Ranjona Banerji | Kolkata, Haryana boiling; but hate isn’t the answer
There’s a certain smugness about us Indians in the way we present ourselves as a culture which is proud of the concept of “non-violence”, ahimsa. A beacon of peace that sets us apart from other humans. For some, this is how we won our Independence from British colonial rule. We can be proud, self-righteous, sanctimonious about this, depending on what we’re hoping to achieve. For instance, some of us can be apoplectic when it comes to preventing violence against cows. To protect this notion, we sanction any amount of violence against any possible threat to our cattle. There’s non-violence and there’s non-violence.
It depends on where you’re standing at the time.
From I stand right now, it’s all about violence. Increasingly, incessantly.
Is it because next to Smug stands its twin brother, Shame? Shame that we are non-violent. Shame that we did not violently conquer the world like some other great cultures have done. Shame that history will judge us harshly when it comes to the conquering stakes. And for which we must make amends. Keep ahimsa for the cows. And unleash himsa for the rest.
The case in Kolkata which has angered all Indians and really excited the BJP? If rumours are true, then the doctor was brutally raped and killed to silence her and send a message to others who may have wanted to squeal on the hospital’s nefarious activities. The reaction to the crime has been as brutal as what was done to her: kill them, hang them from the trees. A quiet protest where women wanted to “reclaim the night” turned to violence and vandalism.
Since August 9, when the young doctor was killed, the news has been full of stomach-churning stories of violence and sexual brutality. Against women of all ages. And against Muslims. The Muslims were attacked violently because of unsubstantiated suspicion of violence against cows. The women were attacked as messages of social domination. Violence as a threat that without compliance there would be more violence. The need for non-violence against cows is so strong that a young Hindu boy was killed on suspicion of being a Muslim.
The reaction to this death was equally mixed up. How could the “non-violence for cows” brigade kill a Hindu, who is also by definition non-violent against cows? As if being violent towards Muslims – and often towards Dalits – is somehow more understandable. After all, Muslims and Dalits deal with cows and may not be so ahimsa as caste Hindus. But a Brahmin boy?
It took the boy’s parents to upturn the violence balance: why is it all right to kill Muslims, asked the grieving mother.
Is the current spate of violence only election-related? The BJP is desperate to gain control of Bengal. It has tried and failed several times. But this time, the usually canny and street smart Mamata Banerjee blinked. Bengal has never really belonged to the “ahimsa” camp. Violence is an integral part of politics in Bengal. All the bhadralok may curl their lips at street vulgarity in their cultured sanctums, but they too prefer the ideology of Netaji Subhas Bose over the non-violent political genius of Mahatma Gandhi.
Hot-headed mobs are the norm. Don’t let the gentle beauty of Ranbindrasangeet fool you. The BJP is trying to draw out that Bengal, the bomb-throwing, nihilist-inspired Bengal. Even if it does not understand the intellectual thought processes that underpin this. The Left did. Mamata Banerjee does. But if the street fights win, why not throw more stones and do more damage?
As for the violence against Muslims and women in North India, well, it is expected of them in the popular discourse. We know that ahimsa groups have been given a free hand. That the police stand back and do not interfere with vigilantes, thugs, hooligans and so on, as long as they belong to the ruling dispensation. We know there are elections in several states where outright victory for the BJP is chancy. Why not a new spate of attacks to keep the population under control and in perpetual fear. After all, it has been over a year since Manipur descended to anarchy, with bloodthirsty and rapacious attacks and there has been no attempt to broker peace by those in power.
What a very one-sided, simplistic and alarmist theory, you might say to yourself. We are surely better than that? This is where you may turn to song or theatre or cinema or even books for all I know, all from some higher echelons of human imagination. Or you may retire to sentimental schmalz to reduce the noise of screams and unpleasant ideas. While you do this, please remember to ignore the pleas of women in various film industries, against sexual exploitation and assault. Like the BJP government at the Centre ignored the pleas of women wrestlers. Crimes against women are important only when they are gruesome and sickening and deadly and politically useful.
Or you might consider that while violence is a given in our society, it is usually contained and sporadic. This decade-long onslaught of mob madness and terrorizing of minorities, lower castes and women has only become worse over the years. Perhaps there are other factors at play, not just political cynicism.
Perhaps 10 years of massive misrule, of gross incompetence, of desperation for livelihood and employment have started to play their part. Social frustration and disaffection. Crumbling infrastructure, crumbling lives leads to fractured bits of society and law and order in retreat.
Don’t dream of revolutions as solutions. Remember these immortal words: “But if you want money for people with minds that hate, All I can tell is, brother, you have to wait”.
Maybe we just have to do better, and give in less to hate? Stop being smug and chuck the shame? I wish I knew the answers. But I know, like the song, what’s wrong and what’s not right.
That’s The Beatles by the way. In1968. From the mouths of babes…
