About 10 days have passed since a so-called religious enclave in Haridwar challenged constitutionally guaranteed religious freedoms as well as the rule of law. But, in a country where UAPA is enforced by cops for the most trivial actions and critical positions over political leaders can lead to arrest, Uttarakhand police have not tried such statements either. scandalous worthy of arrest, and the ruling BJP has not responded either. Even the Nehru-Gandhis in Congress have made innocuous statements.

The Dharm Sansad saw the participants take an oath to “fight, die and kill” to make this country a “Hindu rashtra”, called on every Hindu to bear arms to “put an end to its (non-Hindu) population”, and to a Burmese-style “abhiyaan safai”, a sanitation campaign. Some would say this is bangs, not worth taking seriously. To that the answer should be that this is a democratic and secular country and politicians cannot ignore calls for community cleansing by a group claiming to represent the majority.

The other point is that Sansad’s chilling rhetoric should be read along with reports of dozens of disturbing incidents across the country. To name just a few recent ones: the regular obstruction of Friday namaz in Gurgaon, the disrupted Christmas celebrations from Assam to Karnataka, the forced closure of a store that had the word Sai in its name and was run by a Muslim. One thing common to most of these incidents is the apparent reluctance of the police and many politicians to target these groups. This inaction encourages these groups. Anyone can guess how this can develop, as crowds increasingly believe that no illegal action or even violence will be punished as long as they claim to be acting for the religion of the majority. Politicians who say they love India deeply should know that the country will bear the highest cost if today’s small fires turn into a community conflagration.

END OF ARTICLE