Mob Attacks & Persecution: Multiple Incidents in Week 1 of NDA 2.0

A mob attack in MP, a professor arrested in Jamshedpur, and a man assaulted in Gurugram. Is this NDA 2.0?

The BJP swept back to power with Narendra Modi at its helm, winning by a landslide in the 2019 elections.

(Photo: The Quint)

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) swept back to power with Narendra Modi at its helm, winning by a landslide in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The first week following the re-election of the Modi government witnessed congratulations flowing in from world leaders and the heads of state of several international superpowers.

The first week also witnessed at least four separate incidents that pose a troubling question: Will hate crimes, persecution and violence in the name of cows continue to grow under the second term of the Modi government?

I’m Vishnu Gopinath and this is the Big Story podcast.

Cow-Related Mob Attack in Madhya Pradesh

Two men and a woman in MP’s Seoni were bound and beaten by “gau rakshaks” who accused them of carrying beef. A video of the incident was circulated widely on social media on 23 May, the counting day.

The incident took place on 22 May, a day before election results were declared. The alleged cow protectors also forced the victims to beat up a woman accompanying them with slippers, and captured the whole incident on camera.

The attackers was neatly tied up with the cow vigilantes forcing the victims to chant slogans of “Jai Shree Ram.”

So what was the legal fallout of this incident?

Police arrested the five men – Shubham Baghel, who had been released on bail in February 2019, Yogesh Uikey, Deepesh Namdev, Rohit Yadav and Shyam Dehriya for the assault. Baghel, who led the attack, is a staunch supporter of newly elected BJP MP and terror accused Pragya Thakur (as is evident from his Facebook page).

But wait. It doesn’t end there. The police also arrested the three victims of the assault under the Madhya Pradesh state law and were produced before a local court on 23 May, which sent them to judicial custody. The three victims were allegedly carrying 150 kg of unidentified red meat, which has been sent for testing.

That was the first incident.

Adivasi Professor Booked for Defending Tribal Community’s Right to Eat Beef

Now onto the second incident. An Adivasi professor was arrested in Jamshedpur, for a post that he shared in 2017, defending his tribal community’s right to eat beef. Jeetrai Hansda had written the post on Facebook in 2017. The post talked about Adivasi communities traditionally eating beef and even making ceremonial cow sacrifice.

Hansda has reportedly been booked under sections 153 (A), 295A, 505 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for “insulting religious feelings and attempts to promote enmity between groups of people.”

Why did the police arrest Hansda nearly TWO years after the post? Well, Hansda had been asked to appear before the police in 2017, but he wasn’t arrested. Hansda’s lawyer was quoted as saying that the police had waited till after the elections to arrest the professor so that the BJP didn’t anger the Adivasi community. What happens to Hansda now?

Well, sources told The Quint that efforts are being made to get Hansda released from police custody.

Man Assaulted in Gurugram for ‘Wearing Skull Cap’

On 25 May, three days after the BJP-led NDA was re-elected to power, a muslim man in Delhi-NCR’s Gurugram, was assaulted by four men for wearing a traditional skull cap.

The victim, 25-year-old Mohammed Alam, was reportedly on his way home after offering namaz at a mosque, when a group of four to six men accosted him.

The men allegedly told Alam that he wasn’t allowed to wear a skull cap in that area.

They then allegedly forced Alam to say ‘Bharat mata ki jai’. Which he did. Then, they tried to force him to say, ‘Jai Shree Ram’.

When Alam refused, the men threatened to force feed him pork, and beat him with a stick, and tore his shirt, Alam claimed. Alam was then taken to the hospital, where the authorities called the police.

The police have registered a case on the grounds of promoting religious hatred, causing hurt, criminal intimidation and unlawful assembly, but haven’t made any arrests yet.

The previous tenure of the NDA, from 2014 to 2019 was marked by a steep rise in religious violence and hate crimes. At least 90 lynchings have taken place since 2015, and over 165 mob attacks.

With another term of the NDA government now imminent, will hate crimes continue to rise unchecked, or will Modi Sarkar 2.0 take action, with a zero tolerance policy for incidents like this?

Kannada Newspaper Editor Booked for Report on Deve Gowda & Family

A case was registered against a Kannada newspaper’s editor and its editorial staff over a report about trouble within JD (S) chief HD Deve Gowda's family following the 2019 Lok Sabha election results.

According to the complaint filed by JD(S) state secretary S P Pradeep Kumar, the newspaper, Vishwavani had published a "false report" on Saturday, 26 May.

An FIR was filed on 27 May against the editor, Vishweshwar Bhat, and the editorial staff alleging a criminal breach of trust, cheating and defamation.

Kumar said the report stated that Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s son, Nikhil Kumaraswamy reportedly shouted at his grandfather, Deve Gowda, holding him responsible for his defeat at the hands of a woman in Mandya.

Reacting to the FIR, Bhat told PTI the report was a source-based story and if anybody had any objection, they could have issued a clarification, which, he said, the paper would have carried diligently as it had done in the past.