India must speak out against the fringe’s attack on Christmas

The only way to stop bullies is to look them in the eye. Our condemnation should be unequivocal and immediate

- Barkha Dutt

As India celebrated the onset of a new year, a bunch of videos on social media platforms showed a group of men brandishing swords and machetes in a residential colony in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh —no more than an hour from the national Capital.

The group, which calls itself the Hindu Raksha Dal (HRD), posed happily for photographs behind a long wooden table on which the swords were displayed. The purported video then shows the men going from house to house handing out swords, claiming that what happened in Bangladesh could happen in India too, and, therefore, Hindus must protect themselves.

The police arrested 10 members of the HRD, but its chief, Pinky Chaudhary, was able to flee and is evidently absconding. That did not stop him from releasing a video on X.com, from a verified, blue-tick handle, in which he declared with brazen impunity and lack of fear that the group had achieved what it wished to.

This was one in a series of such chilling incidents this past week. Vandalism and mob attacks are being normalised. And silence or even subtle distancing is hardly an effective, or even appropriate, response anymore.