In 2015 a Muslim Mohd Ikhlaq was lynched in a village near Dadri, Gautam Buddhanagar district, UP by a mob for allegedly eating beef.
In this connection a panel discussion was organised by the well known TV journalist Barkha Dutt on NDTV channel, to which I was also invited.
Among other participants in the panel discussion were 4 politicians, namely Sanjeev Balyan and Sudhanshu Mittal of the BJP, Naved Siddiqui of the Samajwadi Party, and one member of the Congress.
These politicians were asked to speak first, and they started shouting and quarreling with each other angrily.
Later, when I was asked to speak, I said ” Barkha, this country is passing through very bad times. All our politicians of all parties are a set of rogues and rascals, who should have been hanged a long time back ”.
The moment I said this it united the politicians, who were till now at loggerheads.
Barkha said I was doing loose talk, and added how could I say that politicians should be hanged when the Supreme Court had said that death penalty should only be given in ‘rarest of rare’ cases ?
I replied that these politicians polarise society and incite caste and religious hatred for securing their vote banks, even if the country goes to hell. They have no genuine love for the country. So don’t they deserve to be hanged ?
Sanjeev Balyan interrupted me when I was speaking ( though I had never interrupted him when he was speaking ), and called me an idiot,
Naved Siddique said I was giving a ‘Talibani haq’, and asked me how could I say what I said ?
I replied that I said it because it was because you politicians incite hatred and make people fight with each other on the basis of caste and religion. You only care for your vote banks, even if the country goes to ‘jahannum’ ( hell ), and I repeated that you politicians have no real love for the people.
Later, Naved Siddique said that I have called politicians idiots. I replied that you are not idiots. you are very cunning people, the reverse of idiots. For your vote banks you can take the country to hell.
At the end Sudhanshu Mittal called me a criminal because I ate beef, and waved some paper. I would have liked to tell him that I eat beef only where legally permitted, e.g. in Kerala, Goa, the north east or in USA, but I thought it better to remain silent in the heated atmosphere.
The interesting and somewhat amusing thing in this episode was that these crooks ( our politicians ), who are otherwise often quarrelling with each other, quickly unite when faced with a frontal attack on their whole gang.
https://justicekatju.com/all-our-politicians-are-panautis-beea0d40a59c
