How cow vigilantism is undermining the rule of law in India

Allowing 'cow protection gangs' to attack innocent people is eroding basic principles of the Indian constitution.

……. 'The complete collapse of constitutional values'

The fear that the murderers of officer Singh may never be brought to justice led 82 former bureaucrats, including a former national security adviser, to write a fiercely worded open letter demanding Adityanath's resignation.

The signatories call the Bulandshahr incident "a frightening indicator of the complete collapse of constitutional values". They claim this collapse is epitomised by Adiyanath, who wears his "bigotry as his badge of identity" and protects perpetrators as "defenders of faith and culture". The signatories claim that the chief minister's actions promote "the rule of lawlessness"...…

….. The ex-bureaucrats view the Bulandshahr mayhem as a deliberate ploy to further subordinate Muslims and make them "live in fear". This need is so overwhelming that even if Muslims in the country stop dealing in cows, the right-wing vigilante will invent other methods, like the allegations of so-called "love jihad", to harm them. There is a concerted move to turn Muslims into political and social outcasts in India by coercion and Segregation......

….. Hindu nationalism seeks to make the minority feel minor. Hindutva's cunning rhetoric pits a rigid idea of national unity against disunity, rather than accept legitimate (and competing) political and cultural difference……

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