NEW DELHI: A spate of riots involving arson, beatings and even the Taj Mahal’s brief closure has led to worries a globalising India is struggling to cope with its underbelly of police graft, economic disparity and caste tension.
Even for a nation hardened to a daily media diet of graphic crimes and scandals, India has been awash in the last month with reports of mob violence that has spawned headlines, editorials and warnings from police, politicians and sociologists.
“India is in the throes of a violent fever,” wrote M.J. Akbar, one of India’s most respected columnists, in The Asian Age after weeks of almost daily riots in various parts of the country.
“You can see it shivering anywhere.”
Analysts said violence will only rise further if India’s economic transformation frustrates millions of poor, continues to threaten caste relations and leads to deeper state corruption.
In Agra, hundreds of Muslims took to the streets after a truck ran over four members of their community. One person was killed by a stray police bullet and the Taj Mahal, India’s biggest tourist attraction, was briefly closed.
In Delhi, hundreds of parents tried to lynch a teacher suspected of prostituting students and making DVDs of their acts.
In the eastern state of Bihar, police in Bhagalpur helped beat a suspected thief in front of a TV camera. A policeman tied the victim to a motorbike and dragged him until he passed out and hundreds of onlookers cheered. “From Delhi to Agra to Bhagalpur, there is a rage on the streets we still don’t understand,” wrote Pratap Bhanu Mehta, head of the Centre for Policy Research, in The Indian Express.
Mob violence has always simmered in India. In 2002, communal riots in Gujarat killed thousands of people, mostly Muslims.
There is also little new in villagers taking justice into their hands. Police have been seen as corrupt for years.
But the sheer number of recent riots has coincided with a wider angst in India over a possible backlash against an economic boom and growing middle class consumerism that has widened income disparities and shaken traditional social mores.
“There’s a tremendous understated tension in India,” said anthropologist Shiv Visvanathan.
“There’s been a globalisation of expectations but a limited infrastructure with it, and it’s creating a wave of violence.”
CAMERAS, LIGHTS. ... PROTEST! An expanding media has also created awareness of common grievances and inequalities across the one-billion-plus population.
Land protesters across India say they were encouraged by farmers in West Bengal who forced the government to back down over its plans for an industrial complex on farming land after nationally broadcast clashes with police.
“People see others on the streets, having a field day and getting away with it,” said Kiran Bedi, India’s first woman police officer and one of India’s most respected officials.
“So we get copycat protests.”
When farmers protested against the UP government in August they started only once TV cameras had arrived.
But it’s not just media-driven. Many riots have communal or caste tinges. Economic growth and urbanisation have also led to new flashpoints, whether caste conflicts or communal tensions between Hindus and a Muslim minority.
Sociologists say Dalits — formerly “untouchables” in Hinduism’s stratified caste system — are more assertive as urban life gives them more freedom while parties garner their support.
“Mob violence is probably increasing, particularly against Dalits, as they become more upwardly mobile,” said Andre Beteille, one of India’s most eminent sociologists.
Caste- and regional-based parties that often win votes by playing on the persecution fears are gaining support from older national parties like the ruling Congress. Caste and religious groups can feel more emboldened — and ready to take to streets.
“Parties are competing for minority or caste votes. The easiest thing is for them to exploit emotional issues, so each group perceives they are being discriminated against,” said Ved Marwah, a former police commissioner and professor at the Centre for Policy Research.—Reuters
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