Who whipped my holy cow?
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What politicians can learn from Sartaj
The dignity and grace, with which Sartaj has handled his father Mohammad Akhlaq's gruesome death at the hands of a mob in Dadri and the misery that has visited his family, is simply amazing. If he had chosen to be bitter and sour, it would have been understandable. The young Indian Airforce (IAF) corporal has resisted the temptation to allow the events of last week shake his faith in society and the country. When he says, "Sare jahan se achha Hindustan hamara", you know it comes straight from his heart.
Sartaj is not the only one who stands out on account of his dignity and conduct. Many residents of the same Dadri village where Sartaj's father was lynched, merely on the suspicion of having eaten and storing beef, shielded and protected more than 70 Muslims from falling prey to the communal madness that appeared to have overtaken a section of the village. They deserve to be commended as well. They proved that there is still a lot of goodness left in our people, despite the best efforts of some of our politicians and purveyors of hate to weaken the social fabric.
Contrast this with the callous and almost provocative utterances of the likes of Union minister Mahesh Sharma and Rajya Sabha MP Tarun Vijay. "He (Mohammad Akhlaq) was killed on the suspicion that he had eaten beef," wrote Vijay, in an attempt to paper over what had transpired. His insensitive remarks invited a howl of protests from the civil society. Vijay, in his personal life, especially when he is not speaking before the media, comes across as sensible and sometimes even likeable. But his reaction to the lynching shocked even some of his friends and supporters. Read more here.
How a Mann Ki Baat on Dadri 'beef' lynching can benefit Digital India
On September 27 (Indian Standard Time), Prime Minister Narendra Modi was waxing eloquent on the transformative role of information and communications technologies at the Digital India dinner in California, with the Indian-American CEOs of Microsoft and Google, among others, gleaming in admiration. "Farmers in Maharashtra have created a WhatsApp group to share information on farming practices", Modi said, elaborating on how the "digital age" has created "an opportunity to transform lives of people".
On September 28, the son of a local BJP leader and his accomplices at Dadri's Bisara village - around 50 kilometers from Delhi - were sharing digital images of a slaughtered cow on WhatsApp and instigating the local villagers to avenge cow slaughter by slaughtering the "cow-killers". A Muslim family of the village was attacked and 50-year old Mohammad Akhlaq was lynched by a mob on the suspicion that his family had eaten and stored beef.
Amidst the usual melodrama that has played itself out in the week following the diabolic Dadri lynching, what has stood out is the deliberate silence maintained by our otherwise verbose prime minister. What does he have to say about the Indian citizen who was wantonly slaughtered by a motivated mob, with digital precision? How does it fit into his fantasies of Digital India? Read more here.