Vigilantism 2.0 | The Indian Express

Vigilantism 2.0 | The Indian Express

Written by Pamela Philipose |Updated: July 10, 2019 5:47:58 am

<em>The writer is senior fellow at the Indian Council of Social Science Research, Delhi, researching media issues express@expressindia.com</em>

Vigilantism 2.0

How do we assess Vigilantism 2.0 against the backdrop of Modi Sarkar 2.0? The first aspect in the Ansari killing was that, in contrast to that of Akhlaq, it did not involve beef.

Much blood has flowed down the subterranean culverts linking the Akhlaq and Ansari killings. (Illustration: CR Sasikumar)

The lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq of Bisara village, Uttar Pradesh, for the meat in his refrigerator, proved to be the decisive marker in the sharply rising graph of Muslim-targeted hate crimes that followed the BJP’s victory of 2014. The thrashing to death of Tabrez Ansari, in Saraikela village, Jharkhand, barely 24 days after the BJP government was sworn in for a second term, signposts changing patterns in the ecology of hate crimes in the country.