Team Clarion
NEW DELHI – A new book has highlighted the varying factors that have helped in the systematic saffronisation of the state.
Written by Irfan Engineer and Neha Dabhade, the book ‘Weaponisation of Hindu Festivals,’ sheds light on the communal violence during Ram Navami processions in 2022-23.
The book, with a foreword by Tushar Gandhi, claims that the election of the BJP government at the Centre in 2014 with an absolute majority acted as a shot in the arms of a section of Hindu nationalist organisations: They were now flush with financial resources on one hand and felt assured of state patronage and protection on the other. Their “religious” processions were motivated more to demonstrate their prowess than by spiritual or religious reasons.
The 209-page book, published by New Delhi-based Pharos Media & Publishing Pvt. Ltd, says Hindu nationalists took out their “own processions or joined traditional ones wherever they could take over the same and assert their prowess. In the process, it became the norm that such processions routinely deviated from the agreed or permitted routes in order to pass through Muslim-dominated areas. They openly carried arms, played loud and deafening DJs near mosques for a longer time including Muslim prayer time, and shouted slogans insulting Muslims.”
During this open display of Islamophobia, the book says the Hindu nationalists were fully prepared to respond violently to any objection. During the years 2022 and 2023, the Ram Navmi processions in several towns across India resulted in communal violence. These riots also targeted impartial police officers and managed to force them to fall in line or face punitive actions like transfer to less important posts. These riots saffronised the secular state.
