29th April 2020
Musings.......
Lynching is a word that I learnt over the past few years, specifically around the time this present dispensation came to power. Mob lynching has become synonymous with killing in the name of religion. We have heard of cases mob lynching over fake news ranging from possession of Beef from Uttar Pradesh ( Akhlak lynching case ); to the lynching of the poor young Dalit man Madhu in Kerala over fake news of his stealing food.
In all these cases the perpetrators were the powerful entitled part of society and the victims happened to be the poor minority - both religious and social.
It was hence with surprise that I heard the news on 16th April 2020 of the lynching of two Hindu Sadhus and their driver in Ghadchinchale Village in Palghar District of Maharashtra, apparently by a vigilante group over fake WhatsApp rumours of theives operating in the area during the countrywide Coronavirus lockdown.
The two sadhus belonged to the Juna Akhara, who were travelling at night to attend the funeral of their Guru in Surat. Several bystander videos went viral over the internet. In one of the videos, a police officer is seen leading one of the Sadhus out of the building, where he is confronted by the mob who then takes the sadhu away to kill him. In another video the mob is seen breaking the window of the police patrol vehicle.
This incident attracted nationwide outrage after the videos went viral on social media. The opposition blamed the Maharashtra government and soon the issue, like all issues in India turned communal. The Maharashtra CM urged Union Home Minister to take action against those who were stoking communal tension.
The Congress has accused the BJP of playing communal politics over the lynching. The congress accused that the village of Gadchinchale has been a BJP bastion for years politically and most of those arrested in the incident were from the BJP.
The irony of the whole incident is stark where members of BJP have lynched Sadhus !!
This Palghar lynching case has exposed the deadly cocktail of communal poison, fake news and mob culture in India.
This paranoid society can lynch anyone irrespective of caste, creed, and gender. People have become xenophobes where the idea of the “other” has expanded from religious and cultural identities to the “identityless other”.
Post Palghar there is a general consensus that media is not giving enough coverage of lynching. News organisations highlight incidents where there is Hindu- Muslim binary. However here there seems to be no such issue here and hence media has ignored it.
Palghar issue and Arnab Goswami
Before we could recover from Arnab Goswami’s tirade against migrant workers who gathered in Bandra last week- he called them paid actors - we are struck with his latest tirade on the tragic Palghar incident.
Waiting for 4 days since the incident Goswami takes up the incident on 20th April 2020 in his prime time show.
He asks “ in a country where there is 80% Hindu and follow Sanatan Dharam, has it become a crime to be Hindu ? Would there be silence if a Maulvi or Padri was murdered” !!
Then he trains his guns on Maharashtra CM and Congress President Sonia Gandhi
Quoting- “ Yeh Sonia-Sena wali Sarkar ne chaar Din tak is desh se kyon chupaya” ( Why did the Sonia- Sena government hide this crime from India for four days!!) he demanded.
He doesn’t stop there.
“ Italy waali Sonia Gandhi... aaj woh chup hain, man hi man main mujhe lagta hai woh kush he... woh khush hai ki santon ko maara gaya, jahan pe unki sarkar hai. Report bhejegi woh... woh Italy main report bhejegi... main bol raha hun...jahan pe main ne sarkar bana li, wahan pe Hindu santon ko marwa rahi Hun. Aur wahan se waah waahi milegi usko...’waah beta waah, bahut accha kiya Sonia Gandhi Antonia Maino’.
In case u missed it or couldn’t believe your ears- Goswami accuses Sonia Gandhi of getting the sadhus killed and sending reports to Italy about how she has managed to bump off Hindus in states where she governs. Not only this, according to Goswami, she is congratulated for her work by people in Italy.
As we now know the trigger for Palghar incident was fake news on social media about kidnappers and bandits on the prowl.
So the question now is who funds Arnab Goswami. Or who is behind Arnab Goswami ? What gives him the power to go on a tirade against a women who was on the list of ‘Time Magazines Most Powerful’ for years and the leader of the largest opposition party in India which even though lost the last two elections managed to retain 20% of voters share compared to BJPs 37% !!
Herein lies the PR work of the ruling dispensation. They believe through paid PR work they can tarnish the image of anyone or anything. They can create image bubble for leaders who otherwise wouldn’t attract public admiration.
If you find this similar to the situation which panned our recently in Kerala, then I am not to be blamed. Blame the ever so politically aware Keralites who could call the PR company bluff or to the cyber goons they employed to create the image bubble, who actually also helped break the bubble in the end.
Food for thought.......
RC
rohitchennithala.blogspot.com
rohitchennithala.home.blog
Lynching is a word that I learnt over the past few years, specifically around the time this present dispensation came to power. Mob lynching has become synonymous with killing in the name of religion. We have heard of cases mob lynching over fake news ranging from possession of Beef from Uttar Pradesh ( Akhlak lynching case ); to the lynching of the poor young Dalit man Madhu in Kerala over fake news of his stealing food.
In all these cases the perpetrators were the powerful entitled part of society and the victims happened to be the poor minority - both religious and social.
It was hence with surprise that I heard the news on 16th April 2020 of the lynching of two Hindu Sadhus and their driver in Ghadchinchale Village in Palghar District of Maharashtra, apparently by a vigilante group over fake WhatsApp rumours of theives operating in the area during the countrywide Coronavirus lockdown.
The two sadhus belonged to the Juna Akhara, who were travelling at night to attend the funeral of their Guru in Surat. Several bystander videos went viral over the internet. In one of the videos, a police officer is seen leading one of the Sadhus out of the building, where he is confronted by the mob who then takes the sadhu away to kill him. In another video the mob is seen breaking the window of the police patrol vehicle.
This incident attracted nationwide outrage after the videos went viral on social media. The opposition blamed the Maharashtra government and soon the issue, like all issues in India turned communal. The Maharashtra CM urged Union Home Minister to take action against those who were stoking communal tension.
The Congress has accused the BJP of playing communal politics over the lynching. The congress accused that the village of Gadchinchale has been a BJP bastion for years politically and most of those arrested in the incident were from the BJP.
The irony of the whole incident is stark where members of BJP have lynched Sadhus !!
This Palghar lynching case has exposed the deadly cocktail of communal poison, fake news and mob culture in India.
This paranoid society can lynch anyone irrespective of caste, creed, and gender. People have become xenophobes where the idea of the “other” has expanded from religious and cultural identities to the “identityless other”.
Post Palghar there is a general consensus that media is not giving enough coverage of lynching. News organisations highlight incidents where there is Hindu- Muslim binary. However here there seems to be no such issue here and hence media has ignored it.
Palghar issue and Arnab Goswami
Before we could recover from Arnab Goswami’s tirade against migrant workers who gathered in Bandra last week- he called them paid actors - we are struck with his latest tirade on the tragic Palghar incident.
Waiting for 4 days since the incident Goswami takes up the incident on 20th April 2020 in his prime time show.
He asks “ in a country where there is 80% Hindu and follow Sanatan Dharam, has it become a crime to be Hindu ? Would there be silence if a Maulvi or Padri was murdered” !!
Then he trains his guns on Maharashtra CM and Congress President Sonia Gandhi
Quoting- “ Yeh Sonia-Sena wali Sarkar ne chaar Din tak is desh se kyon chupaya” ( Why did the Sonia- Sena government hide this crime from India for four days!!) he demanded.
He doesn’t stop there.
“ Italy waali Sonia Gandhi... aaj woh chup hain, man hi man main mujhe lagta hai woh kush he... woh khush hai ki santon ko maara gaya, jahan pe unki sarkar hai. Report bhejegi woh... woh Italy main report bhejegi... main bol raha hun...jahan pe main ne sarkar bana li, wahan pe Hindu santon ko marwa rahi Hun. Aur wahan se waah waahi milegi usko...’waah beta waah, bahut accha kiya Sonia Gandhi Antonia Maino’.
In case u missed it or couldn’t believe your ears- Goswami accuses Sonia Gandhi of getting the sadhus killed and sending reports to Italy about how she has managed to bump off Hindus in states where she governs. Not only this, according to Goswami, she is congratulated for her work by people in Italy.
As we now know the trigger for Palghar incident was fake news on social media about kidnappers and bandits on the prowl.
So the question now is who funds Arnab Goswami. Or who is behind Arnab Goswami ? What gives him the power to go on a tirade against a women who was on the list of ‘Time Magazines Most Powerful’ for years and the leader of the largest opposition party in India which even though lost the last two elections managed to retain 20% of voters share compared to BJPs 37% !!
Herein lies the PR work of the ruling dispensation. They believe through paid PR work they can tarnish the image of anyone or anything. They can create image bubble for leaders who otherwise wouldn’t attract public admiration.
If you find this similar to the situation which panned our recently in Kerala, then I am not to be blamed. Blame the ever so politically aware Keralites who could call the PR company bluff or to the cyber goons they employed to create the image bubble, who actually also helped break the bubble in the end.
Food for thought.......
RC
rohitchennithala.blogspot.com
rohitchennithala.home.blog
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