Daily Times

The #NotInMyName protests in New Delhi and other cities of India are snowballing into a massive movement. Carrying placards saying ‘Not In My Name’, ‘ No place for Islamophobia’ and ‘Shed hate not blood’, scores of people gathered at Jantar Mantar in Delhi last month, and in at least 20 other cities across India, including Mumbai, to protest the growing vigilantism by citizens and incidents of lynching of Muslims and Dalits. The immediate trigger for the spontaneous protest march was the killing of 15-year-old Junaid Khan by a mob on a train while he was returning home to his Khandawali village in Faridabad.

More than 50 Indian nationals, mostly octogenarians — who had been in the forefront of the freedom movement — returned their national awards to protest the rising radicalism, which is gnawing at the roots of India’s unity

The movement prompted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to state that killing in the name of ‘gau bhakti’ was not acceptable, but ignoring his words, on the same day a mob in Jharkhand beat a man to death on the suspicion that he was carrying cow meat in his vehicle.

The driving force behind the demonstrations is Gurgaon-based filmmaker Saba Dewan who gave out the rallying cry. Although it was originally planned to be held just at Jantar Mantar in the heart of New Delhi, the idea has swept up a great deal of response online – enough to be replicated across several cities, including London, Toronto, and Boston.

Targeting minorities has become a norm in Narendra Modi’s BJP government. Modi, who was an active member of the Hindu fanatic group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since the age of eight, called upon his Hindutva mentors to support him during the 2014 general elections. After ensuring Modi’s success, RSS demanded its pound of flesh and Modi had no option but to place Hindu extremists and his compatriots in RSS on high positions in the government and follow an agenda of targeting Indian minorities, especially Muslims.

India is constitutionally a country which follows secularism and comprises citizens who do not demur in raising their voice against vigilantism and extremism. More than 50 Indian nationals, mostly octogenarians, who had been in the forefront of the freedom movement, returned their national awards to protest the rising radicalism, which is gnawing at the roots of India’s unity. This was followed by a group of 1,000 international litterateurs and academics including the renowned scholar Noam Chomsky and numerous other intellectuals, who signed a petition addressed to Narendra Modi to stop extremism and targeting Indian minorities, especially Muslims.

Since fanatic Hindus remain oblivious to the persecution of Indian minorities, sensitive human rights activists have organised the ‘Not in my name’ movement to question the pattern of the attacks on the minorities in the country and the silence of the government over the killings and cases of lynching of Muslims and Dalits.

If it was heartening for the torch bearers of the human rights activists that several political organisations and forum for protecting the rights of women and democracy came together on one platform to protest fanaticism, the Indian military veterans picking up the cudgel on behalf of the minorities added impetus to the protest.

In addition to ‘Not In My Name’, the chant, “Nafratkekhilaaf, insaniyat ki awaaz” (Against hatred, we cry out for humanity)”, is reverberating across various cities of India and some international capitals. Prakash Ambedkar, leader of the Bharipa Bahujan and grandson of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, popularly known as Baba Saheb, an Indian jurist, economist, politician and social reformer who inspired the Dalit Buddhist Movement and campaigned against social discrimination against Untouchables (Dalits), and supported the rights of women and labour, has joined the movement, providing it additional momentum.

The 114 armed forces veterans, who have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, condemning mob attacks by cow vigilantes on Muslims and Dalits, have expressed concerns over “clampdown” on free speech and the “climate of fear”. The letter, which was also sent to chief ministers of all states, states that “It saddens us to write this letter, but current events in India have compelled us to register our dismay at the divisiveness that is gripping our country.”

“We stand with the ‘Not in My Name’ campaign that mobilised thousands of citizens across the country to protest against the current climate of fear, intimidation, hate and suspicion,” the letter added.

Modi will have to rein in his goons from RSS and progenitors of the Hindutva campaign. The country which won its independence in the name of secularism and whose forefathers like Mahatma Gandhi sacrificed their lives for assuring equal rights for Muslims and other minorities, is now embroiled in persecuting its own trodden masses. Unless India climbs out of the abyss of hate, bigotry and odium, it will never be respected by the world.

The writer is a retired Group Captain of PAF. He is a columnist, analyst and TV talk show host, who has authored six books on current affairs, including three on China

Published in Daily Times, August 12^th 2017.