Will PM show he really seeks 'sab ka vishwas'?

A young Muslim man, accused of stealing a motorcycle in the Saraikela-Kharsawan area in Jharkhand, was fatally beaten by a mob recently. But it became clear that Tabriz Ansari was beaten senseless not for being a thief, allegedly, but for what his religion was.

The mob repeatedly asked his name. He gave his nickname, which was religion-neutral. The mob demanded his formal name, and when that issued from his lips the beating got worse. Then he was forced to raise Hindu religious chants as he fainted.

Interestingly, all of this was shot on video by the perpetrators and made public. Evidently, there was no fear of the law. The police registered an FIR and took the victim into judicial custody. Apparently, they recorded a confession that he had stolen a motorcycle, but the FIR failed to mention his seven-hour-long violent beating. What does this point to - that the police was innocent of the facts?

After a hue and cry followed Ansari's death in custody, the police arrested 11 persons and suspended two policemen. It will be interesting to see how the case ends up.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, expressed his sorrow about the episode but attacked the Opposition for blaming a whole state, though it is not quite clear who has blamed Jharkhand or its people.

Mr Modi's words of sorrow may have carried a clear message of intent if he asked the BJP-run state government to crack down hard on the criminals and ensure communal violence is checked forthwith. He could have reminded Parliament that he was sincere about his new slogan of winning “sab ka vishwas”.

In cases of this kind some have pointed a finger at the BJP, which runs the Jharkhand government. Murders of Muslims have been committed by cow vigilantes in the state and a Union minister feted the criminals at this home once.

But it is not just Jharkhand. Just after the Narendra Modi government was elected to its second term in unambiguous fashion, two episodes of anti-Muslim violence caught attention in BJP-run states — Assam and Haryana. At Barpeta in Assam, a group of Muslims was belaboured and forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram” along with “Pakistan Murdabad”. At Gurgaon in Haryana, a young Muslim man had his skullcap removed and beard pulled as he too was forced to chant the same slogan. Former Test cricketer Gautam Gambhir, a newly-elected BJP MP, was trolled by Hindutva types when he denounced the Gurgaon incident, and asked to choose his causes with care.

There is a long history of communal violence in the country, but in recent years this has occurred with regularity in BJP-run states. Typically, the perpetrators act in groups, and the accused get away lightly as leaders continue to make pious noises about the Constitution.