Inheritors of Afzalkhan’s legacy
During the last few days of the Ganesh festival celebrations in Miraj, a town in western Maharashtra, festering tensions gave way to arson and rioting. These riots spread like wild fire throughout western Maharashtra. Cities like Sangli,Kolhapur,Satara,Solapur,Ichalkaranji and adjoining rural areas got engulfed in communal violence. Curfew has been imposed in many areas and the situation is still very tense.
One might wonder as to what might be the reason behind this seemingly sudden eruption of violence in a generally peaceful region. A welcome arch depicting the slaying of Afzalkhan by Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj was erected by a local Ganesh Mandal. Afzalkhan was a general in the Adilshahi court of Bijapur who had invaded Swarajya with the motive of assassinating Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Permission was sought from the police and district adminitration for erecting the welcome arch, which was initially denied, but was granted afterwards. This initial denial itself is inexplicable. A day before the Ganesh immersion on Anant Chaturdashi, a Muslim mob gathered in the town for protests and demonstrations, apparently offended by the arch. A Hindu mob gathered in response. This stand-off resulted in stone pelting and the police started lathi-charge in order to disperse the crowds. While running away from the police, some miscreants from the Muslim mob attacked a Ganesh pandal, threw stones at the Ganesh idol and desecrated it. The subsequent rioting resulted in destruction and desecration of many Ganesh idols. News of these incidents spread quickly and violence erupted throughout Western Maharashtra. Many Muslim places of worship were attacked in retaliatory attacks.
Meanwhile, Ganesh mandal volunteers demanded that the miscreants responsible for idol desecration be arrested with immediate effect, and that the immersion would not take place until the law proceeds against them. But the police resorted to arm twisting tactics and forcibly conducted the immersion of some of the desecrated Ganesh idols. The hoarding depicting the Afzalkhan slaying was also forcibly removed from the welcome arch. These actions fanned deep resentment among the people and continue to add fuel to the fire. The dominant feeling among the people is that police have employed brute force against innocents while miscreants continue to act with impunity.
Expected reactions from politicians of certain quarters and mass media have started to flow। The notion of political correctness has dominated this discourse. This notion of “political correctness”, though having originated in the west, has been mastered by few other people than our own. Maharashtra Chief Minister, respected Mr. Ashokrao Chavan has inaugurated this discourse with a quote that there is a “political conspiracy” behind the riots. Many popular Hindi films have depicted corrupt politicians stoking hatred between people of different communities and exploiting the divisions to their benefit. This “spectacular revelation” by the honourable Chief Minister can lead one to only one definite conclusion that he is an avid follower of mainstream Hindi cinema and supposes that people of the country who might be interested in his valuable insight of the issue too are gullible enough to accept this theory without considering any other angle.
A major portion of main stream print and television media also suffers from this skewed understanding of the notion of political correctness. News reports refrain from making critical observations; analyses stop at drawing conclusions which are trite and hesitate from pinpointing the culprits. The self-styled editors of newly started news channels repeat platitudes ad-nauseam and resort to cheap theatrics. Their “holier than thou” attitude is sickening. National main stream media has virtually refused to take cognizance of these incidents. There are numerous examples wherein minor events provoke a deluge of media attention and overnight the whole media machinery turns into a “guardian of democracy and secularism” which seeks to defend the "hapless minorities” from a being persecuted by an “evil majority”. The outrages such as Miraj riots and the causes behind it disturb their worldview, lack such “glamour”, offer no opportunities for media chivalry, and hence warrant ignorance and contempt.
These are attempts to raise a storm of dust, to confuse people and seek to deny the existence of the elephant in the room.
Who are these people whose feelings are violated by the spectacle of Afzalkhan’s guts being wrenched out?What kind of traitors are they who empathize with cruel,barbarous invaders? Who are these people who are enraged and infuriated by the depiction of the proud past of the nation ?
Is the provocation so grave that they are impelled to hurl stones at Lord Ganesh, adored and revered by crores of our people? Which is this insane, evil, diabolical force that attempts to desecrate one of the most sacred icon of our culture and civilization? What kind of a monster is this that musters the courage to lay waste to our festivities?
No one ventures to answer these easy yet difficult questions.
Peoples’ anger is focused on the police force, on account of their attitude and actions during this carnage. The popular impression is that “vote-bank politics“has raised its ugly head. Culprits are allowed to go scot free while innocents are being hunted down. A huge hue and cry of a “political conspiracy” is being raised to drown the public outcry. The police chief, who the people hold responsible for the mishandling of the situation, is busy lecturing the people on virtuous conduct or “dharma”.
This incident in Miraj is by no means an isolated one. For many years now, these kinds of crimes are being perpetrated in various regions of Maharashtra and elsewhere in the country to deliberately poison festivities like Ganeshotsav, Navaratri or Diwali. These are nothing but attempts to blackmail the people of the country, to terrify us and make it impossible to follow our way of life.
The region of western Maharashtra has seen very few communal clashes and has a distinguished tradition of harmony and peace. The mosques in the town of Kurundwad host Lord Ganesh during Ganeshotsav and the “urs” ,or the festivities in the remembrance of Muslim holy men, are indistinguishable from any other Hindu festivals. Such has been the state of affairs so far.
Who are these forces which seek to destroy it? It has been reported that radicals from elsewhere have been detained along with a huge cache of arms. This is a thoroughly alarming situation. It can be discerned that the parts of the Muslim community in India and elsewhere are being radicalized by means of propaganda. The so called atrocities perpetrated on them by others are being used as a fuel in this in insidious design.
This plain truth which the common man is intelligent enough to interpret using “common sense”, is being sought to be dumped in a garbage pile of political correctness. For the lust of power, people responsible for running the affairs of state turn a blind eye towards it, owing to the cynical calculations of vote-bank politics. Elements from mass media, for want of acceptability and glamour, are party to this perversion. This has become the mainstay of our socio-political discourse.
These incidences of rioting and violence are like wounds on the nation’s body. They have to be treated with utmost urgency and sincerity. Medication may cause temporary irritation and discomfort. But ignorance and lack of treatment may be a fatal choice, and sometimes survival might necessitate “severing of infected body parts”.
How many more times are we ready put the nation’s survival at risk?
One might wonder as to what might be the reason behind this seemingly sudden eruption of violence in a generally peaceful region. A welcome arch depicting the slaying of Afzalkhan by Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj was erected by a local Ganesh Mandal. Afzalkhan was a general in the Adilshahi court of Bijapur who had invaded Swarajya with the motive of assassinating Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Permission was sought from the police and district adminitration for erecting the welcome arch, which was initially denied, but was granted afterwards. This initial denial itself is inexplicable. A day before the Ganesh immersion on Anant Chaturdashi, a Muslim mob gathered in the town for protests and demonstrations, apparently offended by the arch. A Hindu mob gathered in response. This stand-off resulted in stone pelting and the police started lathi-charge in order to disperse the crowds. While running away from the police, some miscreants from the Muslim mob attacked a Ganesh pandal, threw stones at the Ganesh idol and desecrated it. The subsequent rioting resulted in destruction and desecration of many Ganesh idols. News of these incidents spread quickly and violence erupted throughout Western Maharashtra. Many Muslim places of worship were attacked in retaliatory attacks.
Meanwhile, Ganesh mandal volunteers demanded that the miscreants responsible for idol desecration be arrested with immediate effect, and that the immersion would not take place until the law proceeds against them. But the police resorted to arm twisting tactics and forcibly conducted the immersion of some of the desecrated Ganesh idols. The hoarding depicting the Afzalkhan slaying was also forcibly removed from the welcome arch. These actions fanned deep resentment among the people and continue to add fuel to the fire. The dominant feeling among the people is that police have employed brute force against innocents while miscreants continue to act with impunity.
Expected reactions from politicians of certain quarters and mass media have started to flow। The notion of political correctness has dominated this discourse. This notion of “political correctness”, though having originated in the west, has been mastered by few other people than our own. Maharashtra Chief Minister, respected Mr. Ashokrao Chavan has inaugurated this discourse with a quote that there is a “political conspiracy” behind the riots. Many popular Hindi films have depicted corrupt politicians stoking hatred between people of different communities and exploiting the divisions to their benefit. This “spectacular revelation” by the honourable Chief Minister can lead one to only one definite conclusion that he is an avid follower of mainstream Hindi cinema and supposes that people of the country who might be interested in his valuable insight of the issue too are gullible enough to accept this theory without considering any other angle.
A major portion of main stream print and television media also suffers from this skewed understanding of the notion of political correctness. News reports refrain from making critical observations; analyses stop at drawing conclusions which are trite and hesitate from pinpointing the culprits. The self-styled editors of newly started news channels repeat platitudes ad-nauseam and resort to cheap theatrics. Their “holier than thou” attitude is sickening. National main stream media has virtually refused to take cognizance of these incidents. There are numerous examples wherein minor events provoke a deluge of media attention and overnight the whole media machinery turns into a “guardian of democracy and secularism” which seeks to defend the "hapless minorities” from a being persecuted by an “evil majority”. The outrages such as Miraj riots and the causes behind it disturb their worldview, lack such “glamour”, offer no opportunities for media chivalry, and hence warrant ignorance and contempt.
These are attempts to raise a storm of dust, to confuse people and seek to deny the existence of the elephant in the room.
Who are these people whose feelings are violated by the spectacle of Afzalkhan’s guts being wrenched out?What kind of traitors are they who empathize with cruel,barbarous invaders? Who are these people who are enraged and infuriated by the depiction of the proud past of the nation ?
Is the provocation so grave that they are impelled to hurl stones at Lord Ganesh, adored and revered by crores of our people? Which is this insane, evil, diabolical force that attempts to desecrate one of the most sacred icon of our culture and civilization? What kind of a monster is this that musters the courage to lay waste to our festivities?
No one ventures to answer these easy yet difficult questions.
Peoples’ anger is focused on the police force, on account of their attitude and actions during this carnage. The popular impression is that “vote-bank politics“has raised its ugly head. Culprits are allowed to go scot free while innocents are being hunted down. A huge hue and cry of a “political conspiracy” is being raised to drown the public outcry. The police chief, who the people hold responsible for the mishandling of the situation, is busy lecturing the people on virtuous conduct or “dharma”.
This incident in Miraj is by no means an isolated one. For many years now, these kinds of crimes are being perpetrated in various regions of Maharashtra and elsewhere in the country to deliberately poison festivities like Ganeshotsav, Navaratri or Diwali. These are nothing but attempts to blackmail the people of the country, to terrify us and make it impossible to follow our way of life.
The region of western Maharashtra has seen very few communal clashes and has a distinguished tradition of harmony and peace. The mosques in the town of Kurundwad host Lord Ganesh during Ganeshotsav and the “urs” ,or the festivities in the remembrance of Muslim holy men, are indistinguishable from any other Hindu festivals. Such has been the state of affairs so far.
Who are these forces which seek to destroy it? It has been reported that radicals from elsewhere have been detained along with a huge cache of arms. This is a thoroughly alarming situation. It can be discerned that the parts of the Muslim community in India and elsewhere are being radicalized by means of propaganda. The so called atrocities perpetrated on them by others are being used as a fuel in this in insidious design.
This plain truth which the common man is intelligent enough to interpret using “common sense”, is being sought to be dumped in a garbage pile of political correctness. For the lust of power, people responsible for running the affairs of state turn a blind eye towards it, owing to the cynical calculations of vote-bank politics. Elements from mass media, for want of acceptability and glamour, are party to this perversion. This has become the mainstay of our socio-political discourse.
These incidences of rioting and violence are like wounds on the nation’s body. They have to be treated with utmost urgency and sincerity. Medication may cause temporary irritation and discomfort. But ignorance and lack of treatment may be a fatal choice, and sometimes survival might necessitate “severing of infected body parts”.
How many more times are we ready put the nation’s survival at risk?
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