Haunted by the Holocaust: Notes on the Delhi Pogrom of 2020

Ever since I was very young, I have been—for the lack of a better word—haunted by the Holocaust. I could manage to wrap my head around the fact that some spiteful, callous, greedy people took control of the State, but that the rest of the German population stood by and let over six million Jewish men, women and children—their own fellow citizens—be so murdered in their name, that left me truly bewildered.

These last few years, I have watched as Indian people I once respected succumbed to majoritarianism and jingoism, and I have never felt so helpless. There are lynch mobs killing innocent people on the streets, and not only does the government pressure the judicial system to acquit some men, despite so much videographic evidence—most of it taken by the proud killers themselves—they also do things like have Union ministers garland convicted murderers who have managed to get out on bail after appealing their convictions, and hold rallies in support of men that have gang raped children and murdered them or their loved ones, all on the basis of the religious identities of the perpetrators and the victims.

I have watched educated people justify and condone and even express a barely concealed pride over such incidents. Views along the lines of “minorities need to remember their place” and “such violence is necessary from time to time”. It has shaken my faith in everything, from the goodness of men to the worth of education, and I cannot help but feel as if I should be using my privilege of belonging to the majority to speak out against such atrocities, as also the casual, and sometimes disturbingly gleeful, acceptance of such violence. In return, I have been often branded “a traitor", "not Hindu enough" and had a lot of abuse heaped on me by not just unthinking brainwashed trolls, but also people I once thought I knew.

The parallels between the rise of Nazism and Hindutva nationalism are not only glaring, but also deeply personal. The idea of standing by silently as 200 million Muslim people are systematically and progressively targeted and killed is simply unbearable. Especially when the tensions are not natural so much as created in the minds of the majority and minority both by government tactics ranging from the blatant to the insidious. And I am certain that, unchecked, that is the road we march down on, the end we are moving inevitably towards. The fact that this is the RSS's core mission in life—to cleanse the land of all except Hindus—would be reason enough. But the fact that that once unthinkable idea has now found acceptance in the minds of common people is what really convinces me of that.

Everything that is happening today, I foresaw in 2014, when the BJP first put up Modi as its prime ministerial candidate. Modi was the Chief Minister of the State of Gujarat at the time of one of the most brutal pogroms against Indian Muslim people ever. And the fact that people were willing to condone that bloodshed, forget that violence, in favor of a hollow veneer of promised development was shocking enough. But, since then, the BJP has pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into Russian troll farm inspired "IT cells”, PR firms and propaganda distributed through both traditional news and social media, successfully further polarizing the country, all so that once the population is divided into "a majority" and other "minorities" along religious lines, they can seize upon the entire vote share of the said Hindu majority by claiming to be the only truly Hindu political party. And they have succeeded shockingly well. All of India's indices have been worsening over the last half decade, whether economic, healthcare, mortality rates, crimes against women or hate crimes, yet the country's majority re-elected this party into power at the national center despite all of that, simply on the basis of its communal and religious hate-mongering and othering.

We have now reached a stage where Hindu children of poverty—often little more than teenagers themselves—are brainwashed into lynching and killing unarmed outnumbered minority citizens, while Hindu children of privilege make TikTok videos and Instagram posts celebrating that violence and bloodshed from within the safety of their gated colonies. And all this even as an incompetent bunch of thugs masquerading as the government hold to ransom the educated fraction of the Indian population. Waiting patiently for them all to give up and join the majoritarian bandwagon. Those they cannot convince, they buy, those they cannot buy, they bribe, those they cannot bribe, they threaten, those they cannot threaten, they send their mobs after.

Here’s what you should know about the Delhi pogrom that’s been all over the news:

1. On the first day of the three day violence, clashes broke out between two protesting groups (one against the discriminatory CAA passed by the government and one supporting the government), in so far as they were chucking stones at each other and getting into scuffles. Both groups allege that the violence was started by the other, but an incendiary speech given by BJP minister Kapil Sharma minutes before the attack began while the police mutely stood by him is undeniable. By the second day, the police had joined in the pro government Hindutva mobs roaming the streets, and there were reports of mosques being vandalised, Muslim homes targeted and looted, Muslim shops being burned, people being lynched, etc.

2. A lot of bodies haven’t even been touched in the worst affected areas. Police have barricaded entire neighbourhoods, preventing not just the media but also the residents of such localities from entering. Despite the fact that the victims have informed the police of their friends and relatives that died in the violence and whose bodies they are desperate to reclaim.

3. The mob, as you can see in the videos, is mostly made up of men ready for violence. There are stories of Hindu people that jumped into burning houses and hid Muslim people in their own homes at the risk of being labelled traitors and killed by the same mobs. We have the tales of those who survived. But, not of those who were killed.

4. There are multiple videos showing the police force not only egging on the Hindutva mobs, but also joining in on the violence. A Muslim man a bunch of cops beat with rods on camera and forced to sing the national anthem as he bled into unconsciousness has since died. Many victims also suffered gunshot wounds. So, when the police force itself has been so heavily complicit, expecting them to refrain from dirty tricks such as deliberately keeping the bodies of Muslim victims unidentified is really not a stretch at all.

5. There are also numerous reports that Muslim victims that are going to police stations to lodge complaints or ask for help are instead being arrested themselves, even as the list of unidentified corpses keeps growing.

6. Lot of people succumbed to second hand causes of death such as fumes and uncontrolled fires and accidents. Those don’t discriminate based on religious identities. And, yet again, I fear that it was mostly brave and innocent Hindu and Muslim men that died.

I am a Hindu myself. With family and lots of law school friends currently in Delhi, many of whom are actively trying to organise relief and legal aid for the injured and displaced victims. About 80% of the Indian population is Hindu. As such, to present this as an equal clash is highly irresponsible and problematic. Please do also remember that there are many stories of Hindu people risking their lives to shield their Muslim friends and neighbors, and vice versa.

Despite the best efforts of the Hindu nationalist government in power to polarise, this was not a religious clash, not Hindus vs Muslims. It was looters and rioters brought in to the city in trucks and set free amongst a defenceless population. All because Modi wanted to intimidate protesters off the streets before Trump’s visit to the national capital. It took the Hindutva nationalist government three whole days to even call for peace—because they were well aware that the mobs were made up primarily of their Hindutva nationalist supporters.

The Muslim population has been systematically targeted and brutalised by not just killings and sexual violence, but also systematic loot and plunder. All as the police looked on, and at times even aided the mob. And the fact that the sycophantic national media is falling all over itself trying to appease the government is just the most disgusting part.