The comment that qualified hate speech was worrying as it indicated disturbing trend that has roiled the country in recent times. It is not only poisoning minds and polarising the society but sometimes resulting into communal violence, writes M Hasan
Lucknow, September 23: Five-day special session of Parliament, which would be remembered for historical passage of Women Reservation Bill 2023, faced an unprecedented situation when a BJP MP, representing South Delhi resorted to highly objectionable comments against a Muslim MP in Lok Sabha. The BJP MP’s communally charged slurs against minority community’s Opposition party MP was indeed unprecedented as such kind of words have no place in civilised society.
The comments that qualified hate speech was worrying as it indicated disturbing trend that has roiled the country in recent times. It is not only poisoning minds and polarising the society but sometimes resulting into communal violence. In fact despite instructions from the Supreme Court, government machinery has either been lax in registering suo moto complaints in cases involving hate speech or simply ignoring it. There are frequent cases of hate speeches from various communal organisations to create sectarian tension and vitiate communal atmosphere before crucial 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The communal forces in connivance with the administrative machinery in several states have been aggressively pushing their political agenda.
In case of BJP MP just stern warning or issuance of notice is not enough but there should be exemplary punishment as the incident involved Lok Sabha. The administrative dilly dallying in the controlling the situation and restoring normalcy has given ample indication about that political motives of the ruling party in the country. The NDA government should therefore consider legislation in the issue and the law enforcement agencies should be proactive in dealing with it. The Parliament should lead from the front in the connection. Hate speech in any form needs to be combated at every level and the political parties should draw a redline in this connection.
