What we witness today in Indian society is paradoxical. On the one side there is a phenomenal rise in religiosity in the form of increasing number of huge worship centres and statues, boom in pilgrimages and mega religious events and invention of new rituals and devotions. Crores of rupees are being spent on constructing magnificent worship centres and erecting statues by people belonging to different religions. The BJP governments are also lavishly spending taxpayers’ money for constructing and renovating temples. 

On the other side, there is an extraordinary rise in hate speech and violence in different forms. Some form of violence is not only shocking but also disgusting. For example, a man in Mumbai killed his live-in-partner, cut her body into several pieces and boiled some of them in order to erase proof of the crime. 

Free Press newspaper (Indore edition) on 19th June carried many shocking violent crimes. In Bulandshahr in UP, a 23-year-old Muslim was allegedly tied to a tree and forced to chant Jai Sriram, while a group of men thrashed him. He was accused of a minor theft. 

In Ratn-Basi village of Morena district, a father killed his daughter and her lover and threw their bodies in Chambal. The girl and the boy were in a relationship with each other. However, the families did not approve of their relationship. Father of the girl took the extreme step of murdering both and throwing the bodies in Chambal river. 

Gunmen allegedly shot dead two women in South-West Delhi’s RK Puram in the early hours on 18th June over a suspected financial dispute with their brothers, according to the police. 

On the same day the Free Press wrote an editorial appealing to the central government to impose President’s rule in Manipur, as the Biren Singh-led BJP government utterly failed to stop the unabated violence since May 3. More than 120 people have been killed so far. More than 50,000 have been forced to leave their homes and seek shelter in camps and elsewhere. Hundreds of cores of public and private property have been destroyed. 

On 20th June, The Times of India (Indore edition) reported that six people in Bhopal allegedly abducted and assaulted a 24-year-old man and tied a leash around his neck and forced him to bark like a dog. It is alleged that the six men pressured the victim to change his religion.  

According to the National Crime Record Bureau report released in 2022, the number of incidents of crime against women (per 1 lakh) grew from 56.5% to 64.5% in 2021. What one can notice is that the culture of peace and harmony is being replaced by a culture of hatred, revenge and violence. There could be various reasons for the rise in violence in the society. 

The state itself becoming violent is one of the reasons for society becoming violent. The prime responsibility of any government is to protect the life and property of its citizens. Unfortunately, the central and the state governments often fail in their prime duty. The killing and arson that have been taking place in Manipur for more than one-and-a-half months is proof of the failure of the central and the state governments in their prime duty. According to some of the media reports, the state police department could be a complicit in the looting of arms and ammunition from the police stations and armories by militant groups. 

The governments liberally use draconian laws like Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), the colonial era Sedition Law (Section 124 A of the Indian Penal Code 1860), Jammu and Kashmir (JK) Public Safety Act (PSA) 1978 and National Security Act 1980. It is a sign of the state becoming violent. The government that is entrusted with the task of protecting the fundamental/human rights of its citizens often becomes a violator of their rights. An analysis of National Crime Records Bureau’s reports by experts shows that the conviction rate in the case of people charged and jailed under UAPA is 3%.

Using bulldozers to demolish houses and buildings belonging to persons who take part in protests or accused of crimes has been adopted by the BJP governments. On 19th June the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh demolished the houses of the accused in a crime of alleged forced conversion. It is an extra-judicial method, as the government becomes the prosecutor and the judge without following the due process of law. When the government doesn’t follow the rule of law or due process of law, citizens will not get justice and they may lose faith in the criminal justice delivery system, leading to escalation of violence.  

Another reason is that certain groups are given the freedom to take law into their hands, especially in the BJP-ruled states. The cow vigilante groups that indulge in the lynching of innocent Muslims under the pretext of protecting cows often escape the long arm of the law. The police quite often are hand-in-glow with these groups. These groups have taken upon themselves the task of moral policing and unleash violence on minority communities accusing them of involvement in religious conversion, killing of cows, love jihad etc. 

An incident that happened in Indore city on 15th June shows how the BJP governments are pressurized or even controlled by the Hindutva groups. As per the media reports, hundreds of Bajrang Dal activists went to Palasia police station in Indore to protest against cases filed against some members of the outfit. They raised slogans, blocking traffic on the busy Bombay-Agra Road leading to massive traffic jam for over two hours. According to the police, the protesters did not have permission for demonstration and they also pelted stones on the police, injuring some policemen. Police resorted to lathi-charge to clear the roads and arrested some of them. Some got injured while police used force to disperse the crowd.  

The state government instead of supporting the police for maintaining law and order, transferred the Deputy Commissioner of Police and removed the officer-in-charge of Palasia police station in order to appease the members of Bajrang Dal, the foot soldiers of the RSS-BJP. When people see the groups close to the ruling party take law into their hands with impunity, they are also motivated and encouraged to violate laws and indulge in violence. 

Rule of law is crucial for peace and security in any society. The laws are to be applied evenly to all people without any consideration of religion, caste, political affiliation etc. If the law enforcing agencies, especially the police, and the investigation agencies appear to be partial and do not take any action against the supporters of the ruling party when they indulge in violence, the public lose their faith in the system. There are umpteen number of instances of the police favouring the supporters of the ruling parties and being harsh on the groups that are opposed to the ruling party. This phenomenon is found more in the BJP-ruled states than in other states. 

Another significant reason for increase in violence appears to be the failure of religions to make their followers spiritual. Religious leaders are busy with promoting religiosity based on rituals and worship of deities. Godmen of all religions open many religion-shops which dispense painkiller type of rituals and tricks. They exploit the simplicity and innocence of common people and rob their purses. This type of competitive religiosity among the followers of different religions leads to violence. Religious processions on festivals often end up in stone pelting and communal riots. In the process of promoting religiosity, the core values and principles taught by religions are not only forgotten, but often misinterpreted and distorted.  

Two tendencies are noticed in most of the religions in India. Firstly, the growth of fundamentalism is a common trait in almost all religions. The fundamentalists consider that their religion is superior to other religions and they despise other faiths. They are generally very orthodox, anti-liberal and aggressive. They try to impose their beliefs and practices on others even by using force and it leads to violence. Growth of fundamentalism in one religion influences the followers of other religions to become fundamentalists.  

The second tendency is politicization of religion. Rulers and political leaders using religion to capture power and remain in power have been found throughout the history of nations. In the context of India, the BJP as a political party grew and captured power by exploiting the religious sentiments of the majority community. They have used various techniques and strategies from time to time to create hatred in the majority community against the minorities, especially the Muslims and thereby polarize the Hindus. The Ram Mandir movement spearheaded by the BJP and other Sangh Parivar organizations was a turning point in the growth and expansion of the saffron party. 

The Sangh Parivar created a narrative that depicts the majority community as victims of the appeasement policy followed by the Congress and other political parties. The current narrative is that Muslims are the cause for all problems faced by India. Social media platforms are used liberally to spread hatred against Muslims and Christians to some extent by circulating fake news and doctored videos. Hence, any kind of violence against Muslims is justified. That is why a ‘Dharma Sansad’ organized at Haridwar in Uttarakhand on December 17-19, 2021 called for genocide of Muslims. 

The response to violence and hatred is non-violent resistance. Opposition political leaders and civil society members should have the courage to speak against individuals and organizations that indulge in violence irrespective of their religious and political affiliation. The developments in Manipur shows very clearly that courting violence-based political parties and ideologies for short-term benefits brings disaster. Religious leaders who believe in peace and harmony should speak truth to power, as the Archbishop of Bangalore has done. Any political party or organization that believes in violence and justifies it is not acceptable. “I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent,” said Mahatma Gandhi.