When the ruler fails to do his duty, people have to step in
MULTAN: Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government has become a victim of its own political rhetoric. Too many of its members, supporters and affiliates are engaged in zealously enforcing their views of Hindu supremacy or abrasive nationalism on the masses. Indeed, these so-called cow protectors feel enabled and protected by Modi himself, whom they view as the embodiment of their beliefs, given his earlier public call, denouncing the ‘pink revolution’ — the expansion of the beef industry — while failing to distinguish between cows and buffaloes.
Last month, a leader of cow protectors in Haryana was reported to have justified mob violence in defiance of Modi’s strictures, claiming, “When the ruler fails to do his duty, people have to step in.” His remarks came forth merely a day after a Muslim man in Jharkhand was lynched on suspicion of carrying beef. The Indian government must recognise that this open declaration of vigilantism by BJP affiliates is a terrifying prospect for an India that wants to attract foreign investors as a safe society that adheres to the rule of law.
To halt a drift too far from human rights, strict political response from the BJP is needed to discourage its followers from engaging in this collective punishment in the name of religion.
Moazzam Mujtaba
Published in The Express Tribune, August 2nd, 2017.
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