Religious Places Cannot Escape Scrutiny

India

oi-Smita Mishra

The first responsibility of police is to make sure the protection, safety and peace of the nation and this text raises questions on the alertness and preparedness of police within the age of social media.

All of Friday, the nation watched with horror as hundreds of protestors gathered in huge and small cities in varied corners of the nation. The ostensible demand for the protests was arrest of Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal, two former spokespersons of the BJP, for his or her objectionable feedback on the Prophet. However the demand for arrest quickly snowballed into calls for for ‘fansi’ (hanging), slogans had been raised brazenly for Nupur’s beheading and in cities like Ranchi, Prayagraj, Howrah and Hyderabad, protestors turned violent, attacked policemen ensuing within the loss of life of two individuals. In Howrah, repeated clashes and violence continued until late on Saturday.

Following the violent protests, components of many cities are nonetheless below prohibitory orders and legislation implementing companies are reported on excessive alert. Forward of the protests, there have been conferences of the Jamiat and different organizations and statements, posters circulated demanding Muslims to collect in giant numbers and produce the nation to halt. Related messages had been despatched out by PFI. After all, these posters didn’t spell out in so many phrases any name for violence however the provocative language and calls to ‘present them’ the may had been written in clear phrases.

It’s no shock then that the protests turned violent. Within the gentle of those messages, one might query the alertness and preparedness of the police and different companies however that’s solely of educational worth now. The extra related query is how to make sure that the scenes will not be repeated hereafter. The anti-CAA protests, the farmers’ agitation and swift unfold of the protests on the Hijab difficulty have proven that within the age of the social media, a minute is a very long time.

However the social media is already on the radar of the legislation implementing companies. This column needs to attract consideration to a extra fundamental query and that’s, are non secular locations turning into nerve centres of fuelling violence within the gentle of latest incidents? And if sure, ought to they not be introduced below the radar too? Everlasting vigil is the worth of democracy and no value will be greater that peace and concord of the nation.

It has been extensively reported that protests erupted instantly after the Friday prayers in nearly all of the cities. The congregations swelled in minutes and as already talked about, turned violent in a number of locations. Outstanding non secular individuals just like the Shahi Imam went on file to say that they by no means known as for anybody to take the legislation of their fingers. However it’s now clear that both there was robust provocation or no less than not sufficient effort to rein within the components else the violence might have been prevented.

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Secularism is an article of religion of all Indians and an unwritten rule of our secular practices is to accord utmost reverence to each place of worship. Despite the fact that locations of worship in our nation come below the purview of the legislation, our legislation implementing companies all the time train utmost restraint. Spiritual sensitivities are all the time a precedence and that’s the way it needs to be. The same old observe has been to take non secular leaders into confidence, exhort them to speak to the folks, promote peace committees and resolve any tensions via dialogue. Even in these dialogues, individuals who wield some affect with their communities are held in excessive regard.

Nonetheless, the primary precedence of the police and different companies is to make sure the protection, safety and peace of the nation. They can’t be anticipated to show a blind eye if non secular congregations change into an excuse to gasoline tensions. Identical to the legislation enforcers, it’s incumbent upon non secular leaders, preachers, and the administration of non secular locations to shed any rigidity and co-operate with the companies as a part of their social duty. If non secular websites do not stay solely locations of worship however flip into nerve centres of political gatherings and protests, then they have to be scrutinized as such.

(Smita Mishra, Advisor, Prasar Bharati)

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