Amit Bishnoi and Arup Chakraborty
The incidents of communal clash in different parts of the country indicate that the government has failed to control the perpetrators of such skirmishes. The communal clashes have taken place in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and in Kanpur district of Uttar Pradesh. Significantly, when the violence erupted in Kanpur, President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Aditya Nath were present in the town.
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This shows that the rioters have little regard for law and order, as well as the total failure of the law-enforcing agency. It is not the question who was responsible for the incident. The issue is the administration did not act sensibly. The clashes broke out after a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Nupur Sharma made some derogatory statements against the Prophet and the people of the minority community called for closure of all shops in the Begumganj area of Kanpur.
The other community which was opposed to the bandh protested against it. Aside from the rioters, the BJP should keep its motor-mouth spokespersons under control. Sharma’s comments on the Prophet during a television debate lacked civility. An FIR was lodged against her in Pune, Maharashtra. Those who make such unnecessary comments only do so to hog the media headlines without knowing that the venom they spew only sow the seeds of hatred. Such comments may give them immediate political benefits but harm the nation in the long run. A true BJP worker is known for discipline and, being in power, they should be more disciplined, but what the country is watching is just the opposite.
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As far as the district administration is concerned, some stone-throwers were seen with the policemen in a video clipping, and this is very dangerous. The police were not neutral. Otherwise also, if one community called for a bandh for some reasons, the other community should have kept away from reacting to it, as the administration was there to do their job. None is above the law. Mob justice is a medieval concept that only saps the foundation of modern democracy. Moreover, as the BJP is the ruling party in UP as well as at the Centre, its leaders and workers should be more tolerant and more accommodating. Violence is never the answer.
