Secular Love and Communal Murder

The Hindu Right wing on social media is hysterically bashing everyone who has called the 23-year-old Ankit Saxena’s brutal murder “honor” killing or what I described as an outcome of patriarchal oppression. Even if one is independently in agreement with some of their conclusions, that is not enough for them. They want everyone to completely submit to their outlook and approach — abusive vocabulary, black and white narrative, shrill chest-thumping, tunnel vision, with little or no education.

But as I have said before, in the context of the Left-leaning hate-Hindu Right Wing brigade, I refuse to be part of the clown club. I refuse to be part of the Hindu unschooled league too.

You may think that I am being arrogant and pompous here but you can’t shame me for working hard in life to educate myself, for overcoming handicaps and baggage of my history, for fulfilling my responsibilities as a conscientious citizen and for being a dispassionate journalist. I am not your next door literate buffoon or fashionably literate pseudo-secular. You can’t cower me into silence by sending armies of bigoted bozos after me on social media. I am neither afraid of rats and cheerleaders of Humans of Hindutva (HOH) nor your IT cell creeps and sissies.

Back to the main subject of this post. Only dimwits would find inconsistency in what I have said earlier and what I am saying now about the Ankit Saxena murder. I do not and I have not denied Ankit Saxena’s brutal murder is a hate crime and religious bigotry. I do NOT trivialise communal violence ever. I was very specific in mentioning “community”, which is very distinct from caste and class, in my earlier post.

But can we overlook that women’s right to love or marry, is denied by patriarchy using instruments of caste or class or religion? Men are its victims too and it is true for all inter-faith/caste/class marriages which lead to violence. If the girl’s family had been “upper” caste Hindu and killed the boy, as does happen in Haryana, most people would call it “honor” killing. Of course, there is no “honor” there and that is why the word remains in quotes because it is perceived honor (misplaced really) of patriarchal families. So, in Haryana, it is often caste patriarchy. Ankit Saxena’s killing is communal patriarchy. Patriarchy, nevertheless. Ankit was a victim of NOT caste or class divide but of communal violence, driven by patriarchy.

Now, are Muslim societies more patriarchal than other communities? Of course, yes. Are Muslim women more oppressed than women from other communities? Again, yes. Does this have anything to do with religion? Absolutely yes. Women in India, Hindu or Muslim or of any other denomination are not prohibited from marrying men of their choice by Indian law. Muslim women are prohibited by their religious code and
Hindu women are prohibited by a societal and caste code.

Religious code, of course, is far more severe because, as a male Hindu friend always complained, there is no level-playing field for love and courtship when it comes to Muslim women. Islamic law erects so many barriers starting from veil to the precondition of conversion for marriage and then to the religious sanction to kill the ‘infidel’, that Muslim women remain inaccessible to non-Muslim men for love and companionship. But if you think harder about this, these walls around Muslim women are created by patriarchy, using the instrument of Islamic law.

So yes, the Muslim family of the girl slit her boyfriend’s throat because he was a Hindu. It has been distressing to see the pictures of Ankit Saxena before and after his barbaric murder and read the account of his bereaved girl friend. It is just heartbreaking to read about the loss of his grieving parents. What a price to pay for love across religious lines! Hope his girl friend who is testifying against her parents, gets to live and fight for her rights.

That said, you are lying if you do not recognize that not only religious code but societal codes are also prevalent today (perhaps as a reaction to each other?) and both are dictated by men. Khap panchayats and moulvis do not have radically opposing views when it comes to women’s right to love and marry. Women become complicit in enforcing these codes too since it is still a man’s world. I don’t hate men but I do think women deserve equal fundamental rights even as they are different from men in some ways.

In the end, do think about this bit. Ankit’s father said, “People were busy taking his photos instead of helping him.” His mother said, “20–30 people gathered around us were clicking videos while I was calling for help.” That’s a telling comment about India and we Indians. Shame!