Even on Gandhi Jayanti, the most notable day for the practice of non-violence, Swami Agnivesh – Indian monk and human rights activist, who has devoted his entire life to Gandhi’s principles was greeted with violence as he launched his social harmony movement, ‘Vasudaiva Kutumbakam’.

“This spiritual, social, economic, ecological and political movement is the need of the hour across the world, including in India, which is festered by social evils like female foeticide and mob lynching, political and religious hatred and narrow interpretation of nationalism,” Agnivesh said while launching the movement in the state capital on Tuesday. He said he chose Kerala to flag off his movement because – “Kerala seemed to be ideal place for its launch considering the inspiration we could draw from this inclusive society. Though dark forces of fanaticism and communal disharmony are trying to make inroads into the state, people here have put up a strong resistance.”

At the event honoring Mahatma Gandhi and his preachings, Swami Agnivesh had just begun addressing the audience about traditional medicine and healing, a group of right wing Hindus, clearly supporters of the BJP and RSS, stormed the stage and threatened Swamiji. One among this mob actually made it onto the stage before the police and security personnel managed to escort Swamiji to safety. However, no arrests were made.
 
When a member of the security team at the event asked one of the men trying to stop the event about what the matter actually was, he answered saying that the auditorium was in the temple premises and since Swami Agnivesh was anti-Hindu should not have been allowed to hold a gathering there. On being asked how he knew if Swamiji was anti-Hindu, the man had no answer.

Saptagiri Iyengar, Co-founder of Hindus for Human Rights who was also part of the security team at the event recounted the event saying that he felt visible tension building up just after Swamiji ‘s introduction. He said there were very loud protest calls by a group of people against Swamiji and people started approaching the stage and a few minutes later there was a person a few feet away from Swamiji threatening him. Comments of asking Swami Agnivesh to go to Pakistan were also passed by the group.

Language being a barrier for the security team, they asked the audience what the group was protesting about. The attendees apprised them that the goons were from the BJP and RSS and disagreed with his ideals. It was fortunate that Swami Agnivesh had been provided with security just a day before this shameful incident. Had this not been the case, matters could have taken a turn for the worse.

Swami Agnivesh has been vocal and persistent in his call for a return to the secular and inclusive India, and his opposition to the Hindu nationalism of the current government. Attacks on Swami Agnivesh by the BJP are not new. In July 2018, the nationally prominent 79-year-old social activist known for his work against bonded labour, was slapped, kicked around and verbally abused in Jharkhand’s Pakur town by a mob, which he said belonged to BJP-affiliated youth groups who accused him of speaking against Hindus.

In August 2018, he was assaulted by BJP workers on his way to pay tribute to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The assault took place at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg in New Delhi.
               

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This attack comes soon after the attack on him in Jharkhand’s Pakhur area.

In the footage that is circulating on social media, Swami who is Saffron clad, can be seen being chased and assaulted by a group. The group also calls him “Deshdrohi” (traitor) as he keeps walking and trying to get away. One man yanks his turban and a woman is seen holding it, in a manner so as to strike him.

 
About the attack, Swami Agnivesh said, “I had gone to pay my respects to Vajpayee ji. Because of the police pickets, I had to walk down the last stretch… suddenly a group of people came and attacked us. There were two-three of us and they were quite a few. They beat us, pushed us around, abused us and knocked off my turban,”

Mr. Vajpayee, who was India’s Prime Minister for three terms from BJP and an RSS ideologue, died yesterday at 93. His body was kept at BJP’s new office in the state, which is located on the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Road for tributes just ahead of his funeral.
No arrests have been made so far for the previous attacks on him on July 17 in Jharkhand.

Reportedly, the BJP denied having any links with the attackers but one of its leaders justified the attack giving reference to Swami Agnivesh’s ‘track record’.  However, in the previous attack clear links of the attackers with BJP and other associated organisations had emerged. The attackers belonged to Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), Bajrang Dal, BJP, RSS.

It is speculated that Swami’s mass appeal and his work among Adivasis and women and children, apart from his upfront views on the promises of development by PM Modi are not being appreciated by the BJP supporters. Swami is also a staunch critique of regressive religious practices and has worked to bust many myths.
 

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This is not surprising, given how most attackers seem to belong to right wing organisations such as BJYM, Bajrang Dal or Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). 
 
Shockingly, when the Sabrang India team reached out to the DIG Rajkumar Lakda of Dumka, Jharkhand, where the FIR has been registered, he confirmed that none of those named in the FIR have been arrested yet. “There have been no arrests so far”, he said. When the team asked him about the reasons as the FIR clearly named people, he maintained a callous attitude saying, “Yes, the FIR is named, but unfortunately there have been no arrests yet. We need to review this [the delay in arrests].” The FIR was lodged by one Jai Malto, who had gone to Pakur to pick up Swami. He too got attacked in the chaos that ensued.
 
Hours after Swami Agnivesh was attacked in Pakur town of Jharkhand, where he had gone to attend a program with the Paharia tribe, BJYM’s state chief Amit Singh said that no one from his outfit was involved in the attack. The BJYM was staging a protest at the venue of the program.   
 
Why is Swamy Agnivesh a thorn in the side of Right Wing ideologues? 
It appears that Swami Agnivesh’s mass appeal and outreach among Adivasis and his clear bold stand against the farcical promises of the government, have earned him the wrath of right wing Hindutva extremists. Swami Agnivesh’s outreach work has been recognised across the world and he was awarded the Alternative Nobel Peace Prize (The Right Livelihood Award) in 2004.
 
Though born in a Brahmin family, he shed his caste, religion, name, and all his property and belongings “to adopt the life of a renunciate” and devoted his life to social justice. He has worked for the rights of bonded labourers, inter-generational labor, child labour and even contributed to the law making processes. He has also advocated for the rights of indigenous people and worked to eradicate alcoholism, violence against women, female foeticide and other social problems.
 
In any region that Swami Agnivesh worked, he earned a lot of trust of local people through his genuine and selfless work. More recently, he also extended his support to the Patthalgadi movement taking place in many areas of the country. He is also known for calling a spade a spade and has critiqued religion and religious practices. He has advocated a path of science and reason. It just appears that his reasoned stand hasn’t gone down well with the advocates of Hindutva ideology who are using Hindutva as a political ploy.
 
This kind of frustration is apparent in the statements made by those who have been named in the FIR. This is the list of people who have been named in the FIR (as per the Indian Express report):
 
Anand Tiwari: A member of the state BJP’s Kisan Morcha, according to a local office-bearer of the party. A farmer based in Sahebganj, Tiwari also runs an NGO.
Pintu Dubey: District convenor of Bajrang Dal, Dubey runs a small business, said a BJYM office-bearer.
Ashok Prasad: Was recently elected ward councillor in Pakur town.
Prasann Mishra: District chief of BJYM. Mishra said he has been associated with RSS since childhood, and runs a small business in medical supplies. He is also on the Senate of the Siddo-Kanhu Murmu University run by the state government.
Gopi Dubey: District BJP secretary. He undertakes civil contract work, said a local BJP office-bearer.
Balram Dubey: A BJP worker, works as a civil contractor, according to a party office-bearer.
Badal Mandal: RSS member, not involved in active politics, said BJYM’s Mishra.
Shiv Kumar: RSS member, not involved in active politics, said BJYM’s Mishra.
 
Prasann Mishra made a vague statement about the Swami, alleging he was Naxal supporter, he said, “Agnivesh has been constantly issuing statements that are against the true spirit of nationalism. He supports Naxals. He gives statements in support of patthalgarhi, which has been twisted from its original purpose to a form of resistance against the state. Agnivesh had come here to instigate tribals at the behest of agents of the Church.” He added that they were carrying black flags and that they didn’t initiate the attack. “The problem started when people, armed with bows and arrows, arrived in 10 vehicles to take Agnivesh to the function venue. They started to push and pull, which led to the incident. We believe that Agnivesh’s supporters orchestrated the incident,” Mishra said.
  
On the other hand, Ashok Prasad completely washed his hands off any responsibility though his name appears in the FIR. He alleges that he was named in the FIR due to reasons of personal anger and claimed that his name didn’t appear in any photos or video of the attack. 
 
Sudip Trivedi, BJP’s district media in-charge, alleged “Agnivesh and his supporters created a situation where BJYM and others associated with the Sangh Parivar could be accused of assaulting him.”
 
However the local leaders of these right wing outfits are not the only ones making such statements. Just a day after the attack, instead of taking cognisance of such a serious and vicious assault on this defender of human rights, an 80 year old man, Jharkhand state’s urban development minister, CP Singh said that Swami Agnivesh was a “fraud” and a “foreign agent”
 
Swami Agnivesh recalls the attack
Describing the attack on him, Swami Agnivesh said, “I couldn’t believe my eyes. A menacing crowd of 100 and 150 people just pounced on me. I folded my hands, but they were so angry, they were shouting nasty abuses, hurling mother-sister abuses at me. They hit me, punched me, kicked me, and threw me to the ground. When I was on the ground, they climbed on top of me and kicked me. They tore my clothes and threw my turban on the ground. I was shell shocked. It all happened in a few minutes. I thought it was the end. I was prepared to die that day. It was a typical lynch mob. Someone was saying ‘gau-maas ke samarthak, Bharat chodho‘ (supporter of cow flesh, leave India). I have never supported beef. The dominant slogan was Jai Shri Ram, Jai Shri Ram.”
 
Swami Agnivesh believes that actually it is the PM Modi who has given the legitimacy for such lynch mobs, “I blame Modi, Amit Shah, his regime, the state governments under the BJP and the central government, for building this hate mongering campaign and spreading this polarization. I blame Modi for the attack on me because he has been promoting these hate mongering forces, directly or indirectly, and trying to play up hardcore Hindutva politics, and that is why it has come to such a pass.”
 
Following the attack, many sections of democratic and progressive individuals and groups came together to register their anger over this vicious assault.

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Canada: South Asian activists came together on Sunday to raise their voices against the recent attack on Swami Agnivesh in India by Hindu extremists. Their protest took place at Holland Park in Surrey.
 
Agnivesh is a well-known Hindu reformist and a social justice activist. He has been very vocal against sectarian politics of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in India. He is a staunch critic of superstition and repression of minorities and marginalized sections of the society under BJP government that wants to turn India into Hindu theocracy.
 
Organized by the Indians Abroad for Pluralist India (IAPI), the rally was attended by people from diverse backgrounds. The speakers unanimously condemned the attack on Agnivesh and expressed their solidarity with the secularists who are being frequently targeted by the supporters of BJP.
 
An associate of Aginvesh, Acharya S.P. Dwivedi – who is a Hindu preacher himself, was among the speakers. He noted that the assault on him was an attempt to suppress the voice of reason.
 
The event began with a poem dedicated to Gauri Lankesh, a progressive journalist who was murdered last year by suspected Hindu extremists. The poet Amrit Diwana said that the attack on Agnivesh cannot be seen in isolation as it involves similar forces that earlier assassinated Lankesh and other rationalist thinkers.
 
The cofounder of IAPI Gurpreet Singh clarified that the mandate of IAPI isn’t just confined to opposing the BJP as it is also critical of the opposition Congress which has also played the politics of majoritarianism under the garb of secularism. Nevertheless, the organizers also condemned the attack on the office of a senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor for cautioning against the attempts to turn India into Hindu state by the BJP government.
 
Others who spoke on the occasion were Muslim activists Sayed Wajahat and Imtiaz Popat, Dalit activists Roop Lal Gaddu and Rashpal Singh Bhardawaj, rationalist activists, Harjeet Daudhria, Avtar Gill, Parminder Kaur Swaich and Bhupinder Malhi and well-known Sikh broadcaster Harpreet Singh, who is running for federal elections. Though Singh is a Conservative candidate, he stopped by to show his solidarity, whereas South Asian elected officials remained absent from the rally. So much so, most South Asian media outlets ignored the rally, even as representatives of several known media channels were present at the Fusion festival in the same park.
 
The demonstration coincided with the first anniversary of IAPI that was formed last year in response to growing attacks on religious minorities in India under BJP government.
 
The participants carried posters of Agnivesh that read; “An injury to one is an injury to all.” They also raised slogans against the BJP government. The event concluded with a song, “We shall overcome” by Imtiaz Popat.
 

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Many corners of the country are erupting with protests against the brazen attack on Swami Agnivesh. On July 19, Bengaluru, Mumbai, New Delhi and more cities have organised a protest.
 
A citizen’s protest against the mob attack has been called at 5 pm at Parliament Street in New Delhi. It is being hosted by known social rights activist Kavitha Krishnan and Sucheta De from AISA .

 
A joint protest has been called in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha on July 19 at 5 pm at Master Canteen Square by Narendra Mohanty, State Convener of INSAF & Campaign Against Fabricated Odisha. The protest is a united effort by the left, democratic and human rights organisations.
 
Another protest has been organised for July 19 in Mumbai as well. “Various secular democratic organisations and parties have decided to organise a peaceful protest to condemn the fascist mob attack on Swami Agnivesh, a respected national leader, former parliamentarian and an internationally renowned social reformer,” read a forwarded message. The protest will be held near Capitol Cinema, CSMT at 4.30 pm.
 
“Many leading citizens of our city will be attending the protest to take on the rising tide of communal fascism and intolerance that threatens to engulf our nation. We appeal to all constitutional, democratic and secular forces to resist the tide of the fascist onslaught.”
 
Eminent people like Anand Patwardhan, Com. Rege, Com. Prakash Reddy, Com. Anil Tyagi, Varsha Vidya Vilas, Jatin Desai, Feroze Mithiborwala, Irfan Engineer, Ravi Bhilane, MA Khalid, Amol Madame, Ajmal Khan, Salim Alware, Nuruddin Naik, Jyoti Badekar, Smita Salunke will also be present.

 
Civil society groups and individuals are hosting a protest rally in Town Hall, Bengaluru on Thursday at 4 pm. “We all believe in the secular and democratic ethos of the country. We are against divisive and hate politics propagated by communal forces in the country. We are hosting the protest to raise our voice against the barbaric attack on Swami Agnivesh,” said a Bengaluru-based activist.”
 
The Students Islamic Organisation of India held protests at many of their centres across India. One was organised on July 18 at the Town Hall in Tumkur, Karnataka. Their page also said that the accused people from BJYM also held a protest in Jharkhand against the attack.

 
A protest was also held in Jaipur at Ambedkar circle on Wednesday.
 
Effigy of ‘fascist forces’ was burned in Khammam, Telangana on Wednesday. “Activists of various organisations representing students, youth, women, farmers and labourers took to the streets here on Wednesday to protest against the attack on noted social activist Swami Agnivesh allegedly by members of the BJP’s youth wing in Jharkhand on Tuesday. Members owing allegiance to the Progressive Democratic Students Union (PDSU), the Progressive Youth League (PYL), the Progressive Organisation of Women (POW), the Indian Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) and the all India Kisan Mazdoor Sabha (AIKMS) staged a demonstration near the RTA office on the bypass road here vehemently condemning the incident,” reported The Hindu.

 
“The demonstrators set ablaze the effigy of ‘fascist forces’ in a symbolic protest against the alleged unabated attacks on writers, social activists, and other intellectuals by fascist elements across the country,” the report added.
 
The opposition also organised a noisy protest in the Jharkhand assembly. “Opposition parties today staged noisy protest over assault on social activist Swami Agnivesh in Pakur, forcing adjournment of the House. This happened despite Parliamentary Affairs Minister Nilkanth Singh Munda saying that Chief Minister Raghubar Das had set up a probe committee immediately after receiving the information,” reported NDTV.
 
“The Left and democratic forces organised protest demonstrations and burnt effigies of RSS at Ranchi, Jamshedpur & Koderma following the attack on Swami Agnivesh yesterday at Pakur by the sangh parivar hooligans. Comrade Brinda Karat along with Comrades GK Bakshi, Md Iqbal and Prakash Viplavi met SP in Pakur and condemned attack on Swami Agnivesh. They also demanded that all the accused who have been released on bail within a day of arrest should be taken back into custody and strict actions must be taken,” a facebook post shared by Rampari, a social activist and member of CPI stated.

 
Canadian organisation Indians Abroad for Pluralist India strongly condemned the recent attack on Swami Agnivesh by the supporters of Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). “Agnivesh is a vocal critic of superstition and religious fundamentalism. He has been speaking out against growing intolerance and attacks on minorities under the BJP government in India. He was viciously beaten during his visit to Jharkhand by those affiliated with the BJP. The attack was aimed at intimidating Agnivesh and muzzling a voice of reason. This follows series of murders of rationalist scholars and activists by those who are seeking to turn India into Hindu theocracy. The incident that left Agnivesh badly injured, must be taken seriously in the light of the killings of Narendra Dahbolkar, Govind Pansare, MM Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh by the Hindu extremists. We also deplore the recent attack on the office of senior Congress Party leader Shashi Tharoor who came under sharp criticism from the supporters of BJP for denouncing attempts to turn India into an exclusionist Hindu state. Though we don’t agree with the policies of the Congress party and will continue to question its secular credentials for its involvement in sectarian politics for opportunistic reasons, we believe that Tharoor should not be targeted for saying the right thing. Any act of violence to suppress the voice of those who believe in a diverse and pluralistic society must be condemned by everyone,” they said.

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Leaders belonging to different political parties, except for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is ruling the state and Centre, have condemned the attack on noted activist Swami Agnivesh at Pakur in Jharkhand on July 17, by a lynch mob.

Holding a press conference in Ranchi on July 18, the activist alleged that it was a pre-planned assault by people associated with right wing groups such as the RSS, the BJP and its youth wing BJYM and the ABVP.

“The incident cannot be seen in isolation. It is part of the series of attacks being carried across the state by lynch mob, which enjoy the support of the ruling party,” said one of the leaders, and added “We won’t accept any probe less than a judicial inquiry.”

Courtesy: Newsclick.in
 

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However, a couple of day earlier, thirty-two year old Mohammed Azam, a techie from Hyderabad, who worked with Accenture, was not so lucky. Suspected to be a ‘child abductor’ because of some rumours, he was lynched to death with stones and wooden sticks, when on a visit with family and friends, to Bidar District in Karnataka.

India’s murderous mobs are on the rampage as never before! Lynching has become the new normal in India! There can be no debate about that. It is visible, it is violent. The victims are invariably from minority and marginalized communities; someone regarded as an ‘outsider’ who is not ‘one of us’; or someone like Swami Agnivesh who has visibly and vocally taken a stand against the unconstitutional actions of the ruling class.  The tragedy of lynchings in India today, is that they apparently have the official sanction by the Government of the day; in fact, some of the central ministers, in the recent past, have publicly anointed those responsible for these bloody murders. All this portends ill for the future of the country.

‘Lynching’ is best described as “a premeditated extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, or to intimidate a group. It is an extreme form of informal group social control and often conducted with the display of a public spectacle for maximum intimidation”. Lynching must be considered as an act of terrorism and punishable by law. Instances of lynchings and similar mob violence can be found in every society. However, the lynchings in India, particularly in the last four years, must surely give the country the pride of place among the violent nations of the world today.

Mob violence or lynching is certainly not a new phenomenon in India. It has been taking place with frightening regularity all over the country. In November 1984, in the wake of the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the country witnessed mobs going round in Delhi and other parts of North India singling out Sikh men and brutally murdering them . Much of this was documented however; most of the big perpetrators were allowed to go scot-free. Sadly, after so many years many of the victims still do not have the comfort of experiencing a sense of closure to that terrible chapter of India’s history.

The Gujarat Carnage of 2002 apparently provided lynching with the aura and legitimacy with which it holds sway today. Rampaging and rapacious mobs murdered, raped, assaulted, looted, and burnt innocent and hapless Muslims all over the State. It is evidenced knowledge today that those who presided over these heinous crimes and instigated the unfettered mob violence were those who ruled the State. There were also two State Ministers in the police control room who were apparently issuing orders to the frenzied mobs. The police stood aside as mute spectators and sometimes even indulged in acts of violence. “We have no orders to save you!” is a retort from a police official to a Muslim victim desperately pleading to be saved.

Unofficial estimates state that more than two thousand Muslims were killed, many more injured and several thousands displaced in the bloodiest chapter of post-independent India. Thanks to the dogged efforts of several individuals and groups like the ‘Citizens for Justice and Peace’ (www.cjp.org.in) several of the perpetrators have been convicted and some have even been given life imprisonment. The plain truth is that the masterminds, the ‘big fish’ still remain free, roam the land with impunity, and have even managed to cloak themselves with immunity. That so many( and specially the powerful) could get away undoubtedly serves as a motivating factor to those anonymous individuals who are easily manipulated by the hate rhetoric, gossip and rumours that often fuel mob violence.

In March 2015, thousands of people broke into the Central Jail in Dimapur. They dragged out one Syed Khan, who was apparently arrested on rape charges. They stripped him; they beat him up, tied him to a motor cycle and dragged him for seven kilometres. He died on the way. The murderous mob then hung his body in full public view. Police reports state that it was not rape but that he had consensual sex with a local tribal woman and apparently paid her for it. In just about a year, there have been 27 lynchings across nine states in the country.

On 17 July (the very day Swami Agnivesh was brutalized), in a landmark judgment Supreme Court of India condemned the lynching incidents across the country. The Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak said the horrendous acts of mobocracy could not be allowed to become a new norm in the Country. “The horrendous acts of mobocracy cannot be permitted to inundate the law of the land. Earnest action and concrete steps have to be taken to protect the citizens from the recurrent pattern of violence which cannot be allowed to become “the new normal”…The State cannot turn a deaf ear to the growing rumblings of its People, since its concern, to quote Woodrow Wilson, ‘must ring with the voices of the people.’ The exigencies of the situation require us to sound a clarion call for earnest action to strengthen our inclusive and all-embracing social order, which would, in turn, reaffirm the constitutional faith. We expect nothing more and nothing less”

The Supreme Court  further observed that it is the duty of the State to ensure that the machinery of law and order functions efficiently and effectively in maintaining peace so as to preserve our quintessentially secular ethos and pluralistic social fabric. “In times of chaos and anarchy, the State has to act positively and responsibly to safeguard and secure the constitutional promises to its citizens”. The Court has recommended to Parliament to enact a separate law to punish those responsible for lynchings. “These have to be curbed with an iron hand…no citizen can take law into his hands or become a law on to himself”. Earlier on 3 July, the Supreme Court of India stated that violence in the name of cow vigilantism was not acceptable. “This is a law and order issue and each state has to be responsible. These kind of incidents cannot occur. It cannot be accepted in remotest sense. It is obligation of the states to ensure that such incidents do not occur,”

The recent Supreme Court judgement is certainly in the right direction. The big question however is, what happens if (as is blatantly obvious) in some states, the Government and the law and order mechanism are in connivance with the murderous mobs? Recently, Central Minister Jayant Sinha garlanded and felicitated eight men convicted of lynching a Muslim coal trader in a case of alleged cow vigilantism; earlier Gyan Ahuja the Alwar BJP MLA justified the murder of Pehlu Khan a dairy farmer who was also beaten to death by cow vigilantes; Union Minister Mahesh Sharma identified with the family of one of the accused in the Dadri lynching case. All these are not aberrations but a carefully orchestrated manner of the Government providing legitimacy to these crimes against humanity.
 
The Government and the police very conveniently shift the onus to rumours and ‘fake news’ spread via WhatsApp or other social media. One must be aware of the tremendous harm that can be caused through ‘fake news’. Pope Francis in a message for World Communications Day 2018 has warned us about this. However, in an Indian context, this can also be a very convenient ploy by the Government, to take control of social media. There are umpteen examples where social media does not egg mobs to murder another. If the Government was serious about controlling the lynching, they should have first booked their Ministers and others of their ilk, who through hate speeches target the minorities, the poor, the marginalized and those who are critical of the ruling party! There seems be a general apathy and the lack of a political will to deal with the murderous mobs; the reasons are obvious! Besides, police lethargy and even inaction in some of these crimes, is a major cause of concern.

A new ‘special anti-lynching’ law will not easily quell the murderous mobs. The Government has to make it clear, as per the directives of the Supreme Court, that lynching and mobocracy will not be tolerated; the only way it can demonstrate their commitment to this ‘zero tolerance’ is to  first effectively punish the ‘Godses’ and other murderers within its own ranks!
 

(Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ, is a human rights activist. Contact: cedricprakash@gmail.com )
 
 
 

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I was shocked to learn about the mob attack on Swami Agnivesh in Jharkhand today. The mob removed Swami’s saffron robes and tried to disrobe him in public. 

I spoke to Swami Agnivesh a few hours after the incident happened and he said that the mob would have lynched him had he not managed to escape.  

I have known Swami Agnivesh for over 25 years. He is an apostle of peace and a fighter for the poor, the oppressed and the marginalized. 

For over 30 years now, he has been at the forefront of the fight against child labour in the country. He laid the foundation for our understanding of the gross violation of human rights that child labour and bonded labour is. 

The later work on child labour by the UN and other agencies in India has much to be thankful for because of Swami Agnivesh. 

His historic struggle against bonded labour in the Brick Kilns in Haryana in the late 1980s and his legal fight against bonded labour ended with a seminal Supreme Court judgement against the mafia that ran the brick kilns in Haryana with bonded labour. 

The word Agnivesh means one who is dressed in flaming robes. The flaming robes that Swami wears are the flame of truth, nonviolence and justice for the poor and the oppressed.

Those who know him know that Swami Agnivesh is a fighter. He single-handedly fought against the Brick Kiln mafia three decades ago and won a historic battle for the bonded labourers there. 

An Indian Talibani bunch of cowards attacking and trying to lynch him will not stop Swami Agnivesh. It will only add strength to his resolve and to the historic non-violent struggle that he has carried out against oppression and fascism. 

Swami Agnivesh is well-known across the world and the world community would be aghast at the moral decline that India has been witnessing in the past few years.
 
That a person of Swami’s stature can be attacked in daylight in public by a violent mob, shows that India has travelled many centuries back in time in a matter of four years. 

The attack yesterday by a similar Indian Talibani mob on the office of Dr. Shashi Tharoor due to some of his comments shows the extent of the breakdown in public morality that the country has recently been witness to. He is the former External Affairs Minister of the country and former Under Secretary General of the UN.
Mobs run the country today. Mob lynching has become commonplace across the country. Initially, they were mobs lynching Muslims for allegedly killing a cow or for allegedly carrying beef. But now not only Muslims, but Hindus and people belonging to all faiths and castes are being lynched across the country for a variety of reasons. The latest round of lynchings is on suspicion of being child lifters. 

Many innocent lives have been lost to lynch mobs in the last few months. 

We do not have an effective Government in Delhi to speak of anymore, what with Prime Minister jet-setting across the world with hardly any time for India. He has visited over 60 countries in the last four years spending a total of Rs. 3600 million of Indian taxpayers money for his travels. 

Meanwhile, Talibani mobs rule the country. 

Democracy in India is descending into Mobocracy. The mob attacks on Swami Agnivesh and Dr. Tharoor are the latest examples.

The author is the Additional Chief Secretary of Government of Kerala. He was a Chief Technical Advisor at International Labour Organization. He also has a master’s in Solid State Physics.
 

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