New Delhi: An eventful week ended on a horrific note with the accident in Uttar Pradesh involving the Unnao rape victim and her family. Acting on the accusation that the tragedy was orchestrated by the accused in the case – BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar – murder charges were filed against him and nine others for “hatching a criminal conspiracy to kill the rape survivor and her family”.
The mother of the 19-year-old rape survivor, who was 17 when Sengar and his accomplices allegedly gang-raped her, called Sunday’s incident a “conspiracy to wipe out her family”.
But by and large, right-leaning websites mostly gave reporting the accident a pass – rightlog.in and Swarajya magazine only carried a report that the Yogi Adityanath government has ordered a CBI probe “in an effort to ensure justice for the victim”.
Also read: #RightSideUp: ‘Shri Ram, the Secret of BJP’s Energy’; Mahua Moitra, ‘the Outsider’
This week, interest in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s schedule on the day of the Pulwama attack also peaked with a release of a promo of Discovery’s ‘Man Vs Wild’ with the prime minister and the show’s host Bear Grylls. This was another subject that right-leaning websites kept mum about other than this article about how “Congress triggered over PM Modi’s appearance in Man Vs Wild, peddles old lies and asks Discovery to share shooting timings”.
The Karnataka saga also came to an end – and a new beginning – with the unseating of H.D. Kumaraswamy as chief minister, the swearing in of B.S. Yediyurappa and the successful floor test of the new BJP government in the state.
In other articles, the recent amendment to the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the enhanced powers granted to the National Investigation Agency were applauded as a sign of “India’s policy and firm resolve of ‘zero tolerance’ towards terrorism”:
“In many ways, the UAPA has been subject to criticism by those who have often defended the ‘humanitarian rights’ of terrorists, which has often weakened our fight against terrorism. Therefore, their criticism should be viewed as a sign of the effectiveness of the UAPA towards tackling terrorism.”
The weaponisation of ‘Jai Shri Ram’
Much was written on the weaponisation of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ after 49 eminent personalities wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the rise of lynchings and the usage of the slogan ‘Jai Shri Ram’ as a “war cry”.
A reply to this letter was shot off by 61 celebrities from various fields that said that the “self-styled guardians and conscience keepers” had expressed selective concerns and demonstrated a “clear political bias and motive”.
Also read: What If This Is the Hindu Rashtra?
Writers from both side of the spectrum derided one letter or the other.
In the chorus of voices was R. Jagannathan, the editorial director of Swarajya magazine whose argument is that it is hypocritical to criticise the “weaponisation of Hinduism” considering “rival religions” were “weaponised centuries ago”.
“The truth is that Hindus weaponised Jai Shri Ram a bit late in the day, when all the earlier weaponisations of other religions had been accepted as normal.
On Christianity, he writes:
“Jesus may have been the type to turn the other cheek, but few of his followers would do so today, not to speak of the Christianity that followed his crucifixion.
Christianity was weaponised very early by its saints and converts… In fact, Christianity was fully weaponised from the time of Emperor Constantine, where rival sects and religions were persecuted out of existence.”
The case of Islam is simpler, he says considering “there is not even a pretence of non-weaponisation”.
“The prophet was not just spiritual guide and founder of Islam, but also its political and military head. Islam has always been weaponised, used both against its own people and the people it conquered. In India, Allahu-Akbar is the war-cry of weaponised Islam.”
Jagannathan moves on to Sikhism:
“The Sikhs, who began as a reformist sect in north-western India, had been weaponised by the time of Guru Gobind Singh. ‘Sat Sri Akal’ is as much a weaponised slogan of the Sikhs as ‘Jai Shri Ram’ is now supposed to be for political Hindus.”
“If political Hinduism is to be de-weaponised without forcing the others to do so, it is akin to unilateral disarmament. It may be morally wonderful, but practically suicidal for those being called to give up arms,” Jagannathan concludes.
Also read: ‘Jo Na Bole Jai Shri Ram’: Four Arrested by UP Police for Hate Song
In an an article published on DailyO, India Today journalist Arindam De decided to take a dig at the letter written to Modi.
“‘Selective’ is a tricky word. More so when prefixed with words like amnesia, intolerance, tolerance, or ideals like sympathy, empathy, humanity…
Recently, another hallowed narrative has begun suggesting that India was a country of haters. Tolerance levels have somehow magically been re-set to zero — and India is burning.”
De admits that there have been “unfortunate incidents” where mobs forced victims to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’, and emphasises how “wrong” weaponising this chant is.
Pointing out how the letter was written on a day when “the home ministry told parliament that communal violence was declining”, he asks whether the letter’s accusation of the chant being used as “war cry” is a “tacit suggestion somewhere that people who chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ are the fountainhead of all hate crimes in the country”.
De then dodges to the Kashmiri Pandit debate and asks where these “enlightened” minds were when the community was displaced “or when another minority community was chopped down in 1984”?
On the arrest of various activists last year for ‘Maoist links’, including rights lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, he writes:
“And no, left-wing sympathisers and activists were not ‘picked on’ for their dissent to the government. They are where they are because a court of law saw enough merit in the arguments presented by the prosecution. A court of law denied them bail, repeatedly. The highest court of the land found no fault with the charge sheet filed by the state police. Where is the subversion of the due process?”
Also read: Hindutva Has Nowhere to Go Except Down the Road to Tyranny
Not to be left behind, Republic contributor Chitra Subramaniam’s attention too landed on the letter this week:
“India, they wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was now a lynchistan (a land where people are lynched as sport), where minority communities are indiscriminately killed sometimes for carrying a cow, other times for just being different. The difference is defined by what I call the 49-ers, the reference to the American soccer team is intended. Who on earth are 49 people to tell me about India especially since most have sold their souls for penny?”
Above the din, one thing bothers me. It is the constant running down of Hindus as the organisers and perpetrators of calamity and murders, of a people so vile and violent that unhindered they’d unleash a blood bath in the country. During times like these of false agitation and fake data, it is worthwhile to pull back and reflect on this one point – India is probably one of the most spiritual spots on earth, a dharmic nation where the other is welcomed and celebrated, accommodated and rejoiced in.
If push comes to shove, dharma will seek respect without malice because that is what it is. Isn’t it extraordinary that English and the Abrahamic religions fail to understand dharma’s non-violent search for justice!
Don’t fall for louts and losers writing letters, India. We have better things to do, like building our nation.”
Amit Shah’s bid to combat lynching
With Amit Shah to head a Group of Ministers that was constituted last year to combat lynchings, the news desk at rightog.in immediately jumped to say in their headline that his goal, other than combatting lynchings, would be to “expose the one-sided narrative”.
Also read: What Explains Mob Lynchings Becoming the New Normal in India
After supplying a definition of lynching, the article goes on to speak of what is a universal truth to many on the right:
“In India, caste-related violence and targeting people of particular religions has been going on since long. This goes on for both sides, the cases where Muslims are lynched by Hindu majority gets a lot of media attention but when the opposite happens, there is little furore.”
The article mentions how the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh is also considering a mob lynching law before taking a pot shot at the supposed lack of facts provided by “anti-BJP vocalists” to support the assertion that lynchings and mob violence have increased since the BJP government came to power in 2014.
This is despite the fact that the apex court has already asked parliament in July 2018 to consider enacting a new law to sternly deal with mob lynching and cow vigilantism, warning that such incidents may rise like a “typhoon-like monster” across the country.
Also read: One Year After SC Recommended a Lynching Law, Is Anybody Listening?
“A law particularly pertaining to mob lynching shall deter such heinous crimes and also bust that narrative against the majority community in India.
The empowered Group of Minister headed by Amit Shah will address the cases of lynching genuinely. Proper data and record about the cases will be available with the government and one-sided narrative of the left-liberal media will be exposed.”
