Opinion A case of aggravated impunity

But this is not about 1984. This is about Narendra Modi’s almost two years in office, and the vicious electoral campaign of the 2014 general election that he, with a little help from the Sangh Parivar, won so convincingly.

In her column, ‘Relentless demonisation of Narendra Modi is wrong’ (The Indian Express, April 24), Singh writes: “There have been no major communal riots in the past two years but every small incident has been blown up in the media into a huge atrocity. Two or three churches were attacked within months of Modi becoming the PM, and we made it sound as if there was a general attack on the Christian faith. This made international headlines. Then came the murders of three rationalists, and this was made so big an issue that academics in fine American universities announced that dissent was being crushed in India. Then came the horrible murder of Mohammad Akhlaq, and this caused ‘secular’ writers to return literary awards on the grounds that secularism was being destroyed.”

As a columnist, Singh is entitled to express her opinion. But even in signed columns, facts are sacred. And Singh errs on facts, especially with reference to violence against religious minorities. It is more than isolated incidents of violence, which Singh would like her readers to believe are being maliciously multiplied to pillory or demonise the democratically elected leader, whatever be the shadows that follow his steps.

Several Christian groups, including the United Christian Forum and its national helpline, the Evangelical Fellowship of India, maintain records of the daily reports of persecution. They meticulously record the unabated hate campaign, including the voices of several honourable members of Modi’s council of ministers. Wada Na Todo, Anhad and other civil society groups publish annual reports in this regard. Newspapers, Indian and foreign, are the primary source of data, other than field reports and helpline complaints.

A report published by Anhad at the end of the first 300 days of the Modi government noted that hate in the election campaign had mutated to a more coercive and threatening phenomenon that had percolated to universities and colleges, and villages and small towns over much of the country. The hate, inevitably, leads to violence. “Ghar Wapsi” and “Love Jihad” cries turned to stones and lathis. In Chhattisgarh, villages have passed orders banning the entry of priests of faiths other than Hinduism. At least 43 deaths in over 600 cases of violence, 194 targeting Christians and the rest against Muslims, took place between May 26, 2014 and May13, 2015. In the first few weeks of the new government, by its own admission, 113 communal incidents took place in various parts of the country in which 15 people were killed and 318 others injured. The UCF helpline rings several times every day, especially in the evenings. There is at least one verifiable case of violence targeting Christians every alternate day. There was, of course, communally targetted violence during the Congress regime as well, and by the same elements, one may add. But the impunity with which a crime is conducted now has aggravated.

Modi refers to it tangentially in controlled appearances at specially organised meetings of the friendlier elements of groups of religious minorities. Communal violence does not form the core theme of his Mann ki Baat. He has not sacked the hate mongers among his ministers. He never names the goons responsible for violence. Neither do the columnists speaking in his defence.