India, a country with a rich plurality and multidimensional personas is at the helm of being destroyed by the tyrannical rule of the ruling ‘Hindutwa’ fanatical BJP led Central Government. While the militant forces of ‘saffron’ find an abundance of liberty in targeting the minority, the ‘saffron’ intellectuals tread in the path of an insatiable pillorying of the populace belonging to the minority communities, both religion wise and caste wise.
It was only recent news that a number of the country’s most prestigious literary award winners, returned their awards in protest of the ruling class’s demagogic leaders and agendas. Amidst the hype over the returning of the awards with politicians from the country’s burgeoning political parties like the BJP and the Congress pitching in with their necessary precaution about the ‘politicalisation’ of the prize, the attack on free speech remains unabated by the ‘hindutwavadis’.
A talented young Dalit writer was attacked by the hindutwa forces at Davanagere in Central Karnataka early on Thursday. The right wing forces repeatedly kept on accusing the writer that his writings were anti-Caste or basically anti-Hindu. The political hegemony that the ruling BJP government is carrying forward is not one of development but one of communalisation of the entire state f India with a saffron agenda. The writer, who was attacked, Huchangi Prasad, is a 23 year old journalism student at Davanagere University. He had published his first book back in 2014, where he had openly protested against the treatment of dalits in the country. Immediately after the publication of the work, he had started facing a series of threats from the right wing ‘hindutwavadis’ and the organisations working in favour of the Caste Hindus.
He reportedly said that early in the morning, somebody came up in the SCST hostel and said that Prasad’s mother was ill and required immediate attention as she was in a hospital following a heart attack. Naturally, Prasad ran out of the hostel and accompanied the man, who said he would take him to the hospital. However as they were walking, in an isolated corner of APMC Yard, a mob of around 10 people attacked him.
Huchangi, when asked about the incident by a correspondent from the sourced newspaper said,
“They surrounded me and started to push me around. They said my writings were anti-Hindu as I talked about the caste system. They even put kumkum all over my face. They pulled out a knife and said they will cut my fingers off so I can never write again.”
Somehow, Prasad found his way through the attacking mob and hid in the nearby woods until the attackers had moved away. The next morning he filed an official complaint against the group of attackers to the police who registered a case under attempt to murder (IPC 307) and under sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
The writer spoke at length about his life when asked about, and shed light on the poor caste system of our country, where the discrimination based on one’s ‘Varna’ continues. While the dalits and other lower castes, in many parts of the country are made to even carry their slippers in hand in front of the upper castes and the Brahmins, Prasad’s book, “Odala Kichchu” was a revelation. It thrived on the very aspects of how the ill based caste system had its root in the very Hindu culture, which, to be honest, is by now, an established fact, when various priests preach openly about the origin of the castes from various parts of the body.
Prasad, was even asked, how he came to know that the attackers were right wing forces, to which he replied,
“They put vermillion (kumkum) all over my face, and asked me how I dared to write about Hinduism when I do not have belief in it. They said I had sinned in my previous birth and that’s why I am born a Dalit. They seemed to know me, and the whatsapp messages I had sent about recent Dalit killings.”
The most astounding fact in the whole incident is the silence of the authorities, which has till now remained dormant on the developments. the blame cannot be only put on them, when the centre is silent on the atrocities against the minorities, the states, being the next higher body and ably corrupted by the ‘saffronised forces’, have no real prerogative to voice out against the same.
The writer though, is unmoved in his agenda to work for the minorities and the lower castes through his writings,
“I am enthused, determined and seem to have somehow gathered courage and will to continue writing. I do not want them to know that the attack has had any effect on my will to write.” he said.
Free speech, as many philosophers have said, is a big no-no in the kind of fascist regime that the Modi led government is running. While the PM talks about India getting digitalised(when half the population does not have food) and developed, some of his ardent followers go about killing and hitting someone who talks about liberal views and ill-effects of the Hindu Culture. While Mr. Modi talks of start-ups, he cuts the funding for research.
From the Hashimpura verdict to the Atali incident to the Church demolitions, the country is riding a wave of communalism. And adding to that, to keep the voyage of ‘hindutwa’ more secure and steady, now the attack on free speech. Even myself, when I am writing this article, I am no longer sure of my safety, somebody might come over and kill me. Such is the present scenario of the country. If we are to speak of emancipating our country from the ill effects of the regressive forces, the government and those forces have to understand the importance of free speech and the propagation of the liberal ideas.
Source: The Hindu
