Rajdeep Sardesai
It is my usual practice to end the night with an old Hindi film song. I listen to it and tweet it: music can lift the soul.
Not tonight though friends. The tragic death of Mohd Akhlaq has left me wondering which India I live in: an India where a man is lynched to death allegedly because of what he ate/or stored in his fridge?
And that too not in some remote corner but a few kilometres away from the national capital.
This is not the India of the 21st century but a barbaric, medieval India. It surfaces every now and then: khap panchayats, gang rapes, terror attacks all leave me wondering what drives people to commit acts of senseless violence. And if a rumour that someone was storing beef in the house is enough reason to kill, then we are in serious trouble.
Hopefully, a police investigation will reveal all and the culprits will get exemplary punishment. Akhilesh Yadav’s ‘secular’ government is on test again. Till then, I can only pity the mindsets of the villagers who committed this ghastly act.
But why blame the villagers only? A few months ago, a minister Mukhtar Naqvi made news when on a tv show he told me that those who want to eat beef should go to Pakistan. If eating beef is to be declared anti-national, then many of us would qualify across this country. (Including almost the entire North East). By the way, Akhlaq’s son is with the IAF. Maybe, Naqvi may want him to go to Pakistan too? – Sardesai
The author is a veteran Indian journalist and the article above first appeared on his Facebook page.