Where have all the seers gone?

The viciousness of the Hindutva government is now in open display for all to see, but Hindu spiritual leaders remain unmoved

First came beef bans and lynchings; anti-Muslim citizenship laws; laws on what one can eat, whom one can marry, and what faith one can choose; and assaults on churches and priests.

The State winked and nodded, but the seers refused to speak.

Then came calls for a Muslim genocide, for Hindus to take up arms, and for Muslim boycotts; Hijab bans; and inciters let loose by judges, while those who speak for peace are denied bail.

The State winked and nodded, but the seers refused to hear.

Now come threats to rape Muslim women; assaults on Muslim livelihoods and meat bans; burning of mosques on the Hindu holy day of Ram Navami and in the holy month of Ramadan.

The State winks and nods, but the seers refuse to see.

As sadhus and sadhvis turn violent, Modiji’s silence says it all.

But his party men do rejoice, “Bravo, foot-soldiers of Hindutva,”

The price others must pay for a Hindu Rashtra.

The State winks and nods, but the seers are nowhere to be seen.

Hate, violence, rape, boycotts, arson, lynchings -

Are these the new promise of Hinduism?

The “Vasudaiva Kutumbakam” of Hindutva?

Arise and Awake, Oh Hindu!

Your silence is deafening,

As a genocide looms large,

Your silence is complicity.

Constitution gutted,

Livelihoods lost,

Peace destroyed, when

Violence knocks on your door,

It may be too late to say,

“I did not hear, I did not see, and I did not speak”