Humra Quraishi
The haze still lingers in and around the capital city, New Delhi, and even far beyond, affecting lives and livelihoods. How many among us can afford to sit indoors day after day?
Can the daily wage workers, labourers, coolies, sellers, and buyers afford to stay inside? Can free meals, clothing, and medicines be delivered to those forced to remain indoors for weeks at a stretch? Is there any scheme to take care of families and communities affected by the dangerous levels of air pollution and pollutants affecting fragile humans?
The system is failing to such an extent that hundreds are perishing from severe malnutrition, infections, and lack of basic facilities, yet there’s no one to listen to their woes. The dead or dying seem to make little difference to the living. Such is the level of apathy. At best, there are announcements of inquiry committees to look into this or that mishap, but human lives are already gone… lost… departed and perished!
Instead of trying to find a way out of this deadly mess, political rulers have been delivering hate speeches.
Pollution of Hate Speeches
Yes, amidst the haze looms large the political pollution. The hate speeches from political rulers of the day are only accelerating. A couple of months back, in mid-August, Human Rights Watch brought out a detailed report focusing on this.
To quote: “Human Rights Watch analyzed all 173 campaign speeches by Modi after the election code of conduct took effect on March 16. The code forbids appealing to ‘communal feelings for securing votes.’ In at least 110 speeches, Modi made Islamophobic remarks apparently intended to undermine the political opposition, which he said only promoted Muslim rights, and to foster fear among the majority Hindu community through disinformation…”
The report provides details of those provocative hate speeches, including the specific place and date when they were made. It also highlights this factor: “Modi regularly raised fears among Hindus through false claims that their faith and their places of worship, their wealth, their land, and the safety of girls and women in their community would be under threat from Muslims if the opposition parties came to power.”
This report was released in mid-August, and since then, the hate speeches of political rulers have only accelerated, with several speeches dripping with communal taunts, provocations, and slants. Yet no forum or commission is halting them, leaving one completely and thoroughly disillusioned with the system and how it works and functions.
This disillusionment has emerged in recent years after witnessing numerous disasters. Since 2014, human tragedies have only increased, yet there seems to be no stopping them.
Displacements and forced shifts, together with targeted lynch killings and assaults, continue. To top it all, the hapless poor can be arrested for stealing a roti or two to satisfy hunger pangs, but the mighty who steal millions and are even publicly accused of dubious bribe-plots are treated as privileged citizens of the country. Why? Because they are close to those in power. Such is today’s reality.
Broaden the Definition of Terror
It’s also time to broaden the very definition of terror, terrorists, and terrorizing. Ask the vulnerable communities and targeted citizens who sit terrorised by Hindutva goon brigades unleashed all around. Their partners in crime are the political handlers, sitting at a distance but monitoring each attack and whatever else goes along with these dubious, well-planned plots.
Though there were often more than pointers to particular Hindutva outfits responsible for arson, violence, and targeted attacks, they seem to move about freely—unleashed and on the prowl. Looking back to the gruesome attack and killing of Graham Staines and his two young boys, it was more than confirmed that the murders were committed by a particular Hindutva brigade, yet to date, it is not banned!
This is just one example from hundreds of communal attacks, but nothing really happens, not only compounding the reach of these goon brigades but also instilling immense fear among vulnerable communities.
Though civil war rages in Manipur, there seems to be no way out. Lives and properties are devastated, yet we sit unmoved, coming up with just those typical synthetic speeches, as though that’s remedy enough to settle bruises, scars, killings, and loot. We need immediate focus on the ground realities and the needs of the civilian population, who are deeply affected by the ongoing disasters.
I leave you with this verse by Nida Fazli, whose own life was somewhat affected, at least in those initial years, because of the Partition upheavals. These lines from Nida Fazli’s “Just Keep on Living” (Translated from Urdu by Baidar Bakht and Leslie Lavigne):
Just keep on living
Just keep on living like this
Say nothing
When you get up in the morning
Take a head count of the family
Slouch in the chair and read the paper
There was a famine there
And a war raged somewhere else
Be thankful that you are safe
Switch on the radio and listen to the new pop songs
When you leave the house
Paste a smile on your face
Pack handshakes in your hands
Keep a few meaningless phrases on your lips
Be passed through different hands like a coin
Say nothing
A white-collar
Social respect
A few drinks every day
What else do you need
Just keep on like this
Say nothing.
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