Sooner or later, this was bound to happen. Given the way the BJP and its parivar have been despoiling India, saffronizing all national institutions, this was bound to happen. As if tying a Kashmiri artisan to the front of an Army jeep as "human shield" and parading him as a "lesson to stone pelters" wasn't shocking enough, the army, egged on by a brazen BJP and assorted telly warriors, has now taken outrage to a whole new level. Instead of disciplining Major Nitin Gogoi for shaming India, army chief Gen. Bipin Rawat has heaped fulsome praise on the officer for "saving lives" and coming up with "innovative solutions in a dirty, proxy war." In fact, even as an inquiry against Major Gogoi is still on, the army has awarded him, making a mockery of due process. Talk of adding insult to injury! Unlike his predecessors, Gen. Rawat has been increasingly taking a political line, talking more like an angry prime time warrior, as the Indian Express noted, rather than the head of a professional army, one of the largest in the world. Soon after taking over, the army chief had warned the Kashmiri protesters against demonstrating in support of militants, vowing to treat civilians as terrorists. Now in another gem of an interview, he has argued: "This is a proxy war and a dirty war... You fight a dirty war with innovations." He went on to suggest that it would have been easier for the armed forces if the protesters were firing weapons instead of throwing stones: "Then I could do what I [want to do]". This is beyond shocking! If the army chief begins to see an entire population and community as "the enemy" and views this as a "dirty war," what could you expect from his rank and file? Is it any wonder Major Gogoi chose to pick a random Kashmiri and decided to make an example of him for the rest of the population? Such antics haven't been heard of even in countries occupied by foreign forces. Yet we never tire of proclaiming Kashmir is an integral part of India. With friends like these, who needs the services of Pakistan or any other country to foment trouble in the paradise? No wonder more and more Kashmiris are beginning to see the military presence and its ubiquitous security checks as "occupation." Ironically, after long years of trying to keep Kashmir "under control," even the army seems to think the same. Which is a profound tragedy. The Indian army has been one of the staunchly secular and professional institutions, proudly representing and celebrating the country's diversity. Unlike their Western neighbour, Indians have managed to keep the army strictly away from politics — and vice versa. Indeed, if the country has been a vibrant, multicultural democracy, the credit goes to the nation's early leadership as well as the army and the stability it has provided all these years by remaining strictly apolitical and neutral. This is clearly changing fast thanks to Hindutva's inroads into the army, just as it has infiltrated and infected all other institutions with its pernicious ideology. On the other hand, the perpetual eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation with Pakistan also seems to be having a dangerous effect on the Army. The hysterical war of words by the parivar and its growing army of motor mouths in the media against "the enemy" and portraying all Muslims, including Kashmiris, as its fifth column does not help. This ceaseless saffronization and corruption of the secular Indian state and its various arms and institutions is not limited to the security and political establishment. The insidious war that the RSS has been waging against the idea of India since long before independence has entered a critical stage, with its influence pervading virtually every cell of the body politic. From the highest echelons of power to top universities and think tanks in the land to the media and the judiciary, the cancer of this ideology of hate seems to be eating away the vitals of what was once a vibrant and melting pot of a society. Not a day passes without some innocent Muslims, Dalits or even ordinary Hindus and Sikhs being administered instant justice by the mob. So much so such incidents do not even raise any eyebrows, let alone shocking or outraging the nation. Even molestation and rapes of Muslim women are becoming commonplace. The mob rules the streets, television screens and every other space available. No peace anywhere. Which is what powers that be seemingly want — keeping the pot boiling in a slow, simmering campaign against minorities and dispossessed groups. Little attention is then paid to minor irritants like disappearing jobs, dying farmers and closing industries. As if the witch hunt going on over the past three years in the name of beef and all that bull wasn't enough, the regime now has come up with an absurd ban on the sale of cattle for slaughter, dealing a devastating blow to farmers and industries like leather exports. From southern states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu to northeast, where beef is a staple for all communities, just about everyone has been up in arms against the new food fascism. In the words of Vir Sanghvi, the new order is nothing but another excuse to raid Muslim and Dalit homes and terrorize them in the name of cow. Although the Madras High Court has stayed the order, the move once again has a billion people fighting their brains out over food. How a clever people who invented zero and much else can lose their minds over silly issues like the social status of a mundane animal just beats me. Even the highest courts in the land do not seem to be above this idiocy. Look at the pearls of wisdom proffered by a Rajasthan High Court judge. On the day of his retirement, in a 145-page judgment, Hon'ble Justice Mahesh Sharma asked the government to declare cow national animal and hand its killers life imprisonment. The judge also turned biological science on its head, suggesting that peacock is a "pious" bird and a "lifelong brahmachari (celibate). It never has sex with the peahen. The peahen gets pregnant after swallowing the tears of the peacock!" They say the law is an ass but where do we go when honorable judges begin to act as one, my lord? Not surprisingly, the media has gone to town with the story, with stand-up comedians having a field day. At least, we have our sense of humour intact! Seriously though, why blame men in black when all they are trying to do is fit in with the new order. As they say, jaisa raja, waisi praja (people emulate their rulers) Three years of this government and already there is so much sweetness and light all around. And Modi and the Parivar are only beginning to warm up now. We seem to be in this for a long haul, people. — Aijaz Zaka Syed is an award-winning journalist. [email protected]
