There are no laws in New India, but there are rules

There are no laws in the new India.

There are rules though.

You cannot eat what We do not want you to eat.

You cannot listen to music We do not want you to listen to.

You cannot wear what We do not want you to wear.

You cannot love whoever We do not want you to love.

You cannot worship what We do not want to worship.

You cannot worship how We do not want you to worship.

You cannot exist because We do not want you to exist.

This applies to all Indians who are Muslims.

You may justifiably point out to me that: this is not new, human nature is evil, this has happened before and that Muslims are not the only target.

But you cannot use any of those excuses to justify the travesty of governance and democracy going on in the BJP-RSS led India right now.

Various BJP-run governments have allowed the anger of the mob to do their work for them – either remove Muslims from India or subjugate them so totally as to make them second class “citizens” without any rights. And worse than that, they use the agencies of State to behave like crazed mobs themselves.

Thus in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh bulldozers can be used with by the police on the homes of those accused of “communal” violence, provided that they are Muslims. The actual Hindu perpetrators are either not arrested at all or they promptly get bail.

Thus, in Delhi, the police cannot hear clear calls for genocide against Muslims by Hindu priests and what they can hear they excuse under “freedom of expression”.

Thus, in UP two minor Muslim boys can be arrested for listening to Pakistani music. Freedom of anything does not apply here.

Thus, in Karnataka a learned court will pontificate on the essentials of Islamic practice to disallow hijabs in colleges but no court will question whether verses of the Vedas at a university convocation is essential to the practice of Hinduism.

Thus, in Gujarat, the starting point of Narendra Modi’s career as a destroyer of Muslims, Muslim businesses are bulldozed by the government in retaliation for violence during a Hindu procession.

The examples of the persecution of Muslims by BJP governments in the states and at the Centre are endless, especially over the past eight years since Narendra Modi swept the BJP to power at the Centre in 2014, giving the RSS what they had always dreamt of: a winning majority in Parliament.

For Muslims to get justice from all our vaunted institutions are impossible. The Constitution is upheld when a Hindu’s freedom is at stake, or to be clear only particular kinds of pro-RSS Hindus. The Constitution is forgotten where Muslims are concerned.

Accused by the police means you are guilty and by destroying your homes and livelihood, the punishment is meted before the creaky judicial system can kick in with its own slow torture.

Condemnation of this fascist behaviour by BJP-led governments, when it comes at all, is not absolute. Those who do not justify by referencing the past will descend into comparative reasoning: the dehumanisation of Muslims by the government is bad for our image and therefore bad for business. It is not bad per se. But it has unfortunate consequences internationally and therefore it is wrong.

The government itself turns this argument on its head: since it’s bad for our image, do not talk about our atrocities, do not publicise them. If no one knows, our image is intact.

Handwringing about why we have become like this and what we have become is pointless. Hatred is essential to human behaviour and we have always known about these hatreds. We have done nothing and possibly we have encouraged them.

Education is no solution because it is the educated who come up with most of the justifications and swallow the most vicious invented bile.

Yet, it is only from us – those of us with our eyes open – that the solution can come. Political parties will automatically cater to the lowest common denominator and right now, hatred is the vote-gatherer.

The ruling regime is brazen in its intent and its actions. It has been unchallenged so far and this has only boosted its confidence. The public has not contested either the spread of hatred and violence nor has it disapproved of its incompetence in issues of governance.

Right now, I’m assuming that there is a solution. Another few months and even that will be lost for at least another 10 years.

It all depends on how much we want the children, all children, to suffer.

(Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist. Views are personal)