Mohsin Shaikh, a 24-year old from Solapur district, who worked as an IT manager with a private firm in Pune was beaten to death by a mob. Mohsin was returning home late on Monday with a friend, Riyaz, after performing namaz at a mosque in Hadapsar area on the outskirts of Pune. A violent mob attacked him with stones and hockey sticks around 9 pm. Riyaz alleged that Moshin was targeted because he was wearing a skull cap and had a beard. Mohsin sustained severe injuries to his head and died early on Tuesday. Two other boys of the same age, Izaz Yusuf Bagwan and Ameen Shaikh, are injured and battling for life.

Ever since a Facebook post that contained morphed pictures with allegedly derogatory references to warrior king Shivaji, Shiv Sena leader the late Bal Thackeray and others surfaced on Friday, several parts of Maharashtra witnessed violence with shops and public transport buses being damaged. It was reported that a mob of around 2,000 persons gathered on Solapur road in Hadapsar after rumours swirled that a statue of Shivaji has been desecrated and a girl raped by men of different community.

The mob consisting of supporters of right wing Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena, BJP and Hindu Rashtra Sena went on the rampage. In the unrest, 24 out of 33 police stations were affected over the weekend. The miscreants pelted stones at vehicles and damaged 130 government buses and 21 private vehicles. Shops were also torched and religious places of minorities were damaged.

A rational human being may wonder how a sentiment attached to someone who is dead takes away life of another human. But such is the power of hate generated by blinded love and nourished by power-hungry politicians. Hate is a powerful weapon that results into precious votes.

Muzaffarnagar and Assam happened on the eve of Lok Sabha elections. The BJP swept Lok Sabha polls in Assam by securing seven of the 14 seats in the state. In UP, out of 80 seats, the BJP bagged a massive 71 seats. Do you see a connection?

The year before LS elections, 2013, saw communal rioting in the country jump by nearly 25 per cent, with Uttar Pradesh being the worst affected with 247 incidents compared to 118 in 2012. Data from the Union home ministry show that states such as UP, MP, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Bihar saw a steady rise in 2013.

Gujarat recorded 68 cases of communal tension in 2013 in which 10 people died and 57 incidents in 2012 in which five people died. Karnataka recorded 73 cases in 2013 and 69 in 2012.

Communities were polarised before the elections to vitiate the atmosphere for political gains. Maharashtra is heading for assembly elections later this year. So such incidents of violence are not unexpected.

Rewarding the riot accused is a symbolic gesture with dangerous ramifications. We have seen it in Muzaffarnagar. Tomorrow if the Hindu Rashtra Sena cadre are felicitated for “restoring the Maratha pride“, please don’t be surprised.

In 2007, Narendra Modi rewarded riot-accused Naroda MLA Maya Kodnani with a ministerial berth in Gujarat. This year he rewarded riotaccused Muzaffarnagar MP Sanjeev Baliyan with a ministerial berth at the Centre. Is this the Gujarat model people voted for?

Elections, in the times of propaganda, are the biggest weapons of mass deception. The greatest achievement of today’s neoliberal, neocolonial powers is to make the human mind stop questioning.This is how Orwell ended 1984 where the 99 per cent totally accepted the 1 per cent as the ultimate, unquestionable power.

Democracy means rule by people. So people elect their representative to form a government. Our brand new PM’s love for democracy is seen when he puts those who are unelected in top positions in his government. Nirmala Sitaraman is unelected but has dual portfolio, Smriti Irani never won any elections in her life but she is the HRD minister, Arun Jaitely lost elections but got two top portfolios: defence and finance. Unelected Ravi Shankar Prasad is the new law minister.

As every institution of democracy is being painted saffron, the space for alternative voices is shrinking.The fora of any rational dialogue are abused by the saffron army even on the social media. They get a free run whereas sensible posts are threatened by misconceived IT laws.

The old hunters have been chased out of the jungle by the new hunters. The new hunters are much more powerful. The jungle is the same, the weapons are the same. However, the natives of the jungle are celebrating. Such is the democracy we’re living in. We have taken it for granted. If we do not proactively defend our democracy, we’ll lose it. We need to learn to appreciate what we have before time makes us appreciate what we had. How many Mohsins have to die for us to realise this?

(Courtesy: Pravin Mishra)