Kathua Rape, RSS-Hindutva Operations, Salaams to Sachar Sahib

MUSINGS

How can the BJP-RSS indulge in the unthinkable—that is, defend the rapist beasts involved in the Kathua rape! In fact, the spokespersons of the BJP even tried distracting the viewers’ attention on the small screen by talking non-stop of the several other rapes reported from the other sectors of the country. A rape is a rape. The tragedy compounds when communal politics holds sway. We are turning vultures; pulling out children from their home terrain, raping and killing them, putting hurdles in their burial, and then dishing out lengthy explanations!

As Hindutva forces are spreading poison to the extent of even protecting rapists, I’m reminded of the film, Hotel Rwanda, where rape overtook other crimes during the civil war that had wrecked Rwanda. As the two warring tribes took off, killing and looting, rape was one of those ‘instruments’ used to unsettle the other. Countless horrifying rapes, till of course, destruction and deaths overtook the entire terrain.

In my wildest dreams I couldn’t have imagined that a Bakkarwal child could be wrecked with such brutality and that too in a place of worship! During my travels to the Kashmir region, I had been interacting with the Bakkarwals—simple folk who like to keep to themselves, taking care of their sheep and horses ...In 2015, whilst I was visiting a privately run medical centre in North Kashmir’s Ganderbal region, as news came in that a Bakkarwal woman was in labour in the nearby forests, an ambulance was sent to carry the mother to the nearest hospital, all efforts made so that the new-born survives.

Brutal violence against women was till recently unheard of in the Kashmir region but look what’s happening now. Beastly brutality. In fact, the Kathua rape can be described as Hindutva’s intrusion into the lives of the masses. Crimes committed under the Hindutva banners seem to get the okaying certificate; giving criminals the virtual go-ahead. After all, who is there to halt them, the political rulers are tainted! Blood on their hands and yet they talk of ruling with an iron hand!

In fact, in the last one week, there has been one case after another of the Hindutva forces gaining ground and no one out there to halt their destructive moves. The message seems loud and clear: Hindutva brigades have been unleashed by the RSS with a definite agenda: to unsettle the ‘other’ and quite obviously the ‘other’ stands for the Musalmans and Dalits of the country.

The well-known Delhi publisher, Pharos Media, had a stall in the just concluded Kishanganj Book Fair arranged by the National Council for the Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL). Pharos Media publications include a number of titles in English, Urdu and Hindi on the RSS and Saffron Terror. These were part of the books displayed by Pharos Media in its stall in Kishanganj...Hindutva characters demanded the removal of those titles but Kauser Usman, the representative of Pharos Media, refused to do so and continued to display those titles.Two days before the book fair ended, RSS men came to the stall and started pressuring the stall manager to remove certain titles; they even grabbed and took away copies of those books.They then came with a posse of local police who initially did not favour their demand. The local representatives of the NCPUL also initially supported the publisher. But towards the end, police and NCPUL representatives, fearing violence, asked the publisher to remove the titles found objectionable ‘by some people’. Pharos Media’s representative removed seven allegedly ‘objectionable’ titles and put a notice on the stall that certain books have been removed due to RSS pressure.

Last week when fire broke out at the Rohingya refugee camp here in New Delhi’s Kalindi Kunj locality, short circuit was suspected to be the reason but within a day, there was this tweet from Manish Chandela, member of the BJP’s youth-wing Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM),where he claimed on his twitter handle, †yes we burnt the houses of Rohingya Terrorists†. His first tweet was on April 15, 2018. And the next day, on April 16, Chandela posted once again on the same twitter handle, †yes we did and we do again #ROHINGYA QUIT INDIA.â€

Last week’s acquittal of Maya Kodnani, one of the prime accused in the 2002 massacre of Muslims in the Gujarat pogrom of 2002, sent across shock waves. We sat back all too depressed. And once again sorrow and shock spread out, when the bunch of the Hindutva characters—prime accused in the Meeca-Masjid blast case of Hyderabad—were found not guilty for lack of evidence!

And here comes the latest—Abhishek Mishra, who claims to be a “Hindutva thinker†and is followed by Ministers like Nirmala Sitharaman, Rajyavardhan Rathore and Piyush Goyal, posted on his Twitter account that he cancelled an Ola cab because the driver allotted to him was a Muslim, adding that he did not want to give his money to “Jihadi people†.

It’s a known fact that the Right-wing brigades have been indulging in the economic boycott of the Muslims for years in several States, particularly in Gujarat, but it never got so blatant. In fact, Ola cabs should take this case much further, that is, much beyond the routine sort of apology. This Right-wing government will not take a stand but a private company ought to take a stand and show that they wouldn’t get bullied by the likes of Abhishek Mishras!

Every single day it gets clearer that the RSS and other Hindutva brigades have been infiltrated into the very system, to intrude into our bodies and psyches. Eerie build-ups for darker and divisive times come...to destroy and demolish whatever remains of us!

With the Passing of Justice Rajindar Sachar...

I’m sitting sad and pained. We have lost a good person, who was genuine and upright. The passing away of Justice Rajindar Sachar has definitely left a void. A former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, he was closely associated with the human rights forums and had also headed the PUCL and then, of course, the Sachar Commission. I recall the sheer hard work that he and his team put in collecting all possible facts and factors on the Muslim community in the country.

Sachar sahib was saddened and disappointed when the recommendations of the Commission were not implemented by the government... I had once asked him something that had been bothering me: Why did the Sachar Commission not extend its findings to the Muslims sitting jailed in the different jails and prisons of the country? He made it very clear that since that aspect didn’t come under the sanctioned mandate, so he and the Commission members could not visit jails and prisons, although left to him he would have definitely done so. He had added: “I know the dismal condition of the jailed and feel very strongly about the condition of the under-trials ...I’m also well aware of the rising cases of illegal arrests and detentions of the innocent Muslims.â€

He was stark in his views on the deteriorating conditions of the Muslims in the country. “Even if some of our recommendations to improve the economic and social status of the Muslims were implemented it would have made a major difference to the lives of hundreds and thousands. Right now the Muslims of the country are lagging behind on all fronts and nothing is being done by the government to improve their situation. I feel very upset at what’s been happening to the largest minority community in the country and how the communal parties are destroying us, our country.â€

He was also very anguished and upset by the lynching of the Muslims in the country... Though 95, but till very recently Sachar sahib would make it a point to be present at all meets and forums and platforms, raising his voice at the ongoing killings and atrocities. Always clad in a shervani or achkan, he would stand out with this undying grit and determination to expose the fascist Right-wing communal forces.

My salaams to Sachar sahib!