DC Edit | CJI Shoe Attack: Rein In Hate Before It’s Too Late

The Frankenstein called hate, which is having a field day in the country, marshalled sufficient traction to enter the portals of the Supreme Court of India and attempted to hurl footwear at the Chief Justice of India while he was in court hearing cases. That Chief Justice B.R. Gavai was grace personified helped defuse the situation within the courtroom but the repercussions of the act of a 71-year old lawyer and self-styled protector of Sanatan Dharma will be felt across the nation.

Nathuram Godse had his reasons to fire at the father of the nation for he thought a living Mahatma Gandhi was detrimental to the Hindutva politics he believed in and advocated all through his life. He had no option but to kill the Mahatma, he would later submit before the court. All those who know the Godse story also know that he was only a tool in the hands of haters who were unable to stomach the idea of an India that was a secular democratic republic. The lawyer who performed the atrocious act in the courtroom was a similar icon who knows only the path of violence to settle a disagreement in a point of view. Like Godse, he too, shows no remorse.

India has survived Godse and his kind of violent communalism and charted its own political course with the firm belief that unity in diversity is the only way for this ancient people to survive and succeed. It also put in place systems to ensure that those who have been denied a role in society and its functioning will get their due. It has a Constitution built on modern democratic ideals and not the ancient scripts which perpetrated injustice on a vast majority of human beings born in the country based on caste, an idea which militates against basics of humanity. It needs to be investigated whether the fact that Chief Justice Gavai comes from those oppressed sections was a reason for the Sanatan apparatchik to resort to this unthinkable and condemnable act.

It may be noted that the lawyer has supporters across the country who will now come up with whatabouteries to justify his act. They were there in strength under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s social media response, which came very late. While Mr Modi was categorical that the attack on the Chief Justice “has angered every Indian” and that “there is no place for such reprehensible acts in our society”, his followers on social media did not appear to share his opinion. This reflects the inroads intolerance has made in our times.

It is disheartening that the Union government, save the Prime Minister, did not think the untoward incident was fit cause for comment. While the entire Opposition and several chief ministers condemned the act, no minister in the Union government, not even the law minister, who does not miss a moment to pounce on the Opposition even for their innocuous comments, chose to remain silent. This, when the person who holds the highest post in Indian judiciary came under physical attack.

Hate is a blind bull let loose on India by the Hindutva forces. Unless the country tames it, it will subsume the nation.