In the Rajasthani town of Tonk, a procession of devotees headed for the holy Kanwar Yatra was attacked by a murderous mob. Armed with sticks, stones and sharp weapons, they created mayhem and injured more than a dozen people. Even the police, deployed for a hassle free journey, had to flee for their lives, given the intensity of the attack.
A Kanwar Yatra was organized on Thursday, wherein the devotees had brought water from the Bisalpur dam. Conducted by Bajrang Dal and Shiv Kanwar Yatra Samiti, this procession started from Gokarneshwara Mandir at the Bisalpur Dam and headed towards another Mandir at the Malpura town, according to the latest police reports.
However, as the procession passed the Todaraisingh Road, all hell broke loose. A murderous mob began pelting stones on the group. According to a police official who witnessed the incident, “As the pelting started, the yatra participants rushed for safety. A few members were manhandled as well, allegedly by men armed with sticks. The yatra was accompanied by half-a-dozen cops in a police jeep and even they fled as the stone pelting intensified. Meanwhile, the news of the incident was passed onto senior officials.”
As if this was not enough, the mob set ablaze an SUV. They stopped a passing ambulance and manhandled the driver. Even a roadways bus was damaged and the driver heckled and beaten up. According to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, “…Meanwhile, additional police teams reached the spot and immediately orders were issued to disperse the mob.”
Two companies of the RAC quickly reached the spot and tried to restore law and order in the area. As a result of the clash, a dozen men were injured. The police immediately imposed Section 144 of the CRPC in the area, and to quote one police official in-charge of the proceedings, “The injured were rushed to hospital. Additional forces have been deployed to avert a repeat of the incident. Action will be taken.”
One needs no rocket science to figure out which community was actually behind this savage attack on the Kanwariyas. However, as expected, the media maintained a deathly silence over this Islamic attack, refusing to address the elephant in the room.
Ironically, when an incident of a scuffle between an alleged Kanwariya and two commuters in Delhi surfaced, the very same media didn’t waste even a second in painting an entire religion as rowdy, accusing the Sanatanis of tacitly supporting such hooliganism in the name of religious processions. Why do their standards change suddenly, when the perpetrator is not Sanatani?
Even though order has been somewhat restored, one can’t turn a blind eye to such incidents. Unless and until strict action is taken against the perpetrators, the day isn’t far when like Kashmir and Bengal, such hooliganism will become the norm, and our silence will be the reason for it.