Rohit
On 14th April, an interview of ex-governor of former J&K, Satya Pal Malik, taken by the journalist Karan Thapar was released by The Wire. It went viral instantly as such an explosive interview by anyone belonging to the ruling BJP that directly targets PM Modi on multiple fronts is hard to find post2014. In the interview, Malik revealed that the attack on the Central Reserve Police Force convoy in Pulwama was a result of “incompetence” by the Indian system and specifically the CRPF and the home ministry. He gave extensive details of how the CRPF had asked for aircraft to transport its jawans but was refused by the Union home ministry. In the interview he added that all of these lapses were raised by him directly when Modi called him from outside Corbett Park shortly after the Pulwama attack. The PM, subsequently NSA chief Ajit Doval as well asked him to stay quiet. Malik argues that he immediately realised that the intention was to put the blame on Pakistan and derive electoral benefit for the BJP.
The very next day, on April 15th, a murder was televised live on Indian channels which later got circulated and glorified by a large number of people over WhatsApp and other social media websites. The two people killed were Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf who were convicted by the court and under
police protection while the incident happened. According to UP police there were more than 100 FIRs against Atiq Ahmed, who is also a powerful Mafia of UP who had also served a term as an MP in the Indian parliament and in UP legislative council
There is a stark contrast between the two events that is worth pointing out. The first event saw a veritable media blackout and the second one saw media going into a frenzy. Atiq’s murder caught all headlines, debates, hashtags etc. while Malik’s dissent was taken to the people only by a few media houses,
mostly online and print. TV debates that dominate drawing room conversations were strangely silent on Malik’s expose on the death of CRPF jawans in Pulwama. In 2019, the same news anchors were crying hoarse, demanding a war against the neighbouring Pakistan for perpetrating the killing of the CRPF
personnel. Malik even said that the PM is not too bothered about corruption- a statement that was not taken up by mainstream media. Atiq’s empire of extortion and mafiadom got long hours on TV on the other hand.
The televised murder also stirred up a hornet’s nest in terms of the morality of the incident. In a country like India where most people die fighting to get justice from the courts, this ‘instant solution’ idea got the support of the majority, while some opposed it saying that justice should be served through the court of law and not via individuals (chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’). Since 2017, when Yogi Adityanath came to power, there have been 10,173 encounters by the UP police. Under Yogi’s ‘Bulldozer Raj’ the government bulldozes the houses of people accused of various crimes even before conviction (like how JNU student Afreen Fatima’s house was bulldozed last year). Even after topping in fake encounters and bulldozing houses, UP still has the highest number of rape cases in India (NCRB 2022). Such extra-judicial actions are used largely to suppress the opposition or divert attention which has nothing to do with justice or stopping crime.
