Rohit Dhankar
[This is a reaction to Patiala house lawyers’ behavior on 17th February 2016, according to Times of India news report. I am very sceptical of news reports these days, still the ToI report sounded reliable and very disturbing early in the morning.]
Lawlessness of the lawyers is well known and there are dozens of instances in courts across the country in last few years when lawyers created a riot like situation and committed violence. There are many instances when they did it to save a member of their own community—a lawyer—from police action resulting from some crime committed by that member. Their relationship with the judiciary and the police is of mutual dependence and that gives them a certain confidence of handling these two favorably. As a result they have often blocked the process of law and delivered their own judgment.
But if I remember correctly most often they have used this brazenness to save some or other erring member of their own community from the just course of law. The Patiala house court incident is different. There the avowed objective is to ‘save the nation’. This might be the beginning of something sinister.
We have seen numerous riots in the name of religion and hurt feelings in the name of the God. This behavior of the ‘faithful’ has thoroughly discredited the religion and the God in the minds of thinking people; or at the least this malignant interpretation of the religion. The Patiala house incident has openly declared coming of the age of a new ‘Wrathful God’ THE NATION.
In the religious riots and hurt feelings’ issues—real or sham—the chanting has been “come what may I will defend my religion and God, and punish those who speak against it”. When the hurt feeling is boiled to a certain point the mob is ready to lynch and go berserk. The pot of misplaced national fervor—mostly sham and politically motivated—has been on the simmer for some time by now. The lawless lawyers of Patiala house are now declaring that this pot is on the boil; and new wrathful God called the Nation is coming out of it.
If you say anything that according to them goes against the nation they will lynch and beat you up. Once the principle is established, fervor is raised and the ideology of wrathful nation is spread widely enough no central engineering of riots is needed. The machinery starts operation automatically at the local levels and controlling it becomes very difficult.
The low machinery and successive governments have been very deferential towards the religious sentiment; that made the monster of religious riots very powerful and now everyone is scared of it. But it has also thoroughly discredited the religions in the minds of right thinking people.
Now the law enforcement agencies and the government seem to be very deferential to the sentiment of nation, they are allowing a new kind of hurt-feeling—hurt national feeling—to be established, to gain a sacred aura. This will become a new cause for rioting. You will see ‘nation riots’ like have been seeing ‘religious riots’; if this is not checked. And the suspicion it arouse for the genuine national feeling is too dangerous for the nation. Turning Bharatmata from vatshalya-mai to a wrathful and violent Chandika is too demeaning and dangerous for the Bharatmata herself. Those who genuinely care for India; be that in the form of a constitutional nation or Bharatmata; should stop this new wrathful, lawless and violent God being called “Nation”; this is an imposter; the real nation is sane, peaceful, rational and loving for all its citizens. Let us stop this replacement of the sane and rational nation by this demon unjustly masquerading as the nation.
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Thinking Aloud 
Dear Rohitji
As you rightly pointed out ‘The God’ is becoming stronger and stronger and the followers of this religion is getting more courage to express the power of their ‘God’. I remember one of our classroom discussion in TISS Mumbai on ‘religious indoctrination’ and ‘democratic education’. After that classroom discussion one of our classmate (he was my room mate during the contact session of MA.E(E)programme) came to me and expressed his dissatisfaction with that class. I asked him why? He expressed that most of our classmates and teachers talk like ‘communists’. I got surprised by his comment. I patiently listened to his concerns because I was curious in understanding his idea of communism and God. He was a follower of Krishna and belonged to a group called Iscon. He used to pray in our room. Everyday he perform some rituals read Bhagavatgita. In his opinion nobody can question ‘his God’ and ‘his existence’. During the conversation I felt that my friend’s life is deeply shaped by the existence of God. I felt that existence of ‘God’ is more that an existence out there. He himself started talking the language of God. God’s existence is like his own existence. Once he called me and informed that he don’t want to finish the course and he discontinued from the programme. I put down his experience in order to understand the Godliness of Indian nation state i.e., Indian nationalism. Ernest Gellner expressed his idea of nationalism in his writings. He says “ Nationalism is primarily a political principle, which holds that political and the national unit should be congruent. Nationalism as a sentiment, or as movement, can best be defined in terms of the principle. Nationalist sentiment is the feeling of anger aroused by the violation of the principle, or the feeling of satisfaction aroused by its fulfillment” (1983:2). I think the lawyers expressed the sentiment a that violated the principle of their God. They will express anger and violence whenever there is space, support and solidarity for their expression. BJP lead nationalism is fundamentally rooted in the principle of Hindutva. Bharatmata (the Goddess) exist in their vein and brain. I remember your posting right after the declaration of election result that supported BJP. If we keep quiet and not sharing our thought with our society. This blind sentiment will get its supremacy in this country. Thanks for sharing your thoughts
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Thanks for sharing this. But which post are you mentioning in which I supported BJP? I don’t remember any such post. I am often misunderstood on this issue. Because I make a distinction between “supporting X” and “not blaming X for something it is not”. would be useful if you could point out which post you mean.
not too important though. 🙂
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I never read any of your post that support BJP. https://rohitdhankar.com/2014/05/16/democracy-and-hope/ is the post. You shared your concerns about BJP’s win. I think my construction of sentence conveyed a different meaning. Thanks
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