The increasing incidence of mob killing in India should be a cause of concern for us. I am referring to killing of NCP leader in Nagpur on 9th Feb. It is perhaps the most brutal political murder in the history of Nagpur, when suspected Shiv Sena supporters beat congress member Gyaneshwar Sathawane to death at an election rally. The incidence revived our memory of Just five months back when in Lucknow the mob killed Shiv mohan who was accused for doing rape and killing of a two and half year girl. The victim left behind a 70 year old blind mother who was protected by the police. Few days before that event Whole nation watched with shame and horror when two Bhagalpur policemen tied a 20-year-old small-time pickpocket to their motorbikes and dragged him cruelly on the road. This unlucky youth tried to pull a woman’s chain. The incidence took place after the merciless beating of this youth by mob.Few years back the merciless murder of Gopalganj district magistrate G Krishnaiya by angry crowd through stone pelting still daunts our memory.It also proves the hard fact that victim of the mob can be anybody from politician to a small chain snatcher, an alleged rape victim to a honest district magistrate.
Such incidence happened before also but their frequency increased during recent time. But this culture must be stopped before it spreads. The distinction between the crowd and in other forms of society is that the crowd has no tradition. It has no point of reference in its own past to which its member can refer for guidance. It imposes no obligations and creates no loyalties. When a mob is created it becomes a terrible power to defy the even basic grain of life, which must not be done. Mob is very freckle in nature. It cannot be given power to decide about what is right or wrong in the society The anger of mob is just a way to expressing their frustration in the personal lives of the participants. Many of them were nothing to do with sensitivity towards the victim. They do this because no one can be held responsible for the damaged caused. So in my personal view we should discourage such type of moral policing shown by the mob.To this context the study of mob psychology and application of collective action principles becoming more and more relevent in today's world.
1 comment:
True!! The increased incidence of mob killing and mob highhandedness has become a subject of serious concern.
A person is killed by the speeding bus, the driver gets thrashed to death by the crowd and the vehicle is burnt down. Angry factory workers go on a rampage destroying the infrastructure and attacking the management staffs.students protecting against the reservation, go on to vandalize the public property and disrupt normal life. The gruesome killing of Graham Staines and his two kids by a mob in orissa as they slept in their vehicle in 1999 is still fresh in my memory.
The violent and irrational deeds are definitely one of those most collectively and cooperatively accomplished tasks but executed for the wrong reason. These incidents point to the failure of democracy, breakdown of law, absence of political conversation and decision making. it's amazing to see that regardless of their unique identity and ideology, when it comes to any illogical and violent act, the crowd behaves in a united fashion. Apart from the herd instinct, it's the luxury of anonymity that provides the individual the leeway to satisfy his/her ignoble side. Freudian psychology points to the fact that sometimes a person turns into a baby or becomes an animal because of ID and sometimes the same person acts as a strict disciplinarian or in a motherly manner because of superego.
Though there's no systematic decision making when the mob acts but there's a tacit approval of the action by the majority. In the crowd the individual lets go of his rationality and in the heat of the moment act in a way he wouldn't have acted otherwise.
this also holds testimony to the hypocrisy and intolerance that exist in our so called " secular and tolerant society".
piyush mohanty 28027
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