By Apoorvanand
How could Theodore Adorno, a keen observer of the rise of fascism in Germany and Europe and the theoretician behind the concept of the “Authoritarian Personality,” be connected to our own Urdu poet, Majaz?
While we were trying to process the most recent hounding of Nadeem Khan, national secretary of Association of Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) by the Delhi police, a friend of mine shared an article written by Sharjeel Imam, who wll complete years in jail for his role in the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (anti-CAA) movement. He invokes Majaz, “Hadein wo kheinch rakhi hain haram ke pasbano ne ke bin mujrim bane paighaam bhi pahuncha nahi skta (The guardians of the holy have drawn lines so strict that no message can pass without making a criminal out of the messenger).” The messenger of the bad news is a criminal.
While reading him and thinking about the persecution of Nadeem, I recalled Theodore Adorno. In this very context, he writes: “The hangman gets upset when someone talks about the noose in his house. The hangman alleges that it is an attempt to create resentment against him. To defame him.” I recalled Adorno while reading about the FIR against Nadeem. Adorno kept coming back, again and again. I have forgotten how many times, in these 10 years these lines from him have come back to me. Repetition is our fate.
Nadeem is accused by the Delhi police of creating enmity and hatred in society by documenting and exhibiting the hate crimes that have been committed in the country for the last ten years. That Pahelu Khan or Junaid or Mohsin Khan or Rakbar or scores like them were lynched is a fact. But the police feel that to talk about them is an act of spreading hatred. That Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Adityanath, Himanta Biswa Sarma and other leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) keep giving either dog whistles or brazen hate speeches against Muslim is an undisputed fact. If you mention it, however, you’ll be accused of harbouring hatred against them and inciting hatred towards them among Muslims. That is what Nadeem is accused of. How can he talk about the noose in the house of the hangman? By doing it he is creating resentment against them. The police are fearful that it might break the country.
Before the persecution of Nadeem started, we learnt that a criminal case had been filed against Mohammed Zubair, the famous fact checker journalist. What was his crime? He was drawing the attention of the law and order authorities towards the hate speeches given by Yati Narsinghanand. The fact of the hate speech given by Yati is undisputed. It is not denied that Yati spewed venom. But someone took offence that the target of his hate act, one individual from the Muslim community was complaining about it. How dare he? Was he not trying to mobilise the anguish of his community against Yati, who was threatening violence against Muslims? Zubair, according to the petitioner, by pointing at the hate act of Yati was creating resentment against him. This act has hurt the supporters of Yati. They do not disagree that he spreads hatred against Muslims, that he calls for violence against them. But they would not like a Muslim to talk about it or protest.
The law and order authorities concurred with the petitioner against Zubair. They say that his act of calling for action against the violent speech of Yati has hurt the sentiments of his followers. Hurting the sentiments of a population is a crime. But only when the hurt population is Hindu. The state went hundred steps ahead and alleged that by talking about the hate act of Yati, Zubair was actually attacking the integrity and the sovereignty of the country. The call for justice by Zubair became a seditious act.
This is not new for Zubair. He was jailed two years ago for calling out hate mongers. The courts kept him in jail and he had to move to the top court which then gave him bail.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.