Our leaders do not like the word ‘intolerance’. Every time, someone talks about intolerance, the rulers use to produce plenty of counter-narratives to prove that India remains a tolerant country as ever. Starting from famous cine star Sharukh Khan to Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani in Gujarat, all these people had to face the ire of those who think India belongs to them only. As a result, killings in the name of cow protection, love-jihad etc., are on the rise. It is a pity while those killed were not getting justice. The killers are still roaming free with enhanced reputation of being the protector of a particular religion.
It will not be a distraction if an incident from Jharkhand is mentioned here. One person from minority community used to earn his livelihood by transporting various materials from one place to another in his own truck. Unfortunately he picked up a fight with one of his neighbours who belonged to the majority community. The person from the majority community was looking for an opportunity to teach the other person a lesson. So one day he assembled few others from his community and attacked his neighbour on the pretext of cow smuggling. They lynched him; burnt his truck. Police came to the spot and on enquiry found that animosity between the persons caused the tragic incident and registered a case of murder. The accused was arrested and produced to court. The deceased’s wife was supposed to stand as a witness in the gruesome murder. The day, on which she was asked to depose as a witness, she was told by someone that without producing the Aadhaar card she will not be allowed to stand in the witness dock. Finding no other alternatives, the widow was on her way to house pillion riding. Suddenly a truck came from nowhere and crushed the lady under its wheel. Everyone realised that it was another organised murder. But after such a horrific incident no one dared to come forward as a witness to nail the mastermind of these murders.
Recently a similar incident took place in Rajasthan. A person, neck-deep in loan, was in search of some shortcuts to get power so that he could keep the lenders away. So he had chosen the easiest path. He picked up a daily wage earner, killed him and poured petrol on him to burn the body. The man asked his minor relative to record the entire incident. After killing the person, the man added a message against love jihad and circulated it in social media. Initially he was successful. Knowing that the murder was a result of love jihad, police sat idle. But the hue and cry from all over the country against such brutal killing forced the police to act. The man was called to the police station and arrested. The state administration promised to take stern action against the killer. But suddenly some sympathiser groups surface. Through social media those groups have started appealing to others to start a movement so that a crusader against love jihad cannot be punished. The administration is yet to take any action against such groups.
All these are happening only because our rulers are not impartial. If they start taking action against those who are taking law in to their hands. Unfortunately, no one seems to be interested in doing so. As a result, intolerance is maintaining a steady upward graph in the land of Buddha, Mahavir and Mahatma Gandhi.
