–Kakali Das
Several incidents happened in the last month of the year 2021 that require attention, not the least of which was a terrible event that took place in Haridwar, and also a parallel event in Delhi. It was called the “Dharam Sansad” – a three-day event between 17th and 19th December. A series of videos from that event had gone viral now, which contain hate speeches targeting the Muslim community specifically, and calling for violence against them in a way that cannot be mistaken for anything else. According to the Indian Express, it was the very controversial Yati Narsinghanand, who was also facing several Firs in Uttar Pradesh, who called for a war against the Muslim community in India. There were several other statements made, for example, the Hindu Raksha Sena’s Prabodhanand Giri was heard saying “Like Myanmar, the police here, politicians, army and every Hindu must pick up weapons and conduct a safai (cleansing) abhyan. There is no option left.” According to NDTV, the video also shows a Pooja Shakun Pandey aka Sadhvi Annapurna repeatedly calling the Hindutva leaders for genocide, “If you want to finish off their population, then we are ready to kill them. Even if 100 of us are ready to kill 20 lakh of them, then we will be victorious.”
Now, the police have registered an FIR quite helpfully, and made no arrests whatsoever. Two people have been named in that FIR – one Dharam Das, the other Annanpurna, and also they have named Jitendra Tyagi. In the meantime, 76 lawyers have written to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, N.V Ramana requesting him to take Suo moto cognizance of the hate speeches. The letter says, “The speech delivered during the event were not nearly to be treated as hate speeches but amounted to an open call for the murder of an entire community, and thereby it poses a grave threat not just to the unity and integrity of our country but also endangers the lives of millions of Muslim citizens.” The opposition has called for action too.
But, we must actually take a step back and have a look in perspective with everything else that’s happening around. There have been a series of vandalism attacks against churches in India. Some schools have been interrupted while celebrating Christmas in various parts of the country, specifically Karnataka – a sheer heightening of communal senses in our country. Do we agree with the statement made in that letter, that the Supreme Court needs to step in because this not only endangers the integrity of our country but also the lives of a large section of people of a particular community? Is there a legal cause here for the police to have not made a single arrest? Because we have witnessed the police making arrests in, for example, the Delhi riots cases, where they said that those speeches that the rioters made had caused the riots, and hence they would arrest them, and those people are still in jail. So is there a double standard at play right now? Are the police, the government doing their job?
An FIR has been filed, a couple of people have been named, yet no arrests so far. On being asked if this seems adequate, Yashovardhan Azad, Former Special Director, Intelligence Bureau said, “There is no doubt that the action has come late, and it isn’t really an action because without arrests, registering an FIR doesn’t make sense. This isn’t an ordinary crime, rather hate crime. and therefore, the arrests should have been made immediately.”
In fact, when the FIR was yet to be lodged, and people enquired, the police gave the typical reply “hum dekh rahe hain” (read, we are looking into the matter); it was clearly obvious that the police were dithering, and attempting to have some kind of a conversation with their senior authorities on the issue, which somehow shows that there is a background to this case.
“A political party person, a Yudhisthir Upaddhaya was also there at the function. So that is exactly why the arrests are not taking place. And in this context, I actually think that the courts must step in. In fact, I am happy that these 76 lawyers have filed a petition with the Supreme Court, because if the court doesn’t take suo-moto on this petition action, I can assure you that the action will not be taken, or it will be so delayed and muddled, or be put up in such a way that ultimately the case will be dragged on with no result in the end, which we have seen in most of the cases,” the former Special Director further said.
“The police aren’t going to take action because this type of speech has political blessing or protection. None of these hate speeches, riots happen unless the police are asked to deliberately look away. People who shout all these obnoxious things when in a crowd are basically people who will dare not do it by themselves. A few preventive arrests or even a summoning to the police station is enough to send a message. Why was this not done in Haridwar? Why was it encouraged in Haridwar? These are the questions that the local police will have to answer,” Sanjay Hegde, Senior Advocate, SC said.
There was another viral video of another politician who said, “If this xyz man is not the chief minister, or prime minister who will protect you.” So the point here is, if a policeman follows the constitution and the law, he need not fear any government, whether it is government x or y in power. It is only when it listens to the government first and keep the constitution aside, the people get into trouble.
400 years ago Shakespeare wrote, “Had I but served my God with half the zeal I served my king, he would not in mine age have left me naked to mine enemies.” I think, these are the words that every authority who is in an office by virtue of the constitution should remember. Kings come and go, the constitution endures and our job is to protect it.
On being asked if he expects as we inch closer and closer towards the Uttar Pradesh elections that these sort of incidents will likely increase or continue, Yashovardhan Azad said, “It’s evident that these kind of things will happen, and before the elections there are a few predictable actions which are taken on behalf of the central government, or somehow the enforcement agencies come on the alert, and income tax and enforcement directorate becomes very active.”
This Haridwar case is a serious case in the context that even, otherwise, if any communal incident takes place which precipitates a communal action, the policemen either are hesitant or they shy away. Again, when it happens with the benign attitude of the ruling party as it was, then, of course, there is no action, and even if there is any, it would be in such a way which will give us muddled results. So, in either case, I feel, it is quite clear to the judiciary.
“Whatever the 76 lawyers made is not a petition, but a letter, or an appeal which has gone to the Supreme Court judge, and he has to take an action now, because if he doesn’t, it is going to set a really bad precedent, and we are going to sink further and further this.” Sanjay Hegde said.
The police appear to be dumbfounded, almost distant from such critical issues, which are, basically, an attack on the secular character of our constitution. And, this will continue unless we think of some kind of an autonomy, an action-oriented institution in our country. And for that, we must put our heads together because in this democracy I don’t think we will be expecting any kind of it.
So, the questions lie – Is the police, the opposition, and the court doing enough? Most importantly, is the media doing enough? Are we standing together, and saying that this is not the country that the founding parents of this nation envisioned for us when they wrote our constitution? Remember, they spent three years debating every single point of our constitution in the kind of country they wanted us to be! Have we done justice 70 years down the line to who we were meant to be? How are we going to allow politicians year after year, decade after decade to take the advantage of fault lines in order to make political gains?
When it’s worse on the economy, unemployment, inflation, healthcare, education, and the hunger and starvation front, that is when politicians rely on religion, because it’s an easy distraction. It is up to us, the civil society, the media to focus back on the aspects that matter. Are our children receiving an adequate education? Are there still the largest number of hungry children going to bed hungry in this country, and anywhere else in the world tonight? The truth is YES. Are the women in our country still fighting for basic rights? YES, they are. Do we have adequate hospitals, adequate healthcare? NO, we don’t. Do we have the basic amenities that a citizen should expect from a country of a democracy such as safety, clean air, education, and health? NO, we don’t. These are the things that our government would like to distract us from, especially, when there is a big election coming up. We, as citizens know better, we’ve grown up here, we should be able to reject this kind of filibustering.