Wow !! Pallavi you leave one dumbfolded by Asifa’s story, which dramatically underscores your arguments about the dangers of Hindu nationalism. As a recent discoverer and lover of your miracoulous nation I thank you for your defense of the human India, and pray that your words reach and touch hearts everywhere….Let those cranes save the palimpsest!!
Thank you for keeping the memory of that innocent little child Asifa alive Ms Aiyar.
What those 6 grown men and a juvenile did to that child is simply unspeakable. Bestiality of the worst sort. But the tale gets more sordid and more hopeless.
When state policy and propaganda portrays Muslims as untermensch i.e. subhuman such that they can be slaughtered or brutalised with impunity, the people follow suit. Especially, when such policies stoke up pre-existing prejudices. Is it therefore any surprise that, in Kathua, the place where Asifa was killed, hordes of educated Hindus, herunder lawyers and politicians rose up in defence of the perpetrators? With not even a crocodile tear shed for poor Asifa. Even the opposition Congress party sensing the saffron wave and wishing to surf this wave, has had no qualms about fielding Chaudhary Lal Singh, a cunning politician who had defended the rapists.
Indeed, a highly educated female lawyer and family friend, whilst reluctantly condemning this depravity, nonetheless rationalised it by referring to similar violent acts - real and imagined - on Hindus in Kashmir and other places. In the furious argument that erupted between her and I, she constantly pointed out the need to see that act of violence in the context of Muslim perfidy in the past and present. To this lawyer, the law needed to be set aside when it came to Muslim and Christian "intruders and invaders", eerily echoing the rhetoric of the ruling party top brass. When I pointed out that her profession as a lawyer was derived from and flowed out of India's Constitution, she simply said that sometimes, the Constitution must be put in abeyance such that a "benevolent dictator" could do his job. That exchange with a woman and a lawyer left me stunned.
And then, we have the Bank Manager of Kotak Mahindra Bank in Kerala, a certain Mr Vishnu Nandakumar who tweeted after the death of 8 year old Asifa:
“Good that she was killed at this age itself .. otherwise she would have grown up and come back as a suicide bomber against India”
To its credit, the bank fired this bigoted votary of Hindu supremacy. But I am not so sure that plurality in India can be regained any time soon. If at all.
It pains me to read your comment and even more to admit that I agree with the conclusion. But those who can must keep fighting the good fight with whatever “weapons”… words, random acts of kindness etc
Yes, we cannot afford to let bigots rule the world. But I am afraid, the news on June 4th might be yet another democratic validation of bigotry.... Let us not forget that India is a country where Mein Kampf is a bestseller.
Loxed reading this..thank you for writing
Thank you!
Wow !! Pallavi you leave one dumbfolded by Asifa’s story, which dramatically underscores your arguments about the dangers of Hindu nationalism. As a recent discoverer and lover of your miracoulous nation I thank you for your defense of the human India, and pray that your words reach and touch hearts everywhere….Let those cranes save the palimpsest!!
Thank you for keeping the memory of that innocent little child Asifa alive Ms Aiyar.
What those 6 grown men and a juvenile did to that child is simply unspeakable. Bestiality of the worst sort. But the tale gets more sordid and more hopeless.
When state policy and propaganda portrays Muslims as untermensch i.e. subhuman such that they can be slaughtered or brutalised with impunity, the people follow suit. Especially, when such policies stoke up pre-existing prejudices. Is it therefore any surprise that, in Kathua, the place where Asifa was killed, hordes of educated Hindus, herunder lawyers and politicians rose up in defence of the perpetrators? With not even a crocodile tear shed for poor Asifa. Even the opposition Congress party sensing the saffron wave and wishing to surf this wave, has had no qualms about fielding Chaudhary Lal Singh, a cunning politician who had defended the rapists.
Indeed, a highly educated female lawyer and family friend, whilst reluctantly condemning this depravity, nonetheless rationalised it by referring to similar violent acts - real and imagined - on Hindus in Kashmir and other places. In the furious argument that erupted between her and I, she constantly pointed out the need to see that act of violence in the context of Muslim perfidy in the past and present. To this lawyer, the law needed to be set aside when it came to Muslim and Christian "intruders and invaders", eerily echoing the rhetoric of the ruling party top brass. When I pointed out that her profession as a lawyer was derived from and flowed out of India's Constitution, she simply said that sometimes, the Constitution must be put in abeyance such that a "benevolent dictator" could do his job. That exchange with a woman and a lawyer left me stunned.
And then, we have the Bank Manager of Kotak Mahindra Bank in Kerala, a certain Mr Vishnu Nandakumar who tweeted after the death of 8 year old Asifa:
“Good that she was killed at this age itself .. otherwise she would have grown up and come back as a suicide bomber against India”
To its credit, the bank fired this bigoted votary of Hindu supremacy. But I am not so sure that plurality in India can be regained any time soon. If at all.
It pains me to read your comment and even more to admit that I agree with the conclusion. But those who can must keep fighting the good fight with whatever “weapons”… words, random acts of kindness etc
Yes, we cannot afford to let bigots rule the world. But I am afraid, the news on June 4th might be yet another democratic validation of bigotry.... Let us not forget that India is a country where Mein Kampf is a bestseller.