Opinion | Seven Decades of Pseudo-Secularism Have Come Home to Roost: From Haldwani to Bareilly

Uttarakhand’s thriving little town of Haldwani serves as the starting point for trips up into the Himalayas and to popular tourist destinations like Bhimtal and Nainital. On the map of Bharat today, it is a considerably more striking dot.

With an 18.55 percent Muslim population, the town saw unrest on February 9 that resulted in two fatalities and 250 injuries. When a demolition crew arrived to destroy an illegally constructed mosque and madrassa, Islamist protesters attacked them along with police and media representatives. The crowd threw rocks and petrol bombs, almost lit police officers on fire, and shielded women and children with their bodies.

It was like something from the Gaza playbook.

Subsequent drone footage demonstrated that the assault was premeditated and unprovoked. Pictures showed stone piles kept on roofs.

The very following day, when Muslim cleric Tauqeer Raza was arrested for delivering a “jail bharo” over the Gyanvapi mosque problem, another Islamist crowd assaulted the police with stones in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, which is about 100 kilometers distant. Raza made sure to bring up the destruction of the Haldwani mosque as well as the burning of ghee.

Earlier this week, after an altercation between a tailor, his client, and a preacher who stepped in, a crowd encircled a police station in Damoh, Madhya Pradesh. Akram Khan, a guy among the throng, grabbed a megaphone and made threats of violence.

Do these instances have no connection at all? Is there a trend, or not?

The Pran Pratishtha at the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya has rocked the Left-Islamist ecology. More agitation has been caused by the legal challenge against the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, which was constructed after a portion of the Kashi Viswanath temple was demolished. The national mood after the inauguration of the Ram temple and the rapidly disintegrating Opposition coalition indicate that Narendra Modi will win another election.

When one finds himself on the wrong side of morality, electorally lost, and legally vanquished, what should one do?

Naturally, one comes to the streets and uses heinous violence to try to reverse decisions made by the people or the courts.

For seven decades since the country’s independence, a twisted secularism that is actively backed by political parties has told Muslims that they should never live in harmony with the majority, that they should always be victims, and that they should only follow the law when it suits them. It has been explained to the community that its strength comes from living as a destitute and irascible mass.

Additionally, spontaneous street mobs in the run-up to the general elections of 2024 can indicate a deliberate effort at polarization and mislead the Modi administration and BJP state administrations. In plain language, activists like Yogendra Yadav and Harsh Mander have called for public action to thwart the valid democratic mandate.

Bareilly, Damoh, and Haldwani may be the teasers for a much larger story. The State must take a tough stance on it while avoiding setting up scenarios that would make the people sympathize with the offenders.