Shyam Saran: Communal virus runs riot – Attacks on minorities may lead to irreversible fragmentation of Indian Union

The three-day hate fest against the Muslim community, held at Haridwar recently, is only the latest in a series of intemperate and vulgar attacks against minorities that, if unchecked, may lead to an irreversible fragmentation and disintegration of the Indian Union. We should stop minimising the destructive impact of these increasingly brazen and violent attacks against minorities throughout the North Indian heartland by putting them in the context of impending elections.

The assumption, completely mistaken, is that once the electioneering is done, we shall be back to our normal day-to-day living and forget these rantings of persons many still consider to be fringe elements. They are not fringe elements. They are now dangerously close to being the mainstream. They have flourished in a political ecosystem built on the deliberate stoking of both sentiments of victimhood and pride, side by side, among the majority Hindu community. The instruments of the State have been bent to advance this communal agenda. The police is thoroughly compromised, the judiciary has become hesitant and selective in upholding India’s Constitution and the carefully constructed system of checks and balances is being dismantled step by step.

When this happens, it will not just target the minorities. It will target, as it has already started to do, those in the majority community who question the ruling dispensation on any issue, even unrelated to the communal agenda. If the instruments of the State and its coercive power can be turned to disempowering the minorities, the same, if unchecked, can disempower any citizen, irrespective of his faith. Hindus need to understand that their faith is no shield against a predatory State. There are enough examples from history to bear this out. The use of arbitrary power against minorities which some applaud today and are happy to be complicit in, may soon turn against them and their children.

Violence corrodes democracy. It undermines the sense of solidarity among citizens that lies at the heart of a democratic State. India’s own recent history bears this out. We have had violent paroxysms which have threatened to tear asunder the very fabric of a civilised society. Their scars remain and some continue to fester. What we are witnessing today is a deliberate and cynical attempt to resurrect painful wounds of the past, re-enact past contestations and prevent the consolidation of a common and equal citizenship, which is the foundation of a democracy. We should be aware of our tortured history of immense cruelty, pain and suffering, but the objective of being acquainted with this history is to ensure that it does not blight the future of our children and grandchildren….

https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/communal-virus-runs-riot-355681

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