here’s a popular Instagram page called Mad Mughal Memes that I follow. It had a meme recently showing a white flaky skeletal hand jutting out of (presumably) Aurangzeb’s grave, saying: Thank you, Kunal Kamra. That about sums it up the way two supposedly different incidents (both linked to the Maharashtra state) are related. About three weeks old, the story is already past its peak frenzy, yet, it would be worthwhile looking at the two incidents in some detail.

The Aurangzeb incident was triggered by the hugely hit film Chhava on the life of Sambhaji (son of Maratha ruler Shivaji). A large part of the movie seems to have been devoted to inhumane torture and death of Sambhaji presumably at the behest of Aurangzeb. A disclaimer is needed here: I haven’t seen the movie. However, I am aware of a barrage of anti-Muslim hysteria and propaganda running in the name of cinema today. The scenes charged the movie fans so much that scores of people (including children) were seen crying and screaming in the movie halls. The hysteria reached such levels that one of the Hindutva outfits demanded that Aurangzeb’s tomb in Khuldabad, Maharshtra, be demolished. To add fuel to the fire, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis ended up endorsing the demand for demolition and taking a potshot at the opposition Congress for having legislated the rules for protection of historical monuments. To cut the long story short, a riot eventually occurred in Nagpur leading to the state acting swiftly to arrest a number of Muslims ‘responsible’ for it. The few Hindutva goons were arrested got bail within a few hours.

It was in this backdrop that stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra’s video quietly appeared on YouTube. It had been shot from a live show in January organised in Mumbai. The show, quite characteristic of Kamra, one of the few courageous voices to take on the current right wing Hindutva regime, took potshots at the ruling party icons, both at the Centre and at the state level. Modi, Shah and several other political leaders, besides many non-political celebrities came under the lampooning gaze of Kamra. It was apparently his indirect reference to a political leader as gaddar (traitor) that provoked party cadres of Maharashtra Deputy CM Eknath Shinde start another round of rioting and a manhunt for Kamra. Three months after the show was recorded, they went and broke furniture at the studio where the show was shot; the state authorities initiated regulatory action against it; and several FIRs were filed against Kamra. Even as Tamil Nadu High Court gave him interim relief, Kamra continues to be hounded by a range of political as well as non-political actors. Book My Show, the largest event booking online platform, has taken his name off its charts. Kamra, of course, continues to be defiant and has refused to apologise to those behind the campaign against him.

The hysteria reached such levels that one of the Hindutva outfits demanded that Aurangzeb’s tomb in Khuldabad, Maharshtra, be demolished.

Meanwhile, with the change of seasons, the search for new themes to keep the hysteria going rolls on. A little later, a Malayalam movie, Empuraan, supposedly based on 2002 Gujarat riots that happened when Modi was the chief minister of the state, raised the hackles of Hindutva fanatics so much that they demanded a ban on the movie. The movie had been running successfully but was forced to make many ‘voluntary’ cuts. Its main star Mohan Lal apologised for the movie itself. That hasn’t really helped the movie makers as the Enforcement Directorate has initiated its own enquiry against the producers for financial wrongdoings. The onslaught continues. At the Centre, the ruling party has gleefully enacted Waqf Bill, bringing in stronger laws to control and manage properties given under Islamic charity laws, providing inclusion of two non-Muslims in the administrative body. As a parliamentarian noted in his wry comment, the intent of the bill was made clear at 2 am in the parliament when the bill was passed resulting in spontaneous shouting of Jai Shri Ram slogan by some BJP members. Those protesting peacefully on the streets against the passing of the law are being asked to furnish Rs 200,000 bonds (in Uttar Pradesh) before they come out to protest. The same state, and some others, have also banned Muslims offering namaz in streets on the occasion of Eid. Many were arrested for doing so.

Finally, it is the season of Ram Navami. Hindutva mobs are busy enforcing a ban on sale of anything non-vegetarian, including in the Hindu communities for whom non-vegetarianism is part of their daily life. The motive on one hand is the enforcement of a unified version of vegetarian Hindutva and on the other to push Muslims economically back as they are supposedly the main traders in this business.

This already looks like a long laundry list of what’s happening in India currently or has happened in recent weeks. How does one theorise it all? Does one even need to continue theorising something to which reams of digital and print pages have already been devoted? One thing is certain. What scholar Mahmud Mamdani wrote about the global enterprise to essentialise Muslims through the lens of a frozen ‘culture’ and not politics, has eventually tuned its adversaries into the same, be they White Christians or upper-caste Hindutva followers. They have ended up freezing and essentialising themselves into that corner of a cultural definition from where there is no escape and no respite. It is not merely exhausting for the bystanders but eventually much more so for those in the middle of it. Yet, some things need to be underlined ad nauseum. The first and foremost duty of those who care is to simply document and not let these incidents become some forgotten milestones of a society perpetually in frenzy. The second, as Kamra and makers of Empuraan have shown, is to continue raising alternate voices. As scholar James C Scott pointed out, authoritarianism does not die through “revolutionary vanguards or rioting mobs” but through “the silent, dogged resistance, withdrawal and truculence of millions of ordinary people.”

The writer has been in the development sector for more than a decade. He currently works with an international non-governmental organisation based in Delhi. He may be reached at avinashcold@gmail.com