The Visceral Anti-Muslim Hatred of Chetan Singh is Just a Symptom, The Disease is More Widespread
By
Arshad Alam, New Age Islam
3 August
2023
A Large
Part Of The Blame Should Be Borne By The Indian Media, Who Are Peddling
Non-Stop Hate Against Muslims
Main
Points:
1. Chetan
Singh, a railway protection force constable killed his superior and three
Muslims.
2. This was not
a random killing; he chose his victims on the basis of their religious
identity.
3. The media
channels are directly to blame for fomenting hatred against the Muslim
identity.
4. The Muslim
today is all alone, increasingly vulnerable and feeling very insecure.
-----
Undated
picture of Chetan Singh, the suspected killer/ PTI
------
It is not
less than a terror strike. Despite the reluctance of most of us to call it as
one. The intention, whether conscious or unconscious was to cast terror in the
hearts of Muslims. All terror strikes are partly performative; so was this one.
The speech that Chetan Singh gave after killing Muslims was designed for the
wider consumption of an ideology of hatred to which he subscribed. In the
widely circulated video, the stunned audience does not resist, making it very
clear that in all other such situations, Muslims will not be protected.
The killing
was designed to tell Muslims that they should live on the mercy of the majority
Hindus. No visible markers of Muslimness would be tolerated. It is not without
reason that the terrorist targeted only those sporting a beard. A new condition
has been attached now to let Muslims to live in this country: that they should
invisibilise their religious markers. In a country where the highest offices
are infused with religious symbols, one community is being terrorized into
giving up its religious markers. Visibly religious Muslims are supposed to give
up their beards, their Kurta-Pajama-Topi, their prayers at a public
place. I am not even asking the question why? But am very sure that this very
rational hatred is not going to stop even after the community gives up its
visible religious markers. Next you can be asked to give up your language and finally
your very name.
One is not
at all surprised that Chetan Singh did this heinous act despite being a
uniformed constable of the Indian Railways. Yes, the protector did turn into a
killer but this is not the first time that this has happened, not will it be
the last. The role of the police has been all too partisan when it comes to
‘riots’; we have seen it in the various anti-Muslim pogroms during the 1980s
and more recently during the anti-CAA protests. When it comes to Muslims, there
is little difference between the predominantly Hindu mob and the officers of
the state. And one is not just talking about lower- level functionaries but
this rot goes to the very top.
What is
surprising though is the manner in which various stakeholders have responded.
The railways, following the Hindu right eco-system first said that Chetan Singh
was suffering from mental illness and then hurriedly withdrew the statement. It
is entirely possible that the killer was suffering from mental issues; but the
manner in which he targeted his victims, pacing the length of the train to
identify Muslims and then kill them only tells us that there was some method to
his madness. Mental health and social health are closely related. The more
important question that we should be asking is this: what made this young man
hate Muslims so much? What were the societal reasons due to which he absolutely
believed that Muslims were the enemy? If the society all around is so sick with
anti-Muslim hatred, it is only logical to argue that people like Chetan Singh
are the symptoms but not the cause of that sickness.
The fact
that he killed his own superior should not distract us from the fact that his
primary and intentional victims were Muslims, whom he hunted down in different
bogies. It is entirely possible that he killed his superior, Tikaram Meena, as
the latter might have objected to his plan of killing Muslims. Therefore, we
should not mistake this to be an act of a demented individual. Rather, it
appears to be a premediated hate crime, very much like the killing of Kanhaiya
Lal.
It is
certainly not surprising to see the silence of our very educated railway
minister who normally tweets very regularly. Nor is it surprising to see the
radio silence of the dear leader. In fact, it is not even surprising anymore to
see the silence of the opposition on the issue. When it comes to Muslims and
their marginalization and wanton killing, every one hedges their bets before
stating anything. After all, who wants to speak about the mleccha, an unwanted
mass of people, whose very association is bound to repel hosts of others. When
Muslims are being killed because of their religion, it is downright
hypocritical to speak of love and brotherhood. Slogans like Muhabbat ki
Dukan are utterly useless when Muslims are singled out and brutalized
because of their religious identity. Not naming the evil, which in this case in
Hindu majoritarianism, is tantamount to making it invisible. In this sense, the
opposition is as complicit in the obliteration of Muslims as is the ruling
dispensation.
But it is
not just in politics alone that the reasons for such pathological hatred
towards Muslims should be located. I do not believe that one person or a group
of people from the top are responsible for what is happening to Muslims today.
India is too complex a country; the assumption that a select group of people is
making all this happen is too facile to say the least.
A large
part of the blame should be borne by the Indian media, who are peddling
non-stop hate against Muslims. Muslims and Islam have become the favourite
topics for most of the channels where they are painted as the proverbial fifth
columnists. One TV channel recently wanted to know if there was a “permanent
solution” to the Muslim question. Hatred for Muslims is now mainstream on most
of these channels and social media handles. Just like the media in Rwanda
exhorted its audience kill the minorities, the Indian media has taken over a
similar role. Some of them are not even fit to be called journalists; they are
simply vile propagandists.
There is a
bit of lamentation over the state of India media and most of these reflections
come from seasoned journalists who were once star anchors themselves. Lest they
forget, it is important to remind them that this nonsense started under their
watch in the first place. Fake news, malicious videos targeting vulnerable
individuals were all started when these so-called “real journalists” called the
shots. During their heydays, the prime-time stories where those of ghosts and
snakes! It doesn’t take much to descend from snakes to Muslims, both are
dangerous and both have to dealt with. In fact, these so- called “real
journalists” are the major culprit because it was under their watch that the
dumbing down of television audiences started. An uneducated, non-critical,
gullible people will consume whatever nonsense comes in its way, including
Muslim hatred. Today, some of these old school journalists are aghast at what
is happening. But let us be under no illusion that they are part of the problem.
In this
never-ending season of viciousness and hatred, the Muslim is all alone. Hindu
majoritarianism has dropped all pretence that as a “big brother”, it is going
to protect Muslims. The very fine distinction between Hinduism and militant
Hindu nationalism is very nearly effaced. Not because the distinction is not
real but because, as Chetan Singh reminds us, Hindus are only going to watch as
the rabid ochlocracy keeps killing us.
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A regular contributor to NewAgeIslam.com, Arshad
Alam is a writer and researcher on Islam and Muslims in South Asia.
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-politics/visceral-anti-muslim-chetan-symptom-disease/d/130370
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