Introduction And Imposition of a Fear Factor Is an Infallible Political Strategy

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 31 August 2023 Mohit Yadav, a bus conductor hailing from Mainpuri and formerly employed by Uttar Pradesh Roadways, tragically took his own life by leaping in front of a train on Monday. This distressing act followed his dismissal, stemming from a viral video that captured him halting a bus to allow two Muslim passengers to pray in Bareilly. Mohit Yadav ----- Alas, Mohit Yadav's nice gesture of goodwill resulted in his dismissal! A non-Muslim showing consideration and a sense of understanding and accommodation towards Muslim passengers was actually an act of goodness that should have been praised by all and sundry. Had he been a Muslim, this act could have invited criticism. Even in that case, a dressing- down would have been enough. But he wasn't a Muslim. He was a conscientious individual. Otto von Bismarck wrote that an autocratic State's first objective was to kill an individual's conscience. When a State fails to kill an individual or collective conscience, it eliminates those who're conscientious. Government is afraid of people who're sympathetic towards a beleaguered community and driven by a palpable sense of conscience. It's the government's despotic way to drive home the point that whoever shows even a smidgen of concern and consideration towards Muslims, will be dismissed and not just reprimanded. A clear and categorical message is being sent out that helping Muslims will incur the State's ire. In his seminal essay, 'Steps To Being A Theocratic State,' Pakistan's former Air Marshal Muhammad Asghar Khan wrote that, "A despotic government eventually becomes either Nihilistic or Fanatic." In the case of Pakistan, despotism paved the way for fanaticism. The same is happening in India. The despotic political dispensation is now a totalitarian and zealot political force. Its exclusive religious agenda doesn't allow minorities to exercise their fundamental rights. Those who dare speak on behalf of them (minorities and oppressed ones) are quickly branded as traitors and fifth columnists like that poor Mohit Yadav. All autocratic governments resort to the introduction and imposition of a loud and clear fear factor. This is an infallible political strategy. We're living in terribly iffy times when the voices of sanity and conscience are being publicly squashed and muzzled. ---- A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/introduction-imposition-fear-factor-political/d/130572 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism