Hate speech, hate attack

If it were all being done for a fictionalised television show, it would still be scary. It is happening right in front of us, and getting worse by the day. Being allowed to get worse by the day, to be politically correct. When the ruling dispensation consistently chooses to maintain silence over leaders indulging in hate speech, the message of complicity and legitimacy is not lost on the rank and file. Spewing venom thus is considered an essential component of party work, the degree and extent of toxicity is left to individual discretion. All this while the law and order machinery finds new ways to let down not only itself, but the Constitution it swears allegiance to.

Pictures do not lie, words cannot hide the intent. A call to violence, to detest the other — that too by those in positions of power, those meant to protect the citizen, the rule of law — is not expected to be met with passivity. The firing on anti-CAA protesters at Jamia cannot be seen in isolation. Hate attack after the ‘goli maaro’ hate speech is too much of a coincidence to be given simpler justifications. After drawing flak for questionable handling of the situation during student protests, the Delhi Police are now facing accusations of playing the perfect onlooker, waiting for the shooter to do what he had announced he would.

Elections are a tough ask. The pressure to garner votes can be immense and things said in the heat of the moment often come to haunt later. In Delhi, till sometime ago, the buzz was about a relatively clean campaign across the political spectrum, focused on issue-specific debates. With a week to go, it has hit rock bottom. Hate speeches, disgusting name-calling, almost inciting clashes, the list goes on. The punitive action taken does not deserve mention, accountability seems unlikely, and remorse? That’s entirely unlikely. Fact, mind you, not fiction.