“Then, by the operation of this mobocratic spirit, which all must admit, is now abroad in the land, the strongest bulwark of any Government, and particularly of those constituted like ours, may effectually be broken down and destroyed—I mean the attachment of the People. Whenever this effect shall be produced among us; whenever the vicious portion of population shall be permitted to gather in bands of hundreds and thousands, and burn churches, ravage and rob provision-stores, throw printing presses into rivers, shoot editors, and hang and burn obnoxious persons at pleasure, and with impunity; depend on it, this Government cannot last.” –Abraham Lincoln, US President, ‘The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions: Address Before the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield’, Illinois, January 27, 1838, explaining the situation of Civil War
On July 20, Rakbar alias Akbar was allegedly killed on allegations of cow-smuggling by a mob at Alwar, Rajasthan. At Barmer, on July 24, a 22-year-old Dalit man Khetram Bhil was allegedly beaten to death for an affair with a Muslim woman. These incidences have again brought the so-called ‘lynching’ discourse in currency. The people who are involved in these criminal acts and the ones who are running a fake discourse of ‘Lynchistan’ both are essentially lynching the Bharat as a nation. This ‘Lynching-Bharat’ pogrom is taking place at three levels.
Firstly, the cattle-smugglers, Sharia Court supporters, Canon law followers, executers of Kangaroo Courts in the name of revolution etc are openly saying that we do not believe in the rule of law of this land and we will ensure that our own laws are enforced. Many States who have legislated the laws regarding cow-smuggling and cow-slaughtering are unable to enforce them, like many other laws. The criminal neglect of fraudulent inter-faith marriages as emerging in Kerala is another reason behind the growing confidence of this fundamentalist mindset.
Secondly, the groups who are getting trapped in the provocations of these fundamentalists are taking laws in their hands. Many criminal elements also take benefit of this situation and settle their scores with the competing gangs. The larger cause of Gau Samvardhan (cow-promotion) gets tarnished in this process.
In the post-Independent Bharat, the anti-Sikh massacre of 1984 fits the original meaning of ‘lynching’ that gained currency during the American Civil War, as the one community was targeted by mobs all over the nation. We have been facing sporadic incidences of riots or mob outrage against the alleged criminals in the name of cow-smuggling or beef as well as in the name of illicit affairs, political rivalries, allegations of rape and molestations, baby-lifting, and even normal thefts. With the growing spread of social media platforms like WhatApp, the rumour mongering around such incidences has become an easy tool. These factors are associated with social-psychology and weakened investigation and criminal justice system.
The network of Bharat-Todo-Gang that celebrates these killings for spreading the fake narratives against Bharat is the biggest problem.The perpetrators of Hinduphobia, after carving out the church-attacks and intolerance debates to vitiate the atmosphere are selectively playing the ‘cow-lynching’ narrative, not just in Bharat but all over the world. Using the Goebbelsian technique, this loosely knitted cabal coin certain terms and use every incident, small or big and fake or true, to create an anti-Bharat perception. The shocking silence of the ‘Secular-liberal-Commie’ Bharat-lynchers over the political killings in the recently held West Bengal panchayat elections by the ruling party workers is the classic example of the same. They are neither interested in national unity nor in social harmony but only bothered about harvesting their vested-interests. The main objective is to supress the nationalist voices and reassertion of Bharatiyata.
No human killing or taking law in own hands by individuals or a group is justifiable in democracy. Whether to call it lynching or not, cow-smugglers, people who are attacking them, honor killings in the name of caste or religion, kangaroo courts run by Maoists, courts proposed in the name of Sharia, political killings in Bengal and Kerala etc everything falls in the ambit of this ‘mobocratic spirit’. There is a need to pressurise governments, irrespective of who is ruling where, to enforce the laws. Exposing the hypocrites who are misusing the criminal acts for their personal agenda is also necessary. The responsible use of social media should become part of our education. If saving unity and integrity of Bharat is the goal, then we cannot be selective about the incidences. The law should take its own course irrespective of the identity of culprits and victims. Then only, we can stop the dirty games of the lynching-harvesters.
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