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Where is Billu Pradhan???

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Where is Billu Pradhan???

Where is Billu Pradhan? Billu Pradhan is a man nowhere to be found and his home was used to brutally rape and kill the hapless women, men and children of Shamli and Muzaffarnagar!!!! All these ill-fated people thought of Billu as their savior and flocked to his house for shelter. Billu betrayed them and he is conveniently missing since none of the people brutalized are of any importance and best of all excuses, they are in the minority, 1,200 to be exact.

Reading and watching all about camps in Shamli and Muzaffarnagar makes me recoil with shame and fear. How can a human being be subjected to all this misery in a developing nation?  The despair seems to be endless and to crown it all, we have all our leaders harping about communalism and terrorism. This is the crucial link between how the seeds of terrorism are sown after riots. Please, do not take this as an excuse but this is where everything starts.

The bone chilling account of how men and women were heartlessly killed, raped and left to die in the sugarcane fields in the magazine Outlook is just too gruesome.  The article has a graphic account of what happened and main culprit, Billu Pradhan is still at large!! I have not heard his name on any of the news channels.  I guess investigative reporting is dead or maybe it is selective.

And after the bomb blasts in Hyderabad, thousands of young men from the minority section were taken without any proof, tortured and jailed for no fault of theirs. Their lives are in a mess and no one cares as they are just a minority. Police acts with a lot of zest and grit, the moment minority is blamed without any proof and immediate action is taken.

The Outlook magazine writes in depth about the unforgivable deeds of Billu Pradhan and cohorts. Not one person has been arrested. But, talk to the people living in camps, and they will tell you how many of their family members are in jail for nothing. I guess this the price the minority has to pay for choosing to live in a secular India and not migrating to the chaotic neighbouring country. Choosing the lesser devil, I guess is a heavy price to pay.

Where did all this begin?? Well, it began when a few miscreants wanted to make sure that people who have been living together for decades were turned against each other.  All in the name of religion and trying to secure seats in the Lok Sabha in the forthcoming elections!!!  Thank you, Congress, BJP and Samajwadi.  After all, these people from the minority section are dispensable, right!  And of course the minority gets the brunt of this conflict as they do not have any means of protecting themselves against the vast majority who have turned so pitiless after being fed with rhetoric propaganda of appeasement of minorities.

Where are all the NGO’s now??? Does it matter to them if the existing leaders in power look the other way?? Do they have to take their permission?? Or maybe the minority people can be ignored and left to find their way out of this hapless condition.  Their votes don’t count and I guess we are on our way to becoming a fundamentalist nation, thanks to some nasty leaders.

In the aftermath of all this rioting, if some angry young man or woman from the minority wants to take the law in his/her hands to mete out retribution, the word terrorism is the favorite one. The word terrorism is not used when helpless minority is mercilessly raped, killed and left to live in squalid camps. Oh no, this is different. May I ask, how? In my clear and troubled mind, I deem them equal.

I guess all of the above is true as we can see the misery and despair in every word and movement of these people living in the camps. They can’t do anything and we are not doing anything to help them.  Leaders are just making their presence felt. Nothing is being done. Miserable state of affairs but true.

Oh yes, if there is a wedding of any leader’s progeny or someone important dies, all the government machinery will be put at their disposal. Not one leader was empathetic enough to take a doctor or blankets to the neglected camps with them to make sure that the little boy did not die last night for the lack of medical care and warmth. I guess the Govt. machinery is for the elite only. News came in just now as to how Supreme Court has taken notice of the people in camps and pray tell me, what good will this accomplish?  Will it bring back the dead child?

All the major news channels are out there making hay with TRPs. What is the administration doing? I guess they are busy screaming for justice for Devyani Khobargade!   Young women raped and killed is nothing compared to the injustice meted out to the Indian diplomat. After all the anguish Devyani is going through can be seen everywhere on all the channels.  What about these silent women who have lost everything? Can the honour, self-esteem and confidence of all these women from Shamli and Muzaffarnagar be restored? No debate, no discussion and of course no empathy on this subject.  Maybe after a few months when the camps are empty, some women will be brought back as show pieces on some reality program.

A man who lost his child in the camp says he cannot go back to his home as there are people going around with guns and swords. Is he talking about the same India that has sent a spacecraft to Mars and my India that is one of the top countries in terms of rocket and satellite technology?? Or is this the medieval ages where people in power acted like God and could do whatever they wanted.

I guess if things go this way, I don’t know how to react. This could happen to any one of us from the minority community. After all it comes down to numbers, right!!  And I am in the minority. I have never wanted to think like this but the present situation is forcing me to rethink. I am an Indian who went abroad, sent all my hard earned petro dollars to boost the Indian economy, came back to live with my people I grew up with. But there is a different scenario being played out now on the Indian Political stage. I am scared and anxious.

Coming back to the present situation, the chief minister is asking people in the camps to go back. Does he know the ground reality in their villages? Can he assure them of security if the same thing happens again?  He is saying that people have decided not to go back and you are fine with that? Mr. CM, how can you sleep at night after all this? Or let me put it this way, how have you been able to sleep since these riots took place? I guess your sedatives must be pretty powerful!! And the other national leaders, the less said about them, the better it is!!