Missing Link

In some personal news, I’m happy to introduce Missing Link, my new column for The Wire, on the social aspects of the events that move India.

In today’s column, I argue that it would be a mistake to characterise the spate of cow slaughter related lynchings as a breakdown of law and order.

“The crux of what we are seeing today is therefore not a “breakdown of law and order” but the promulgation of an entirely new system of law and order where fundamentally discriminatory laws, (that disproportionately target the businesses and food habits of Muslims and Dalits) are enacted by the state in the name of protecting majoritarian religious sentiments. These laws are then enforced by self styled vigilantes and fundamentalist militias acting in collusion with state forces. Tackling it will require more than police action against these militias on an ad hoc basis. It will require a complete unwinding of this system of discrimination, including the discriminatory laws that sit at their heart.”

You can read the full column here.