Mute Spectator : Desh ke Gaddaron ko
February 05, 2020
"Desh
ke gaddaron ko, Goli maaro saalon ko". This literally means
"Those who have been traitors to the nation, shoot them dead". This
is exactly what the sitting MP- Anurag Singh Thakur (Minister of State for
Finance) said in a Delhi election rally. Another member of the ruling regime,
Parvesh Verma flared up an inflammatory speech saying that the protesters in
Shaheen Bagh will repeat the same as the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits of 1989. As
the National Capital is already polluted to alarming levels, these
representatives are adding poison to it through their venomous speech. Though
the Election Commission banned them for 72 hrs and 90 hrs respectively, it's
completely insufficient to stop these speeches.
The subsequent chain of events are
astonishing. The normalcy of brandishing of guns in the Capital and the
reaction by the Delhi Police is a cause of worry. The first of such events happened
on Jan 30 when Gopal, a 17 year old, fired and injured a protester at Jamia. Bapuji was shot dead exactly on the same
day in the National Capital some 72 years ago. There seems to be an underlying
message that unlike voices will be suppressed by means of a barrel. Though Bapuji pardoned his shooter, he never
wanted this nation to travel in this direction.
Another matter of immense concern is the
action of the Delhi Police. An activist named Saket Gokhale wrote a letter to
the Delhi Police seeking permission for conducting a peaceful protest under the
slogan of "Desh ke gaddaron ko, Goli
maaro saalon ko". He further explained that the actions of the police
will clear the air whether the slogan is allowed under the law or not. If the
permission is denied, then they need to take action against the MP. If the
permission is given, then such disgraceful slogans are completely normalised.
Shockingly the Delhi police granted permission.
Further, A pro- CAA rally was carried out
yesterday with participants shouting the same slogan "Desh ke gaddaron ko, Goli maaro saalon ko". While these events
have been normalised, the level of a compassionate society has certainly
saturated. Words such as kind, gracious, humble, generous, benevolent,
altruistic, accommodative, benign, magnanimous, compassionate and humanitarian
are nowhere to be seen in our political culture. Rather words such as termites,
traitor, terrorist, perfidious, goons, thug, sanghi, libtard, tukde tukde, bhakt and so on have taken the center stage.
Meanwhile, the other end seems to be no
less. Sharjeel Imam, the initial organiser of the Shaheen Bagh protest brought
disgrace to the dedicated efforts of the women bearing the chills of the
winter. In Spite of having a good education, Sharjeel shunned his knowledge for
hatred. His derogatory speech in Aligarh Muslim University calling for one
particular religion to cut off Assam from the rest of India and further
instigating them is pathetic. On Feb 03, another group of people raised slogans
such as "Sharjeel tere sapno ko hum
manzil tak pahuchaenge” meaning “Sharjeel, we will convert your dreams into
reality”. This legitimacy or recognition for hatred by many shows were we stand
in our moral compass.
Making children shout abusive, offensive
words at tender ages is nothing but sowing the seeds of hatred. Going to the
extent of making them say 'I will finish
off the Prime Minister and Home Minister’ is exactly not the way we should
nurture our kids. It might seem attractive and complacent but it's mutative and
destructive in the long run. Using children as a tool of effective messaging
and propagation in a negative mode shows that hatred belittles rationality and
humanity. Hate speeches act as an ignition for the underlying hatred within our
society. Once it is flared, it's no easy for any extinguisher to stop it soon.
Compassion and hatred has always been a
bone of contention in our country. Compassion is the underlying fibre that
stitches this country together and hatred is the scissor that is always ready
to cut it off. We have remained the same in the subject of "assent and
dissent" through all these years. Self-pride and the unwillingness to
listen to the voices of the other side has been bleak.
Events such as Marichjhapi massacre of 1979,
Anti- Sikh riots of 1984, Exodus of Kashmiri Pandits - 1989, demolition of
Babri Masjid - 1992, Chamba Massacre of 1998, Gujarat riots of 2002,
Muzaffarnagar nagar riots of 2013, Saharanpur riots of 2014 are all due to the
hatred within the society. It's times our representatives take the lead and act
responsibly in establishing a society of compassion and not that of hatred.
Budget can be allocated to clean the polluted air in our cities but no budget
can be allocated to clean the hatred in the hearts of these despicable people.
I haven't taken any data to show the case. Hatred is very much prevalent in one
form or the other and it needs to be acknowledged.
Hatred destroys whereas compassion
creates. Hatred is exclusive whereas compassion is inclusive. Hatred narrows
the mind whereas compassion broadens the mind. Societies will breakdown due to
hatred whereas societies will evolve due to compassion. But both hatred and
compassion are mutative thus utilising it in the right way lies in our hands.
Hatred in any form is a disgrace to a maturing democracy.
I wish there would be a Hatred Index for
our representatives in future in both the state and the centre on which
nominations should be accepted to represent the people. Anyone willing to be a
representative of the people should shun hatred in every form. Hatred is no way
forward for prosperity and civility.
Remember we reap what we sow.
JAI HIND.
By Sathish T.K
Mute
Spectator is the primary series of the blog where we express
our opinions on current affairs
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