The Rule of the Mob: Now Delhi, Earlier Jharkand and Uttar Pradesh


 
Mob rule has well and truly been unleashed. Two weeks to the day, on a Friday March 19 two males, one barely adult, Mazlum Amsari (32) and Imteyaz Khan were hanged to death at Balumath in Latehar district of Jharkand in a brutal act that bespoke not just the rule of the mob but the unspoken immunity enjoyed by nameless cadres of the sangh parivar, now been accorded sanction to take law into their hands, lynch, kill, and if you are lucky beat up and even sexually threaten and assault.

So it does not quite matter if Mohan Bhagwat, RSS supremo — the man behind the Delhi throne leading the machine of the RSS which is the street army of the present regime – magnanimously as it were declares that ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ should not be coercively elicited. The repeated utterances of members of parliament, ministers and functionaries of the RSS that give sanction to exclusivist ‘nationalisms’ are signal enough for their cadres.

The latest such manifestation was Delhi. An 18-year-old madrasa student’s arm was broken, and two of his classmates injured after a group of young men allegedly assaulted them for not saying ‘Jai Mata Ki’. The Indian Express reports that the Delhi Police on March 30 arrested five persons, all in their 20s, in connection with an alleged assault on three madrasa students in Begumpur. On March 26, an 18-year-old madrasa student’s arm was broken, and two of his classmates injured after a group of young men allegedly assaulted them for not saying ‘Jai Mata Ki’.

According to Dilkash, he and his friends, Ajmal and Naeem, were walking through a park in the area when they were assaulted. “My friends and I had gone to Bans Wala park, some 300 metres from the madrasa, when we were attacked by a group of young men. They spotted us because we were wearing caps and asked us to say Jai Mata Ki,” he told The Indian Express.


Latehar Jharkand

According to Dilkash, one of the assailants hit Ajmal after they “refused to chant Jai Mata Ki. “When I intervened, they started beating me as well,” said Dilkash, adding that Naeem was also roughed up. Dilkash, Ajmal and Naeem are from Bihar’s Purnia district and came to Delhi last year to study at the Faiz-ul-uloom Ghausia madrasa in Ramesh Enclave’s Mohammadi Masjid. The trio said they managed to escape after a few minutes and flee towards the madrasa. “All are in their early 20s and are the residents of the same area,” SCP Vikramjit Singh is reported to have said.

Meanwhile, while many reports in the media reported Bhagwat’s statement as interpreted to mean that there should  be no coercion on the utterance of ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’, another report in the Hindi media suggested that Bhagwat has visions of the whole world uttering, reverentially the slogan, ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ “Puri Duniyase ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ Bulwana Chahte hai Sangh Pramukh Mohan Bhagwat” The report dated March 27 says that, “आरएसएस के प्रमुख मोहन भागवत ने रविवार (27 मार्च) को कहा कि संगठन चाहता है कि देश शोषण मुक्त और आत्म सम्मान से पूर्ण बने और पूरी दुनिया भारत को सलाम करे।

फ्रेंड्स ऑफ ट्रायबल सोसायटी के सह संस्थापक दिवंगत मदन लाल अग्रवाल के जीवन पर लिखी गई एक किताब के विमोचन के अवसर पर भागवत ने कहा, ‘‘हम चाहते हैं कि पूरी दुनिया ‘भारत माता की जय’ बोले। हम भारत को समृद्ध, शोषण से मुक्त और आत्मसम्मान से भरपूर बनाना चाहते हैं। इसके लिए हमें अपनी जिंदगी में भारत को जीना होगा।’’

राष्ट्रीय स्वयंसेवक संघ के प्रमुख ने कहा कि बंटवारे के बाद पाकिस्तान ने ‘भारत’ के नाम पर दावा नहीं किया क्योंकि वह उन गुणों को स्वीकार नहीं कर सकता जो भारत में है। उन्होंने कहा कि वेद, ‘देव भाषा’, ‘आदि भाषा’ और संस्कृत व्याकरण की रचना भी पाकिस्तान के क्षेत्र में हुई।

भागवत ने कहा, ‘‘लेकिन उन्होंने (पाकिस्तान) अपना नाम अपनाया और ‘भारत’ नाम को छोड़ दिया क्योंकि वे वो गुण स्वीकार नहीं कर सकते जो भारत में हैं।’’ रामायण का जिक्र करते हुए भागवत ने कहा, ‘‘हम कहते हैं कि यह काफी प्राचीन है लेकिन यह इतिहास है।’’
हल्के फुल्के अंदाज में भागवत ने कहा कि वह भाग्यशाली हैं कि आरएसएस का नेतृत्व कर रहे हैं। उन्होंने कहा, ‘‘मुझे नहीं मालूम कि चुनाव होने पर क्या होगा। लेकिन यहां नियुक्ति हुई है। मैं भाग्यशाली हूं।’’

Which report may we hold the Sangh to? Or should we, as citizens owing allegiance to the Indian Constitution also ask, who the Sangh is –the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to actually dictate or not what should be the guiding principles by whicht this country and its people function?

References:
1. 18-year-old Madrasa student’s arm broken for not saying “Jai Mata Ki”

2, Boy beaten up over refusal to chant slogan in Delhi  

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