In my opinion, India is no longer ‘the land of ahimsa.’ Far from it! India is synonymous with the land of violence now more than ever. We don’t even have to dig deep to realise the harsh reality of the statement. Every day an incident of violence is reported, Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of non-violent India shatters a little.
What has fuelled the staggering increase in the cases of violence in recent years? Is it the Modi government? This Data should be enough to prove that violence rose notably against the minority communities and Dalits after BJP came into power in the centre with Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister. The ruling party’s leaders, along with RSS, have supported violence and lynchings in the name of cow protection and even nationalism.
Between 2016 and 2019, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) registered 2,008 cases where minorities and Dalits were harassed, lynched or killed. Of these, Uttar Pradesh alone accounted for 869 cases, i.e. 43% of the total cases of violence. While the number of cases of violence against minorities in Uttar Pradesh reduced by 52% between 2016-17 and 2018-19, the number of cases of violence against people from the Dalit community saw an increase of almost 41%.
On Thursday, 30th January, a teenager from Uttar Pradesh opened fire at the anti-CAA protestors outside Jamia, while the police were present. A student was injured from the university as he tried to stop the shooter. This incident came soon after Anurag Thakur, BJP leader, was heard promoting this slogan, at a rally, “Desh ke gaddaron ko goli maro” (shoot the traitors). As the hate speech continues, so will the hate crimes.
Whatever reason we attribute to the increase in the number of hate crimes; whether a cow protection movement, faulty law and order, apathetic reactions from political leaders, encouraging and celebrating the act of violence and apparently the BJP and RSS instigating hate among the people, in my opinion, there is no denying that the Modi government has worked as fuel in increasing the violence.
The Modi government has succeeded in its agenda, of tearing the nation apart, so as to further their plans, of achieving their goal of establishing India as Hindu Rashtra through hate, violence, and terror.