What would happen if there was a terror attack at a place of worship in India?
It would be all over our TV screens, screaming from our front pages. A terror attack, especially at a religious site would have caused a wave of shock and horror.
If the accused had been identified and found, their homes and work establishments would have been demolished.
Calls for extra-judicial encounters would have reached a crescendo, and social media would have been full of people in droves demanding that the accused be sent to Uttar Pradesh for ‘police jeep turns’ justice.
Politicians across the board would have expressed condemnation. Some would use the issue to encourage hatred and discrimination against the religious community from which the terrorist in question belonged. Everyone and their uncle would have asked for the death penalty and anyone opposing the death penalty would be declared a traitor.
Roadside shops of innocent people from the same community would have been attacked. Students in universities from the same community would have been attacked.
After Shiv Sena workers demolished the venue where Kunal Kamra performed, Eknath Shinde said “every action has a reaction”. This argument would have been used to justify incidents of violence all over the country.
On March 30, there was a large explosion at a mosque in Beed, Maharashtra. While no one was hurt, cracks developed in the structure of the mosque. Two people were arrested soon after.
Their names? Vijay Rama Gavhane and Shriram Ashok Sagde. Their homes have not been demolished.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.
