The problem with fringe elements

Recently, members of a certain political party were accused of being deliberately insulting towards people who practised another faith. Representation pic

India probably does not have a problem with religion, despite what we have all been reading, hearing, or seeing over the past few years. I say this on the basis of a statement issued by the government a couple of weeks ago, in response to many countries raising serious objections about the behaviour of some Indians. They pointed out that members of a certain political party were being deliberately insulting towards people who practised another faith. The complaints were made with the backing of hard evidence, but our government's statement proved that those facts were, in all probability, not facts after all.

Apparently, members of the political party in question had repeatedly made inflammatory and divisive statements attacking a religious minority. This wasn't exactly news because, for millions of us familiar with the party in question, making hateful statements has always been entrenched into its very reason for being. It's often hard to distinguish hate speeches from the party's manifestos, but I am probably wrong, because the official press release stated that this was not the case at all.

"The views of fringe elements" do not reflect the government's views, it said. It made me realise how and why I am frequently dismayed by the presence of these fringe elements. They run rampant, for reasons unknown, popping up at communal riots every other week, issuing threats on national television, brandishing swords or other weapons during rallies, and giving India a bad name because the world outside simply starts to assume that we are all a bunch of bigoted idiots. How can a few million bigots who support a political party of bigots represent the rest of us? It doesn't add up.

It would help if we could ask the government to distinguish these fringe elements from those who don't subscribe to an agenda of extreme prejudice, but that is difficult when we have no effective means of questioning the government. We used to, once upon a time in the distant past, when the economy was robust and journalists could hold ministers to their word at press conferences; but that golden age is now a dream, much like the price of LPG cylinders and petrol.

Luckily, the government did take strong action against those fringe elements in this instance, removing them from their posts. They insulted millions of Indians, but it's great that this didn't result in them being arrested, because that would be too harsh a sentence. Maybe an arrest would be warranted if they had done something more heinous, like putting up an offensive meme on Facebook or something. I'm sure this strong action will dissuade the thousands of other fringe elements that occupy positions of authority in this political party or ministerial posts. They will think twice before saying something provocative, or risk being demoted.

I also liked the government's reference to how every religion has blossomed and flourished "during the thousands of years of the history of India". It was radically at odds with a report published by the United States Department of State in 2019 on religious freedom in our country. The report cited "religiously motivated killings, assaults, riots, discrimination, vandalism, and actions restricting the right of individuals to practice and speak about their religious beliefs," which came as a shock to me. It didn't sound like a country where religions blossomed, so I assumed the report was fabricated, wrong, or malicious. I'm pretty sure our government must have issued its own statement dismissing it as such.

Finally, the latest statement also pointed out that, as India celebrates the 75th year of its independence, our government is committed to making this a great country "where all are equal and everyone lives with dignity, where all are committed to India's unity and integrity, where all enjoy the fruits of growth and development." It made me breathe a sigh of relief, because it implied that reports of people being lynched for their eating habits, assaulted for praying in public, or having their homes bulldozed for daring to question ministers were all obviously made up. We will probably start enjoying those "fruits of growth and development" within the next couple of weeks.

My new resolution is to avoid reading any reports about India published by foreign powers. India may jail activists on flimsy charges, arrest students over tweets, prevent critics from leaving the country, allow tax-evaders to get away, and refuse to condemn attacks on minorities, but this isn't the government's fault. It's almost always those pesky fringe elements.

When he isn't ranting about all things Mumbai, Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet. He tweets @lindsaypereira

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The views expressed in this column are the individual's and don't represent those of the paper