Unending pain

Just a few months back after the gruesome killing of Tabrez Ansari in Jharkhand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the Parliament that he was ‘pained’ over the lynching and called for ‘strictest of possible punishment to the accused’ (“Suspected child lifter lynched by mob in Jharkhand,” Sept. 6, Gulf Today).

I guess the same sentiment of hurt runs through the heart of every Indian when an innocent person is tortured and murdered by an unruly mob either on a suspicion of slaughtering cows, kidnapping children or even on the ridiculous pretext of witchcraft.

It is baffling that when India is dealing with acts of terrorism with such vigour and fortitude, it is unable to clamp down on such ‘terrorists’ who are maiming and killing the innocent on its own turf. While India is sending missions to the moon to get a better understanding of what lies there, it seems to cares less to the merciless killings on ground zero.

There has been a marked spike in mob attacks and hate crimes since the BJP has come to power. Dozens of Muslim men have been attacked or lynched by mobs, many on suspicion of slaughtering cows. In Ansari’s case, videos showed him tied to a pole, begging for mercy as some men beat him with sticks and forced him to chant his devotion to Hindu gods.

Last month alone at least nine people have died and 135 others injured in mob attacks,  while a pregnant deaf and mute woman was attacked in New Delhi by a mob wrongly believing she was involved in kidnapping.  It’s time India walks the talk.

Ved Shrivastava
By email