The growth of the fanatic

When the two young Muslim men beheaded or almost severed the head of the Udaipur tailor, Kanhaiya Lal, I pondered over the religious fanatics I came across during the course of my own sojourn on earth. Since I was born and brought up a Catholic, the people I met in my youth were mostly from that denomination. Looking back, I will say that most Christians I knew were those who went to Sunday Mass and did their obligations of confessing their sins and receiving Communion thereafter. I cannot think of anyone who was prepared to kill or maim, or even strike another because of what is now termed commonly as blasphemy! In short, the Christians in India may have in their midst an extremist or two, but they are so few that I have never come across any such person.

Religious fanaticism was evident in Syria and Iraq where the Islamic State had captured some territory and set up an Islamic caliphate.

This is not the case in the Muslim community. It has more than its share of enthusiasts hung up on religion and what has been taught to them in madrasas and by mullahs. The strict adherence of the student to what is called by the clergy as the ‘word of God’ is for them a commandment they not only need to obey, but also need to enforce. Having accepted the mantle of enforcer, they go about looking for blasphemers in every nook and corner.

This is the position in Pakistan, for instance, where the Governor of Pakistan Punjab was shot by his own security detail because he disapproved of blasphemy laws. The law there has been so widely abused that quarrelling neighbours often accuse their opponents of blasphemy and have her or him thrown in jail, as the word of a believer as against that of a non-believer is accepted as the truth. If the opponent is a Hindu or Christian, her or his goose is cooked! Many such cases have been reported in the Pakistan press, and even internationally.

Fortunately, we have not come to this sad pass in Hindustan, but we are dangerously close! Indira Gandhi was shot by two of her own guards, who were Sikhs. The insult to Akal Takht during the Army assault ordered by the PM had upset the community immensely. Even some Sikh battalions of the Army had revolted — so great was the hurt.

We read of religious fanatics among Hindus also. This is a more recent phenomenon born as a reaction to Islamic fanaticism. I came across my first instance of nascent fanaticism on an organised scale among Hindus when Hemant Karkare, the IPS officer who lost his life on 26/11, met me in my office a day earlier to disclose the evidence he had gathered against Sadhvi Pragya and Col Srikant Purohit (retd) of Abinav Bharat in the Malegaon blasts case.

Hemant and I were agreed on the origin of the deep anger the Sadhvi, the Colonel and their friends had developed against the Muslim fanatics, who, they felt, needed to be countered and checked by a parallel fanaticism, in an otherwise gentle religious formation. They obviously felt that jihadi fanaticism, if not opposed, the majority Hindu community would be quickly swamped by an aggressive minority that stopped at nothing to prove that their God was the only true one.

There was logic in their insanity. But the State cannot accept such logic that ends in deaths of innocents. The lawmakers know no distinction between creeds and communities when dealing with infractions of the law. The police is bound by law to investigate impartially to arrive at the truth.

Religious fanaticism was evident in Syria and Iraq where the ISIS had captured some territory and set up an Islamic caliphate. It did not last more than a couple of decades, as expected. But as long as it ruled the territory it had captured, the regime was the most cruel. Beheadings were meticulously staged and filmed to strike terror in ordinary mortals.

Kanhaiya Lal’s only fault was to tweet favourably for Nupur Sharma, the BJP spokeswoman-turned-‘fringe’. The Supreme Court commented on her role in spreading hate in the country, but is she the one who started it? This spread of hate had begun much earlier, in 2015, when the first shots were fired by foot soldiers who killed Mohd Akhlaq at Dadri village in UP for allegedly killing a calf. The madness had begun. Since BJP’s top leaders did not comment on the tragic incident it was believed by the rank and file that lynchings were an accepted form of counter-offence against the Congress appeasement of the Islamic clergy.

The BJP’s plan to neutralise such ‘appeasement’ for electoral gains has succeeded. It has divided society, but at what cost? It will destroy the nation. Some signs that the PM is taking note of the downside of his policy have been seen in recent times. Modi can’t come out with all his standards flying lest it upset his core constituency. Signs of the core getting confused and irritated was noticed after the party suspended Nupur. She has a sizeable following because of her hectoring of the minority.

Modi has asked his followers to help uplift the poorest Muslims! Does he expect them to obey? Muslims, like Dalits and Adivasis, are the poorest of the poor. They are educationally and socially backward. They will require much more than ordinary efforts because their clergy, which has a vested interest in their backwardness, has an influence on their thoughts and actions. Modi has his work cut out for him. It is not going to be easy.