Religious Places Cannot Escape Scrutiny

The primary duty of police is to ensure the safety, security and peace of the nation and this article raises questions on the alertness and preparedness of police in the age of social media.

All of Friday, the nation watched with horror as thousands of protestors gathered in big and small towns in various corners of the country. The ostensible demand for the protests was arrest of Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal, two former spokespersons of the BJP, for their objectionable comments on the Prophet. But the demand for arrest soon snowballed into demands for 'fansi' (hanging), slogans were raised openly for Nupur's beheading and in cities like Ranchi, Prayagraj, Howrah and Hyderabad, protestors turned violent, attacked policemen resulting in the death of two persons. In Howrah, repeated clashes and violence continued till late on Saturday.

Following the violent protests, parts of many cities are still under prohibitory orders and law enforcing agencies are reported on high alert. Ahead of the protests, there were meetings of the Jamiat and other organizations and statements, posters circulated demanding Muslims to gather in large numbers and bring the country to halt. Similar messages were sent out by PFI. Of course, these posters did not spell out in so many words any call for violence but the provocative language and calls to 'show them' the might were written in clear terms.

It is no surprise then that the protests turned violent. In the light of these messages, one may question the alertness and preparedness of the police and other agencies but that is only of academic value now. The more relevant question is how to ensure that the scenes are not repeated hereafter. The anti-CAA protests, the farmers' agitation and swift spread of the protests on the Hijab issue have shown that in the age of the social media, a minute is a long time.

But the social media is already on the radar of the law enforcing agencies. This column wants to draw attention to a more basic question and that is, are religious places becoming nerve centres of fuelling violence in the light of recent incidents? And if yes, should they not be brought under the radar too? Eternal vigil is the price of democracy and no cost can be higher that peace and harmony of the country.

It has been widely reported that protests erupted immediately after the Friday prayers in almost all the cities. The congregations swelled in minutes and as already mentioned, turned violent in several places. Prominent religious persons like the Shahi Imam went on record to say that they never called for anyone to take the law in their hands. But it is now clear that either there was strong provocation or at least not enough effort to rein in the elements else the violence could have been prevented.

Secularism is an article of faith of all Indians and an unwritten rule of our secular practices is to accord utmost reverence to every place of worship. Even though places of worship in our country come under the purview of the law, our law enforcing agencies always exercise utmost restraint. Religious sensitivities are always a priority and that is how it should be. The usual practice has been to take religious leaders into confidence, exhort them to talk to the people, promote peace committees and resolve any tensions through dialogue. Even in these dialogues, persons who wield some influence with their communities are held in high regard.

However, the first priority of the police and other agencies is to ensure the safety, security and peace of the nation. They cannot be expected to turn a blind eye if religious congregations become an excuse to fuel tensions. Just like the law enforcers, it is incumbent upon religious leaders, preachers, and the management of religious places to shed any rigidity and co-operate with the agencies as part of their social responsibility. If religious sites do not remain only places of worship but turn into nerve centres of political gatherings and protests, then they must be scrutinized as such.

(Smita Mishra writes on politics and current affairs)

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