Too afraid to speak up

Let’s assume you are living and enjoying a life beyond the proverbial security of food, shelter and clothing. You own a house in a posh area of a major city, drive a 1300-3000 CC impressive looking car, have a dream job, a family or partner you love hanging out with, a congenial company of friends that validate your thoughts and opinions, and a bank balance sufficient enough to afford you a yearly holiday in Papua New Guinea (if that tickles your fancy). From a worldly standpoint, you possess enough power and prestige to influence people below your social status.

Imagine, however, that you could only retain that privilege at the cost of surrendering your political freedoms by pledging absolute loyalty to the state and diligently toeing the red lines drawn by a repressive bunch of thugs that forcefully demand legitimacy without lawfully commanding it.

Imagine all your intellectual and creative undertakings – including films, novels, newspapers, and academic research – being strictly regulated and constrained by a handful of draconian institutions you are not allowed to question or argue with.

Imagine being constantly demonized on national TV and relentlessly threatened with allegations of treason at the slightest hint of political dissent. Worst of all, imagine getting shot and being labeled a terrorist for holding a peaceful protest in the hope of securing your constitutional rights!

Sadly, the above paragraph fits the description of a number of contemporary autocratic states; however, it is India that has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons ever since the BJP-led dispensation knocked over a terminally ill Congress to take charge of the government for a second consecutive term. And so it all began: mob lynchings, Kashmir, and CAB – all in a blink of an eye.

But it’s not just Modi; he can’t do it all by himself. The current wave of violence and state-repression inflicted by Modi’s reign of terror is reinvigorated by his legions of trolls who openly threaten and incite hatred against their fellow citizens who are opposing a blatantly discriminating piece of legislation.

The despicable role of mainstream Indian media in covering up gross violations of human rights, and the pusillanimity of the celebrated ‘stars’ of showbiz and entertainment industry lining up for a ‘selfie’ with Modi, should send shivers down the spine of the collective conscience of a civilized society.

While admittedly our own track record of speaking up for oppressed minorities and ethnicities at home hardly inspires any hope, the intensity and scale of toxicity and bigotry unleashed by mobs of Hindutva zombies against Muslims, both offline and online, screams to the heavens. As an entire community and its way of life stands threatened and fights for its right to exist, all the Khans, Kohlis, Chopras, and Bachchans, basking in the glory of elite brands, keep a criminal silence in a bid to save and perpetuate their flimsy fame and fortunes.

For those who would bring the roof down with their #MeToo talk in pretentious talk shows to callously ignore the brutality and sexual savagery endured by Kashmiri women and children at the hands of Indian security forces, not to mention the perverted calls by BJP ministers to rape Muslim women as a ‘religious duty’, makes one cringe in disgust. The sensible few like Naseerduin Shah, Mahesh Bhatt, and Navjot Singh Sidhu instantly get demonized for questioning the divisive and toxic rhetoric of the ‘parivar’, prompting BJP hardliners to openly announce bounties on their heads.

The unbridled and thriving “mobocracy” under the vile and callous watch of Modi not only lays bare the repressive and inhuman character of a murderously fascist regime, but has also exposed the appalling impotence and indifference of the international community and ‘peacekeeping’ organizations led by the UN that seemingly have nothing meaningful to offer than urging ‘restraint’ and murmuring condemnations, which keep falling on deaf ears.

The moral philosophy of majoritarianism (around the world) believes in a twisted logic of justice whereby the troubles and plights of minorities are either belittled or downrightly blamed upon them in a medieval fashion: “If you don’t share our breed and creed, you don’t belong here”. To invest one’s whole political imagination in the obsession of disowning and vanquishing a community and its civilization, draws modern-day parallels with the Mongol vandalism of Baghdad centuries ago, even if the ferocity of Modi’s campaign may appear subtler in a democratic guise.

Despite the darkening clouds of doom and despair looming over the political landscape and democratic prospects of a polarized society soaked in fear and anger, there is a glimmer of hope nevertheless in the spirited protests by university students and some genuinely secular strands of Indian civil society comprising people of all faiths; these people are standing united and refusing to succumb to the narrative of hate and religious chauvinism.

For those who died and sacrificed their lives in their struggle to win freedom, may they get retribution through their compatriots. As for those marching on, may they succeed in persuading the more powerful and privileged among us to stand up and act for the sake of humanity and upholding the sanctity and dignity of human life.

The writer is a postgrad student of economics at the University of Bonn.

Email: asadullahkhan628@gmail.com