The Hate and violence-mongers on social media

When the country is mourning the violent murder of senior journalist , Gauri Lankesh in Bangalore, one must take time to think- what was the need to silence her so cruelly? The answer to this question lies somewhere hidden in the celebrations in certain power circles after her death.

The hate and violence that have become routine on social media to anyone who questions the accepted truth sometimes spills over in these “highly premeditated assassinations.” So keep a tab on the free spirits (you can be certain that there are not too many now) who are routinely hounded on the social networks with regular abuses and threats and you can actually get a idea of who are on the “hit list.” You can be certain there is such a list now.

What the governments would prefer is people who are satisfied with “readymade news”, window-dressed( like the way Gorakhpur hospital is cleaned before the CM’s visit) that is convenient to the status quo. The universal truths can bear no questioning- no messing with caste, class, gender or the powerful. That women are supposed to be good mothers or good wives (they cannot question marital rape or the institution of marriage itself will crumble), that Muslims are born terrorists (that includes the hapless Rohingya refugees). These are the universal truths that cannot be questioned. The “praja” must know that Lord Rama can only mean good. After all it is “Ramarajya”.

So naturally people like Gauri Lankesh who instinctively stood for the down-trodden- the unheard Dalit or the poor Muslim in a increasingly majoritarian state and had the gumption to question the high and the mighty had to be silenced. Not only that, it must be done in a way that will teach others not to tread a similar path. She must be made an example of.