of democracy. Shout, scream, stand up. This country is much more than
a boring, unilateral, skewed narrative.
There is a mob out there. And the choice is simple. Shout it down or wait for
your turn.
(Mohd Asim is Senior News Editor, NDTV 24x7)
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal
opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not
reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or
liability for the same.Story First Published: October 03, 2015 16:37 IST
