Opinion Tavleen Singh writes: Hate speeches in a civilised country are deplorable
The irony of what these cynical politicians and violent fanatics are doing is that they seem to believe that their hate speeches and their violence are making India stronger. The exact opposite is happening...
There is an election coming in Assam and early polls indicate that the BJP leads the race so there is no obvious need for him to try and win by making hate speeches. When you have been writing a political column for forty years as I have, a hard little core of cynicism settles in your heart. So, I have learned to expect little from our political leaders and to not be shocked by the awful things they are prepared to do just to win elections. Despite this, some things get said and done that still shock me. One of these came last week when I saw a clip of the Chief Minister of Assam ordering Hindus to harass Muslims who might be trying to get listed in electoral rolls. With a sickening, smarmy grin on his face, he told his Hindu audience that if they traveled in rickshaws or taxis driven by Muslims and they asked for five rupees they should be sure to give them four.
Later when his atrocious remarks provoked an adverse reaction, he clarified that he was talking only about Bangladeshi Muslims. He had used the word ‘miyan’, he said, and nobody should be offended by this because that is what Bangladeshi Muslims call themselves. His knowledge is limited so he is clearly unaware that ‘miyan’ is not an insult but a term of respect in the Urdu language and is used among most Muslim communities on our sub-continent. There is an election coming in Assam and early polls indicate that the BJP leads the race so there is no obvious need for him to try and win by making hate speeches. But the ugly reality of our Hindutva times is that hate speeches have become acceptable. Just as hating Muslims and Christians have become fashionable among Hindu fanatics using anonymous handles to express their hatred and disgraceful opinions on social media.
Soon after the chief minister’s vile remarks came news of an attack on a Muslim meat trader by a Hindu mob in West Bengal. In a post on ‘X’ I saw a picture of a man with a badly bruised face who said he was called a Bangladeshi before being beaten nearly to death by a mob of about 50 people who ordered him to strip to further humiliate him. The police arrived in time for this man to stay alive, so he is among the fortunate ones. Hindutva vigilantes usually beat meat traders badly enough to kill them or at least disable them permanently. They are proud of these attacks because they believe that they are doing this out of ‘nationalism.’ What we need to ask is whether they are helping our nation or damaging its soul irreversibly?
When I have tried pointing out to my Hindutva friends that they could be doing more harm than good when they support hatemongers and violent mobs, I hear from them that they are avenging the wrong done to Hindus for centuries by Muslim invaders. These days they usually add that they are also taking revenge for what is being done to Hindus in Bangladesh since Sheikh Hasina’s regime fell. If I point out that fanaticism is a bad idea, their answer is that Hindus cannot be fanatics because religious violence is not sanctioned by the Sanatan Dharma. This is true. There is no concept of ‘jihad’ in India’s religious traditions whereas Islam sanctions the elimination of us idol-worshippers. This should make us proud of our spiritual and religious traditions. So why is the opposite happening?
Perhaps because our religious traditions are now in the hands of politicians who have more cynicism in their hearts than political columnists. You do not need me to tell you that the Chief Minister of Assam is far from being the only political leader spreading hatred against Muslims. He is among an increasingly large team of senior BJP leaders who believe that the way to win elections is by whipping up animosity against Muslims and Christians. Often it is Pakistan or Bangladesh that are invoked to disguise attacks that are really directed at India’s Muslims who are told routinely that they should go to these countries if they do not like what is happening here. It is from these leaders that the vigilantes get their inspiration to attack Muslim traders and farmers.
The irony of what these cynical politicians and violent fanatics are doing is that they seem to believe that their hate speeches and their violence are making India stronger. The exact opposite is happening because as a country in which divisions of caste and creed run deep, the fissures that are now being created make India not just weaker but more like the Islamist republics in our neighbourhood. As a proud Indian it offends me personally that this is happening, and it worries me that those who can put a stop to this senseless weakening of India are doing absolutely nothing to put a stop to it.
Usually when I write against the damage that Hindutva is doing, I face a barrage of abuse on social media, but I shall continue to write on this subject so do your worst, you repugnant fanatics. I shall write against hatemongers and fanatics because I may have that core of cynicism in my heart, but it is not strong enough for me to forget that silence in the face of evil amounts to complicity. I refuse to be complicit. I shall keep repeating that hate speeches in a civilised country are deplorable and when they are made by political leaders, they are truly dangerous.
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