Is it just a community or the entire humanity that is being targeted here?

I remember the last time I went shopping. The only thing that kept me occupied on my way back home was the excitement with which I’d show each item to mumma and the pride with which she would receive her now-grown-up-daughter. Just a thought of trading places with Junaid, a recent victim of mob lynching, makes me want to curl up in my bed and sleep for days. Try to imagine the agony of a mother whose son was stabbed to death a few miles away from his home. Instead of receiving her son, she received the news of his death. How is she exactly suppose to remember the festival of sheer happiness and celebration, a festival that comes after the obligatory sacrifice of food, water and sins, the end of which made her sacrifice the most precious thing to her. Or is it the mentality of a few “protectors” that cost her, her son’s life?

JUNAID. Junaid Khan, a 16-year-old resident of Haryana’s Ballabhgarh, was killed on his return to home after shopping for Eid from Delhi. “Shopping,” “Eid,” “Delhi,” such brightly-decorated, cheerful words overshadowed by “killing,” killing over a suspicion of carrying beef in their bags. The hussle that erupted over seats turning into an exchange of religious slurs ended in the ultimate attainment of “peace”. A relief from this religion-ruled, brutally-impartial, poverty-ridden and trouble-torn, diverse country. Oh yes! Diverse, it is. Here, you’ll find a cop being stripped and killed by the same mob for whose security he was assigned that duty. Here, you’ll spot two communities fighting over a piece of land. And guess what, we are rich in our land sources. Here, you’ll find a mob of atleast 100 killing a 50-year-old over a rumour (Yes, the same rumour). Here, you’ll find a woman being raped and killed even when she has been declared a criminal and is in jail. Here, you’ll meet a leader being labelled as anti-nationalist for either “praising another country” or “criticising his own country for a decision”. Yes, this is the same country which was once famous for its diversity only in culture. Truly, my India never fails to show me how incredible it is.

I believe, this is not just my community, but the entire humanity that is being targeted by a group of people I proudly own as my Indian brothers and sisters. Living in the city of rallies, this is my silent rally, this is my peaceful protest. Believe me, it is not in the burkha that I wear, or my turban, or my lowly hanging beard, or my bag, or my religion or my name. It is in my heart and mind that needs to be truly understood. If a teenage boy can get unexpectedly lynched two days before Eid, we shouldn’t be sure whether we are going to make it to the next morning or not. So, let’s say ‘Chandraat Mubarak’ to each other instead of ‘Eid Mubarak’, because, are you seriously safe to not get lynched before you make it to Eid?
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