When we read of the impunity, and sometimes the triumph, that bullies enjoy after intimidating the weak, we feel stabbed in the soul. Raised in the belief that democratic, people-centered societies protect ordinary citizens, we are wounded and also enraged when coercion succeeds, which increasingly seems to be the case in many a country.
On Friday November 5, in India (still spoken of as the world’s largest democracy), hundreds of aggressive men prevented a group of Muslims from praying together in a public space in Sector 12A of what used to be called Gurgaon but is now, officially, Gurugram. (That recent “improvement” or “correction” in naming marked yet another victory in India of “purity” over “ordinary” usage. Being a more Sanskritic word, Gurugram in some eyes is more properly Hindu than Gurgaon.)
For much more than a century, Gurgaon has been the name for a large city just south of Delhi, in the state of Haryana, and also for a larger district inclusive of that city. In recent decades, Gurgaon city has remorselessly expanded, gobbling up village upon village. Industrial, commercial, and residential complexes have come up, as have medical, educational and other institutional campuses. Hundreds of thousands living elsewhere go daily to work in Gurgaon, including an immense number whose homes, humble or comfortable, are in Delhi.
For their obligatory Friday afternoon prayers, Muslims from among these “outsiders”, as also local Muslims from Gurgaon (about five percent of the population), have for years been assembling – with the permission and cooperation of city and district authorities – in selected public sites, including one in Gurgaon’s Sector 12A. The city has only 10 mosques, eight in older areas and two in newly populated parts.
On November 5, a large slogan-shouting Hindu crowd took over the Sector 12A site for what they claimed was an essential Hindu ceremony, preventing the customary Muslim prayer. Unable to intervene, the police have apparently told the area’s Muslims that henceforth the Sector 12A spot and 14 other Gurgaon sites will not be available for their Friday prayers. Counting from 2017, Muslims have now been barred from assembling to pray in nearly 70 such spots in Gurgaon.
In 2018, a “revolution” against Muslim prayers in Gurgaon’s public spaces was promised by Yati Narsinghanand, a radical Hindu cleric who is based about 20 miles east of Gurgaon, in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The latest restrictions are being described as victories for Hindu nationalism. In this perspective, Hindu pride or self-respect grows as Muslim visibility is curbed.
For those who have nursed finer hopes for Hinduism and for India, this was not a nice pill to swallow. To be able to talk about this injurious feeling gives momentary relief. Realization that each day requires the swallowing of several unpleasant pills gives longer-term unease.
As an Indian living in the U.S. or aware of the influence of the U.S., you may hope for a countervailing force in the world and look for evidence of American energy being deployed in favour of democracy and against majoritarianism.
You are likely in that case to run into signs of the opposite. The Big Lie -- “Fraud caused Trump’s defeat a year ago” -- is currently being shaped into a foundation to achieve Trump’s return. “Blacks should be pushed back into their proper place,” even as India’s Muslims are being shoved back into quarters suitable to them. “Blacks should be made to clear a dozen obstacles before they can vote the next time round.” That’s the language you are meant to hear, even if the words put out only ask for “cheating-free voting”.
When stabbed in the soul, I try to respond by wanting to smile. Often I succeed. Not by forcing myself. No. I smile by recalling faces of real individuals who care, speak up, and defend the bullied weak.
I sometimes start this journey of resistance at India’s southern tip. Travelling clockwise or counter-clockwise, I make a “recovery of India” by summoning before my mind’s eye the names and faces of brave ones in India who are battling today. They are so many, and everywhere, and so wonderful.
Or I travel elsewhere in the world and recall people I know of, or even know, who seek justice for the coerced.
Or, even though my memory is terrible, I may recall a line or two of verse.
God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform.
He plants his footsteps on the sea, and rides upon the storm…
His purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour.
The bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower.