Bulandshahr to Rohru

HIMACHAL is rarely in the news for communal tensions; perhaps the numerical strength of the ‘other’ is too insignificant to be preyed upon for electoral dividends. But just as the year was slipping to a close, a mob in Rohru, not far from the state capital, ransacked shops after a severed cattle head was “discovered.” After the Supreme Court put states on their toes by seeking periodic reports on mob lynching, an old trick seems to have been re-dusted: a standard operating procedure for spiking Hindu-Muslim communal tensions till the 1980s was to throw a severed head of a calf or a pig in their respective hot spots.

In Bulandshahr, it was a discovery of cow carcass that led to the death of a police official and a youngster. Three of the masterminds, all from Hindutva outfits, are on the run but the pattern is visible: a mob is worked upon after the ‘discovery’ of a carcass and even a clash with the police is not to be shied away from as the rabble expends its anger and frenzy. Himachal being far removed from the edgy, violence-laden culture of western UP, the mob fury took no lives. But the damage to Muslim-owned shops would have accomplished the purpose of making the minorities jittery while chalking up a ‘win’ for the Hindutva crowd.

From setting upon defenceless victims, there has been an emboldening of cow vigilantes to an extent where unsubstantiated allegations become the trigger for meting out street-level retribution. It is immaterial whether the foot soldiers are from Sangh affiliates or self-styled 'cow protection' rackets. If allowed to go unchecked, the atmosphere of impunity will begin to erode the rule of law in other sphere as well. By then it will be too late to drag things back. In both Bulandshahr and Rohru, the police must be allowed to probe without fear or favour. It is heartening that the Himachal Police will act against the protesters who ransacked the shops as well as get to the bottom of the conspiracy using forensic methods.