prasad1
Active member
Organised mob violence is not new to India. But at the heart of the current wave of lynching is a new political emotion promoted by a craftily nurtured project that targets those who dissent from the restrictions imposed by self-styled conscience keepers of “society”.
The mood of the nation, at present, is to explain its dealings with one another in the religious language of righteousness and sin. Eating beef is sin. Public display of love is a sin -- unless it is towards your nation.
This new emotion has its roots in outrage and hatred and its closest ancestor is the honour-based eye-for-an-eye kind of emotion of ancient times.
How did society concede this space?
A democratic nation committed to human dignity and following the Constitution is an effective deterrent to lawless tribalism. But the participants of this new ‘nation-building project’ emphasise that legal recourse based on Constitutionalism is long-winded and time-consuming. Faced with this question of choice between the futilities of liberal (also read alien) principles based on the Constitution and defending the current project of saving society from a perceived imminent threat, the instant system appears preferable. Vigilantism has now gained legitimacy.
India’s foremost public intellectual, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, has said: “These kinds of incidents always inhabited the realm of religious intolerance zone. Now it has entered a Constitutional and political realm and is finding acceptance. This is the first time we are seeing mainstreaming of such philosophy.”
Silence or condolence messages with riders such as “not all cow vigilantes are bad” only reconfirm that the political leadership is unsympathetic towards disrespect to the new narrative, the newly energised symbols of patriotism. Compassion is an act of cowardliness in these situations. Perhaps this explains why the vigilantes or the mobs now record their acts even as the victim pleads with folded hands or is bullied out of a movie theatre for failing to respect the “national anthem”. It is a reminder: compassion is not for those who disrespect this new ‘nation-building’ process.
As the list of symbols and ‘enemies’ of these symbols increases every day, the virulent lynch culture seems here to stay – at least in the near future.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/changing-face-of-the-mob-new-narrative-of-nationalism-has-created-dangerous-public-emotion/story-pSk9zYbHjGOF7S6ac9uHeK.html
The mood of the nation, at present, is to explain its dealings with one another in the religious language of righteousness and sin. Eating beef is sin. Public display of love is a sin -- unless it is towards your nation.
This new emotion has its roots in outrage and hatred and its closest ancestor is the honour-based eye-for-an-eye kind of emotion of ancient times.
How did society concede this space?
A democratic nation committed to human dignity and following the Constitution is an effective deterrent to lawless tribalism. But the participants of this new ‘nation-building project’ emphasise that legal recourse based on Constitutionalism is long-winded and time-consuming. Faced with this question of choice between the futilities of liberal (also read alien) principles based on the Constitution and defending the current project of saving society from a perceived imminent threat, the instant system appears preferable. Vigilantism has now gained legitimacy.
India’s foremost public intellectual, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, has said: “These kinds of incidents always inhabited the realm of religious intolerance zone. Now it has entered a Constitutional and political realm and is finding acceptance. This is the first time we are seeing mainstreaming of such philosophy.”
Silence or condolence messages with riders such as “not all cow vigilantes are bad” only reconfirm that the political leadership is unsympathetic towards disrespect to the new narrative, the newly energised symbols of patriotism. Compassion is an act of cowardliness in these situations. Perhaps this explains why the vigilantes or the mobs now record their acts even as the victim pleads with folded hands or is bullied out of a movie theatre for failing to respect the “national anthem”. It is a reminder: compassion is not for those who disrespect this new ‘nation-building’ process.
As the list of symbols and ‘enemies’ of these symbols increases every day, the virulent lynch culture seems here to stay – at least in the near future.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/changing-face-of-the-mob-new-narrative-of-nationalism-has-created-dangerous-public-emotion/story-pSk9zYbHjGOF7S6ac9uHeK.html
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