Bajrang Dal and other fringe groups do the dirty work which BJP cannot be seen doing; they do it over and over again with impunity while the rulers look away
Christmas is usually the season to be jolly. For many Indians, there is hardly anything Christian about it. It is everyone’s festival. Just like Deepawali is everyone’s festival, and so is Eid.
But this year, much like the last few years, a group of people earlier operating as fringe have been mainstreamed to erode the spirit of Christmas.
Synchronised events of hate across the country during the Christmas week show that this wasn’t an act of the fringe, but organisations enjoying the patronage of modern politics and their cultural outfits. They seem so emboldened now that some of them are asking for a Hindu 'ISIS-like' organisation.
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The most important question isn’t these utterances, but the silence around them.
December saw a slow baking of hate. Let’s look at these cases one by one.
Kanker, Chhattisgarh: Two churches were torched and Christian homes destroyed amid a burial dispute involving right-wing groups.
Raipur, Chhattisgarh: On Christmas Eve, a mob vandalised Christmas decorations at a mall.
Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh: Multiple prayer meetings were disrupted, including assaults on participants.
Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh: Similar disruptions and verbal threats at Christian gatherings.
Puri, Odisha: A poor family selling Santa caps was bullied and driven away by locals, declaring India a "Hindu rashtra."
Haridwar, Uttarakhand: A Christmas event at a hotel was cancelled after threats from Hindutva groups.
Rishikesh, Uttarakhand: A Christian prayer meeting was disrupted; the intruder abused religious figures and shouted "Jai Shri Ram."
Palakkad, Kerala: A Christmas carol group, including children, was assaulted by an alleged BJP worker who destroyed their instruments.
Delhi (Lajpat Nagar): Women and children wearing Santa caps were confronted and chased away from a market.
Jodhpur, Rajasthan: A school was vandalised, with Christmas banners and decorations destroyed.
Mumbai (Kashimira): A Christmas programme was halted, and children were forced to chant Hindu chants.
All of this happened before Christmas. And this only continued on Christmas Day and after. There were as many as nine documented instances during or post-Christmas, focusing on active celebrations, including church services, parties, and tourist activities.
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Nalbari, Assam: VHP and Bajrang Dal members entered the St Mary’s School, raised slogans, vandalised Christmas decorations, and set items on fire. Nearby shops faced similar attacks.
Raipur, Chhattisgarh: Christmas decorations were destroyed inside a mall during celebrations.
Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh: During a Christmas programme for disabled children, a BJP office-bearer mocked and assaulted a visually impaired Christian girl, invoking "next birth" karma.
Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh: Protesters recited Hanuman Chalisa outside the St Alphonsus Cathedral to disrupt carols.
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh: On Christmas Day, a cathedral service was disrupted by loud religious songs by outsiders.
Delhi (East of Kailash): Women wearing Santa caps were chased away from a market on December 25.
Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh: Locals misbehaved with Japanese tourists wearing Christmas caps near the Ganga at Dashashwamedh Ghat, harassing them and accusing them of polluting the river.
Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh: Bajrang Dal members attacked a birthday party at a cafe, accusing Muslim boys of "love jihad" in the presence of police. The group assaulted attendees and disrupted the event.
Weaponisation of hate
And, as if all of this weren't enough, Hindu right-wing organisations, often ignored as fringe, are now freely distributing weapons. They claim they are ‘arming Hindus’ to 'stay protected' against enemies.
The Bajrang Dal, named after Lord Hanuman, has done nothing in its brief period of existence to make Hanuman proud.
A hate factory that goes by the name of Yati Narsinghanand has taken this to a whole new level. He claims that distributing swords will not be enough. In order to protect themselves and their families from invasion, Hindus must form an ISIS-like organisation, he says.
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This man is a repeat offender who has, in the past, openly called Muslims 'demons'. He has held various religious congregations in UP and Uttarakhand, asking for an armed conflict against Muslims, openly distributing weapons.
Who let them do it?
Now, let’s ask ourselves. How is an open hate monger allowed to operate so freely in UP and Uttarakhand? Is ‘Bulldozer Baba’ Yogi Adityanath, whose government takes pride in extra-judicial actions like bulldozing the residences of alleged criminals, so weak that he cannot control these rabble-rousers?
Most of these recent instances of hate have happened in states ruled by the BJP — Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Odisha. This could only mean two things.
1) The governments are so weak that they cannot reign in these elements
2) Or, the hate mongers enjoy political patronage
Goons at work
Take a look at the Bajrang Dal, for instance. The manner in which goons entered a restaurant in Bareilly and bashed up a young boy for being Muslim. They alleged that the birthday party at the restaurant was a front for ‘love Jihad’ — a concocted idea that Muslims convert Hindu girls by luring them with love. A concept that enjoys political legitimacy in the BJP’s discourse. However, the Union Home Ministry, in a written reply to Parliament, refused to even acknowledge this concept on paper.
These goons entered the restaurant, harassed the girl who was celebrating her birthday, and terrorised all the other attendees by beating them up. They then slapped and thrashed two Muslim boys in a party of at least 10 people.
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The police came in, saw the hooliganism and took away the girl and the 'accused' Muslim boy in their van. The hooligans looked on and recorded the entire incident. Later, after much outrage, an FIR was registered.
Bajrang Dal, and BJP's silence
The Bajrang Dal, named after Lord Hanuman, has done nothing in its brief period of existence to make Hanuman proud. A simple internet search will tell you that this is a front for the less educated hooligans who understand nothing about religion.
The Dal is the student wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), which was formed by Vinay Katiyar and nurtured by none other than Yogi Adityanath. The Bajrang Dal’s tradition has been to spread chaos and terrorise innocent civilians. And they enjoy VHP and RSS patronage, with the BJP looking the other way.
In other words, the Bajrang Dal does the dirty work which the BJP cannot be seen doing. Why else would they keep doing it over and over again with impunity? Is Mr Aditynath so weak?
Optics vs action
While churches were being attacked, and Hanuman Chalisa was being recited, and BJP leaders were seen attacking and harassing visually impaired children over Christmas, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was seen visiting a church.
Experiments of hate do deliver good political results. However, its scars later are much more difficult to heal. They rupture the society for generations.
The image for the world and the nation to see, was that Modi is a statesman and he believes in respecting the festivals of all religions. That he would attend church proceedings on Christmas. That it would be wrong for us to have any other deduction.
However, synchronised attack on minorities all over the country in the backdrop of the PM’s statesman-like visits leaves a lot to be desired.
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The irony of ironies — in Modi's own parliamentary constituency of Varanasi, a group of Japanese tourists wearing Christmas caps at the ghat were recipients of unsavoury comments from locals. The PM always likens Kashi to Kyoto. Is this the impression of Kashi that we would like to give tourists?
Hate as an electoral strategy
Had action followed the PM's statesman-like visits, it would have given India more confidence that its government stands resolute and united against hate. That never happened.
Experiments of hate do deliver good political results. However, its scars later are much more difficult to heal. They rupture the society for generations.
The laboratories of hate for a while have been Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Both these states go to polls soon. Is a recipe being prepared ahead of elections? If not, then one expects action.
Ban the Bajrang Dal. Arrest hate.
(The Federal seeks to present views and opinions from all sides of the spectrum. The information, ideas or opinions in the articles are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Federal.)
