Attitudinal violence and structural violence contribute immensely to physical violence in the forms of communal riots and mob lynching. This was the scenario facing India in 2019. There were 25 incidents of communal riots in India in 2019, and 108 incidents of mob lynching, according to the monitoring of Centre for Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS). CSSS monitors reportage of communal riots and mob lynching in the Mumbai editions of five leading newspapers- The Indian Express, The Hindu, Times of India, Inquilab and Sahafat. As per the reportage in these newspapers, the number of communal riots in 2019 (25) is lesser than 2018 where 38 communal riots were reported in the same newspapers.

Though the number of communal riots has declined, the discourse of communal violence driven by ideology of Hindutva supremacy remains the same. Newer issues are being used to heighten the discourse of communal violence- for instance the discriminatory legislation of Citizenship Amendment Bill which excludes Muslims linked with NRC, the abrogation of article 370 in Kashmir and the clamp down on communication subsequently, the demand for construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya. Thus, though it appears that the number of communal riots has declined, that in no way can be construed as decline in communal discourse leading to communal violence itself. If at all, through discriminatory legislations and increasing dismantling of democratic institutions which were expected to safeguard democracy, communal violence is taking deeper roots in our society. The discourse promoted by the ruling party in conjunction with the impunity and patronage given to police and non state cadre is effectively perpetrating violence against the marginalized. Even if the number of communal riots is low, communal violence has stronger manifestations in structural and attitudinal violence.

Methodology of Monitoring:

The findings of Centre for Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS) are based on the reportage of communal riots reported in Mumbai editions of five newspapers- The Indian Express, The Times of India, The Hindu, Sahafat and Inquilab. This is also the limitation of the findings since they are based on the city editions of only these five newspapers. In the past, CSSS could give a fair comparison between the number of communal riots emerging from its monitoring and the number of communal riots reported by the National Crimes Report Bureau (NCRB) which used to routinely place this data in the public domain. It’s interesting to note that though the Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy claimed that the Centre has zero tolerance for incidents of communal violence, it hasn’t proved this claim through figures and stopped giving out data(Scroll in, 2019). The NCRB ceasing to publish data of the communal riots from 2017 is no mere coincidence. In the past, the number of communal riots reported by the NCRB or the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) was way higher than that reported by CSSS.

Sections: Communal riots and Mob Lynching

As explained last year in its report, CSSS reported that though there is a decline in the number of communal riots in India in 2018, it doesn’t imply that there is a decline in communal violence (Engineer, Dabhade, Nair, & Pendke, 2019). Communal violence is a broader term encompassing communal riots as well as mob lynching. While the number of communal riots is declining according to the reportage in the Mumbai edition of these five newspapers, the number of mob lynching is increasing. Mob lynching is an instrument to achieve the objective of sustained communal polarization by involving communal symbols like cow, the issue of love jihad or even the more innocuous pretexts like theft etc targeting the Muslims. In 2019 too, the same pattern continued where though the number of communal riots decreased, the number of mob lynching were high. Thus the report of communal violence which manifested itself in the form of physical violence is divided into two sections: Communal riots and Mob lynching.

This section will attempt to understand the salient features of communal riots in 2019.

Salient points:

Religion wise break up of deaths and injuries:

In 2019, from January 1 to December 31, according to the above mentioned newspapers, 25 communal riots took place in 2019. In these 25 riots, 8 lives were claimed. Out of the 8 persons deceased, three killed were Hindus, three killed were Muslims and the communities of two persons killed were not specified in the reports. The two Hindus were killed in Maharashtra and UP. In the communal riot in Maharashtra, a fight broke out between the two groups which got a communal angle. The fight broke out during a game of gambling in the Amravati resulting in the death of one Sham Phelwan. A riot ensued and subsequently two Muslims were killed in the riots. In the Muzzafarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh, again, a personal conflict over a trivial issue of kite flying between some children assumed the communal colour. Both sides confronted each other and one group entered the house of the deceased, Raj Kumar and attacked him and other family members. Raj Kumar got critically injured in the clash and later died while being taken to hospital. One Vishnu Yadav died after being attacked over the issue of stone pelting during a procession of immersion of some idols in Bihar’s district of Jehanabad. One more Muslim, Jamiruddin Tapadar died in Hailakandi, Assam. This riot was resulting from a traffic congestion caused due to Friday prayers. 54 persons were injured in these 25 incidents of communal riots.

Graph 1: Religion wise break up of deaths and injuries:

Religion wise break up of Arrests:

In 25 incidents of communal riots, there were a total of 48 arrests. 47 of the arrested from 48 arrests were from unspecified community whereas one was a Muslim. There were no arrests of specifically any Hindu.
 

Graph 2: Religion wise break up of Arrests:

Region wise break up of communal riots:

The state of Uttar Pradesh continued to top the list of states which had the most number of communal riots. Out of 25 communal riots, 9 took place in UP. This is contrary to the claim of the Chief Minister of UP who claimed that there have been no communal riots in UP after BJP came to rule (Times of India, 2019). UP was followed by the state of Maharashtra where 4 communal riots were reported in 2019.  Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir each had two communal riots in 2019. In the states of Karnataka, Haryana, Assam, Delhi, Bihar and West Bengal reported one communal riot each.

These figures indicate that communal riots have mostly been reported in the northern zone of the country and the north has been the theatre of violence with deep faultlines. The western zone of the country has been prone to communal violence traditionally. Interestingly, though no communal riots from Gujarat were reported in the Mumbai editions of the five newspapers, the local newspapers in Gujarat have reported 9 incidents of communal riots in 2019.

However it will be misleading to believe that there is little or no menace of communal violence in the South and Eastern parts of the country only because of the low number of communal riots reported from these regions. The communal discourse replete with hatred and hate speeches is very much prevalent in the east and south. The discourse is infused with newer issues like Citizenship Amendment Bill, National Register of Citizens, abrogation of article 370 in Kashmir and the overall narrative of Muslims being disloyal and second class citizens of India. Such a discourse manifesting in structural and attitudinal violence has sharply polarized the communities along religious lines. 

Graph 3: Region wise break up of communal riots:

Triggers/ Immediate causes:

In total, nine incidents of communal riots are associated with religious processions, festivals or celebrations. As observed in the previous few years, aggressive sloganeering, deliberate loud music to instigate the other communities, deliberating planning procession routes to clash with other religious communities has been used as a pretext to trigger communal riots. Out of the – riots, four took place in the state of UP, two in Rajasthan, one in Maharashtra, one in Madhya Pradesh and one each in West Bengal and Bihar.

Graph 4: Triggers/ Immediate causes:

In 2019 too like in 2018, the use of religious processions and festivals has been instrumental in fomenting communal tensions leading to violence. Out of the 25 communal riots, nine were triggered off by or during religious processions. The Kanwariyas or the Kavadyatras have been given protection and state patronage in a way that the State has favoured them. Out of the nine communal riots triggered due to issues related to religious procession, three took place in UP itself. In the Badaun district of UP, stone pelting took place during a Kanwariya yatra which coincided with the timings of Id namaz. The Muslims objected to the loud religious music played in the yatra which led to the riot. In Agra, members of Bajrang Dal protested against the Muslims offering the Id namaz on the road. 70 Bajrang Dal members who were not allowed to pass through the road due to the prayers threatened to recite Hanuman Chalisa on the road. In Balrampur district of UP, stone pelting took place during the idol immersion ritual on Dussera over playing of music.

In 2019, in Hingoli district of Maharashtra, the participants in the Kavad Yatra came in conflict with a group of Muslims who were together to offer Eid prayers. The procession had devotional songs playing on speakers. Both the groups started shouting religious slogans. In Jaipur, Rajasthan, communal riot ensued after a Haridwar bound bus was pelted by stones by some Muslims and blocked the Delhi Highway. This was a fall out of the tensions with the Kanwariyas. In Tonk district of Rajasthan, stones were pelted at a Vijayadashmi procession in the town, triggering vandalism and arson. Locals staged a sit-in outside the Malpura police station and refused to burn the effigies of Ravan till their demand for immediate arrest of the miscreants was met.

In Shajapur in Madhya Pradesh, stones were pelted on a Muharram procession. During the violence some two wheelers were set on fire. In Jehanabad, Bihar, riot broke out when a stone was thrown at the procession being taken out for immersion of idols near the Arwal More. The devotees blamed by-standers belonging to another community for the same after which both sides indulged in heavy stone-pelting which had left 14 people injured. The riot claimed two lives. Several shops in the area were set on fire by the rampaging mobs and the situation was brought under control after prohibitory orders were issued.In Purba Medinipur in the state of West Bengal, Christmas celebrations in a Church were disrupted when a group of men entered the church premises raised slogans “Jai Shree Ram”, attacked about 100 worshippers and vandalised the church and a vehicle belonging to the pastor. According to police, one was severely injured and others few had minor injuries and the locals appeared to be associated with the BJP as per the initial investigation.

Though religious festivals or processions remain the main reason emerging from the reportage of communal riots, there are other triggers that have led to communal riots which are insightful as far as understanding the patterns of communal riots are concerned. Rumours of cow slaughter/ beef and eve-teasing of women by members of “other” communities are still triggers for communal riots. However there is a more overt and aggressively emboldening shift in the pattern where Muslims are targeted and attacked and told to go to Pakistan, sending a message that they are second class citizens of the country and don’t belong to India. In a blatantly shocking incident in Dhamaspur in Gurgaon, members of a Muslim family and guests who had come to visit them were beaten with sticks and rods, allegedly by 20-25 men, who barged into their home and attacked them on Holi evening. The incident took place when some of the accused allegedly approached the boys from the family, who were playing cricket outside, and demanded that they “go to Pakistan and play”. During the attack the family members were beaten up mercilessly and their house was damaged along with 2 motorbikes and a car. The accused also fled with valuables from the house. This is not an isolated incident but comes in the wake of the persistent attacks on individuals across the country demanding them to chant “Jai Shri Ram” or asking Muslims to go to Pakistan, especially after the re-election of BJP in general elections.

Role of the State:

The State in its response to communal riots is guided by its ideology of Hindutva or supremacism based on religion. Muslims and other minorities are targeted by state and non- state taking cue from the hate speeches of those in power and the active network of patronage. This has allowed the violent supremacist to wreck violence with impunity. The police did not only fail to prevent the riots or bring the culprits to justice, but the police itself have indulged in violence against the innocent. The response of the police at Jamia in the midst of protests against the discriminatory CAA was starkly telling of this pattern. In unprecedented action, the police entered the Jamia Milia Islamia campus in Delhi on 15th December, 2019 and beat up the students with batons and used tear gas. The police have reportedly used stun guns used in terrorists operations to attack students of Jamia in their hostels and libraries leading to one student losing one of his eyes and other one losing one arm. The police action at Seelampur was also condemnable. One can’t help but notice that the police have become a brute force or army of the ruling party and wrecks violence on innocent students and Muslims whenever ordered to do so with no regard to law and order. The police indulge in shoddy investigation to allow the culprits to exploit the loopholes and go scot free.

The judiciary too has been tardy and not hearing these cases with priority, thereby delaying and now clearly denying justice. The role of the executive and the police in Uttar Pradesh has been particularly disturbing given how it has violently targeted the Muslim community leading to 23 deaths, and recovering the cost of damage from the Muslim community with a vengeance to break the very morale and backbone of the protest against the CAA.

Instead of acting as an antidote to hatred and violence, the State has actually turned against its own citizens and is attacking them in the most brutal. The State has become so overbearing that it has influenced all arenas of public knowledge and debates like it has in terms of state institutions. The media especially is influenced to only present the narrative weaved by the state and achieving this with whatever means necessary- manipulation of facts and highly partial coverage of news. Such incredibly biased reportage is shaping the popular imagination of the country and shrinking the spaces for impartial and objective public debates.

Conclusion:

2019 sees the brazen communal attitude of the State which is using all its organs to maintain a highly polarizing communal discourse. This discourse doesn’t depend on communal riots alone but has in fact found many other forms to seep into the Indian society. However, the year 2019 ended with re-invigorating energy and hope when citizens across religious identities came together to put up a determined and spirited protests to save the constitution of the country in the face of discriminatory laws pushed by this government matched only by its brutality to defend these laws. Such unity may be the anti-dote required to counter communal riots.

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2019 proved to be a rather tumultuous year for India signalling unrest and violence especially communal violence. Communal violence is a broader term which encompasses communal riots, hate speech targeting a particular religious community, structural violence targeting any particular community  (Engineer, Dabhade, Nair, & Pendke, 2019). It is observed that since the BJP came into rule from 2014, there is an increase in hate crimes and discriminatory policies targeting the marginalised communities including minorities, Dalits, women and Adivasis. Though the government has ceased to publish National Crime Bureau Records data on the number of communal riots from 2017 which makes comparison difficult, according to CSSS report, the number of communal riots seems to have decreased based on their reportage in leading newspapers (Engineer, Dabhade, Nair, & Pendke, Communal Violence 2018: Locating the Role of State and Changing Nature of Violence, 2019).

Structural violence, on the other hand which manifests itself in discriminatory policies by state and state actions leading to discrimination and violence have gained prominence in the past few years. CSSS monitors communal violence annually. This year it will analyse communal violence in three parts, starting with structural violence followed by attitudinal violence and finally physical violence. Given this salience of structural violence in India, CSSS which annually monitors communal violence in India, will analyse below the key aspects of structural violence in India which fuels communal violence.

Communal riots in the past have had a polarizing effect and helped BJP gain political and electoral dividend. According to Paul Brass, there is an institutionalized riot system in India which can orchestrate violence depending on political exigencies and mostly before elections for political mobilization (Brass, 2004). Owing to the electoral dividends of communal riots, till BJP was not in power, communal riots were orchestrated on a larger scale. These riots went on for longer period and claimed more number of lives, disrupting normal life. Post 2014, riots have been low intensity in the sense that they are of shorter duration and cause lesser disruption of normal day to day life. Thus, the means of political mobilisation and polarisation have changed significantly after 2014 and in this context; structural violence assumes importance in order to fully comprehend the changing patterns of communal violence.

Structural violence is more subtle in a way it is in built in the structure itself. Thus it is sanctioned and backed by the state with legitimacy. Structural violence is more long lasting owing to its ability to institutionalize violence to perpetrate itself. This makes it possible to influence discourses in a way to reproduce discrimination and demonization of the vulnerable groups. The policies of state and subsequent state action have reinforced and exacerbated this discrimination against minorities which constitutes violence, denying them equal rights and equal citizenship. For instance, to begin with, the very definition of citizenship is undergoing a flux today. Citizenship which is a fountainhead of all rights is contested and defined today in exclusionary terms. The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) seeks to give accelerated citizenship to Hindus, Christians, Jains, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. As is evident, the Muslims are excluded from this discriminatory Act. Looking at the nature of this Act one can’t help draw parallel with Israel which practices the “law of return”. The belief that Israel is a natural home for all Jews all around the world is akin to the belief of BJP which in its manifesto claims that India is a natural home for all Hindus all around the world. This Act seeks to contest the very foundation of our constitution which rests on secularism and equal citizenship. This has sparked a primordial fear among Muslims, who see the government’s meddling with citizenship laws as nothing short of an existential threat.

The basic premise on which the CAA and NRC is based on is that there is cross border migration. The BJP depending on their political needs has shifted its definition of immigrants. While in Assam it made no distinction between Bengali speaking Hindus and Muslims based on religion to suits its politics, overtime, it has insinuated that all Muslim immigrants are infiltrators and even termites. Home Minister Amit Shah said, “The illegal immigrants are like termites. They are eating the grain that should go to the poor, they are taking our jobs (The Indian Express, 2019).” The implications are always that these immigrants are Muslims. The line between Muslim immigrants (there is no official data but merely exaggerated figures) and Indian Muslims is blurred by the ideological moorings. This strengthens the already prevalent narrative against the Muslims that they anti-national, regressive, fanatical and violent. This narrative is reiterated by members holding constitutional power knowing well that it is divisive and will demonize the Muslims making them prone to violence and discrimination. The Prime Minister’s statement in the aftermath of the atrocities on Jamia Millia Ismailia students protesting against the CAA is telling on the attitude of the ruling dispensation vis a vis the Muslims. He said, “the Congress and its allies are making a noise, creating a storm. And if that doesn’t work, they are spreading a fire… From the visuals on TV, those setting the fire can be identified by their clothes

 (Angad, 2019) ”.

 The police have used excessive force on the students especially from Universities which in their perception are “Muslim”. The police fired tear gas inside the Library at Jamia University in Delhi and beat up students seriously injuring students. In Aligarh Muslim University in Uttar Pradesh, the police went one step further: it lobbed stun grenades, which are used in war (Kumar, 2019). This led to an arm of a student being blown off and turned university campuses into war zones putting innocent youth at peril.

The protests against CAA by the students and others have been responded by barbarism especially in UP. “Iss hinsa mein lipt pratyek tatwa ki property ko zapt karenge, aur uss zapt se sarvajanik sampatti ko hue nuksaan ya kahin par public property ko jo damage kiya gaya hai, iski bharapaee bhi hum un sabhi upadraviyon se karenge. Kyunki yeh sab chinhit chehre hain. Wo sab videography mein aa chuke hain, CCTV ke footage mein aa chuke hain. In sab ki property ko zapt kar ke, inse hum iska badla lenge aur sakhti se nipatne ke liye maine iske baare mein kaha hai,” he said.

This intense vicious feeling of revenge of the CM was visited upon the Muslims in UP by sending them notices for compensation of the damage to state property, failing which their meager properties would be attached and confiscated. Most of these are minors and all are poor Muslims. The recklessness and motivated behaviour can be discerned from the fact that amongst those to whom the notices were sent included a Banne Khan, 87, who died six-years ago and 93 years old  Fasahat Meer Khan who has been bedridden for years (Chauhan, 2020).  This was coupled with indiscriminate arrests- 3417 people were taken into custody across the state as part of preventive action (Rehman & Sahu, 2019). 19 people have lost their lives in the anti-CAA protest in a span of one week- all of them Muslims. So ruthless was the police that it looted random Muslim households, vandalized their houses and smashed CCTV cameras. In no other protests have such brute force and terror unleashed on the protestors using the state apparatus. While earlier non state actors enjoying political patronage were given a free hand to wreak violence on minorities, now the state has declared war against its minorities by allowing police to use any amount of force selectively targeting Muslims to subdue them.

The CAA is intricately linked to the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The CAA is a precursor to NRC nationwide. The first step in this direction is the rolling out of the National Population Register (NPR). The NRC will compel all the residents of India to prove that their citizens of India through complicated legacy documents. The onus to prove one’s citizenship will be on the residents. The ones who don’t have the necessary documents will face the dreadful prospect of spending the rest of their lives in the detention centres. If the NRC process under the direction of the Supreme Court that was implemented in Assam is any indicator then this process will spell unimaginable miseries for the poor who will scramble to get the necessary documents even at the cost of livelihood. The Adivasis, poor and the transgender community like other marginalized communities, had no access to hospitals for birth certificates and the landless have no access to land documents. This very much reflects the socio-economic scenario in the rest of India. The CAA is a back door method to give citizenship to all those who can’t prove their citizenship except Muslims, clearly discriminating against them and putting them at imminent risk of inhumane life at the dreadful detention centres.

The CAA-NRC policy followed the abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir. Article 370 provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir which gave it greater amount of autonomy to make laws. The long standing promise of the BJP was fulfilled by hastily without taking the people of Jammu and Kashmir in confidence. Parliamentary democracy which reflects in dialogue and consultation was compromised by pushing this abrogation by brute majority of numbers in the Parliament. The move shocked and pained the people of Jammu and Kashmir who feel betrayed by this undemocratic authoritarian move. In order to muzzle dissent in the state, the centre has imposed shutdown of internet and phone lines, thereby isolating the state. There are alarming reports of the excesses of the defence force which are arbitrarily detaining men and boys as young as 10 years old and torturing the people into silent submission. This abrogation set a precedence of passing laws targeting the Muslims and reigning terror against them to dehumanize them and quell any voice of dissent.

Such policies are an affront to the very idea of India as conceived by the founders of the country. Apart from such policies which seek to alter the contours of citizenship, one of the ways that communal violence is taking deeper roots in the society is through the saffronisation of education with an aim of constructing a narrative that Muslims didn’t contribute to the freedom struggle and denying composite nationalism which was the basis of Indian freedom movement. There is a steady policy followed by the current ruling dispensation of rewriting history to glorify the RSS and the Hindutva ideologues. For instance, the Nagpur University has decided to include a chapter on “RSS’s role in nation-building” in the second-year Bachelor of Arts History syllabus. The university has deleted a part on “Rise and Growth of Communalism”, which discussed the role of the Sangh, along with the Hindu Mahasabha and the Muslim League, and replaced it with the RSS’s role in nation-building (Deshpande, 2019).

Making no bones of their attempt to falsify history to glorify the RSS, Home Minister Amit Shah has urged the historians in the country to rewrite from “India’s” point of view. This was against the backdrop of the design to confer the Bharat Ratna on Savarkar, prominent ideologue of RSS. “Had it not been Veer Savarkar, the 1857 ‘kranti’ (war) would not have become history and we would have been seeing it from the British point of view,” the Home Minister said (The Hindu, 2019). Not only this but on the one hand where universities and students are facing severe repression and denied freedom of expression to critique or question any policies of the state, on the other hand, the university students are expected to endorse the policies of the State. MS University in Vadodara urged the students and the staff to join a rally to support and celebrate the abolition of article 370 (Mohanty, 2019). This was in pursuance of the direction sent out by Ahmedabad District Education Department. A circular issued by the Ahmedabad District Education department asked all government, grant-in-aid and self-financed secondary and higher secondary schools to arrange special lectures, debate, essay and elocution competition, group discussions and other similar contests on the subject of Article 370 and Article 35A of the Constitution during the school assembly on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday (Sharma, 2019).

The other alarming trend is the astonishingly large sums of money spent on Hindu festivals and statues of Hindu Gods. At the same time, public festivals celebrating other religions or cultures are discouraged. For instance, Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government has allocated Rs 4,236 crores for the Kumbh Mela 2019, an iconic Hindu festival that is celebrated every six years, being held in Prayagraj (also known as Allahabad), which is more than thrice the budget of the Maha Kumbh in 2013 (Business Today, 2019). Ayodhya Deepotsava which precludes Diwali has been allocated INR 133 crores, making it a ‘state fair’ (The Indian Express, 2019). This is happening at a time where in Karnataka has cancelled celebrating the anniversary of Tipu Sultan, a Muslim King, who is revered in Karnataka (Times of India, 2019). This is a blatant assertion of Hindu supremacy and state giving hegemony to Hindu religion. These trends not just violate the Constitution which doesn’t allow taxpayers’ money to be spent on religious festivals, but also excludes festivals which are important to Muslims or Christians.

The Constitution has provided for an elaborate system of checks and balances in order to protect the values of the Constitution against the access or overreaching action of any of the arms of the state. However one can witness a steady corrosion of the criminal justice system. The police with their deliberate shoddy investigation and pressure from the political bosses have not been able to protect the innocent citizens. For example, there were numerous instances of Muslims being brutally beaten for not chanting “Jai Shri Ram”. Though it is evident that these crimes are communal, the police have denied that these are communal. For instance, four madrasa students in Unnao, UP were assaulted and forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram”. One of the accused in the case is district secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, the BJP’s youth wing. The police denied any religious angle (The Indian Express, 2019). The number of such cases shows that the perpetrators have no fear and these crimes continue with impunity. Similarly, there have been demands in Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka to withdraw criminal cases against BJP leaders involved in communal riots. Earlier in 2019, the UP government withdrew 75 cases related to the Muzaffarnagar riots that took place in 2013. It’s worth noting that 41 related cases have already resulted in acquittal dashing any hopes of justice (Sharma A. , 2019). However, there is a hopeless resignation looming large when it comes to prospects of justice from the judiciary given its judgments on Babri Masjid demolition and criminalization of triple talaq. The verdict of the case of Babri Masjid based on “faith and belief of the Hindu devotees” which directly amounts to defying the Constitution of which secularism is a cornerstone.

India is in grip of an authoritarian state which is waging a heinous war against its own poor and minorities. The ruling dispensation in its policies is undermining the basic tenets of the Constitution and single minded targeting the minorities and the poor. This vile vindictive behaviour of the ruling dispensation specifically targeting Muslims is at odds of the idea of India itself. The discrimination, exclusion and the hatred, the structural violence produces is shaking the very foundation of India pushing it towards uncertainty and insecurity. The dominant result will be a monolithic society, fragmented along lines of religion producing a hierarchy in citizenship. The overwhelming sense of trauma and violence will break the spirit of once a vibrant democracy known as India.

Related :

Kerala passes resolution for withdrawal of CAA
Women, Trans and Queer Communities stand against CAA, NRC and NPR
Kerala kids show the way to solidarity and harmony
NPR is Step One to NRC, don’t be fooled
Rajasathan says ‘No’ to NPR
CMS opposing NRC must stop NPR exercise in their states: CPIM
PTI reports Rs. 8,500 cr approved for NPR, PIB retracts figure to Rs. 3,941.35 cr

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