For all their nationalist rhetoric, there is no one Indian politicians love more than English physicist Isaac Newton. They are all firm believers in his third law – ‘every action has an equal and opposite reaction’ – and apply it to any and every situation, especially when it comes to providing a justification for violence.1. RSS leader Indresh KumarOn Monday, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader Indresh Kumar invoked Newton’s action-reaction mantra when he said that mob lynchings would stop if people stopped eating beef, emphasising the importance of right ‘sanskaar’ in dealing with such problems. “Any mob violence, be it of your home, locality, caste or party can never be welcomed”, said Kumar. “But you tell me if any religious place in the world approves the killing of cows. Be it Christianity, which talks of ‘Holy Cow’, because Jesus was born in a cowshed; or Islam, where killing cows is banned in Mecca and Medina [cities in western Saudi Arabia]; or in any other religion, killing a cow is not approved anywhere,” he said.Kumar was addressing the press after the inauguration of the Jharkhand unit of the Hindu Jagran Manch in Ranchi. In addition to being a senior RSS leader, he is also a patron of the RSS-affiliated Rashtriyavadi Muslim Manch, formed by RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan in 2002 with the stated aim of making Muslims more “nationalist”.2. Former Prime Minister Rajiv GandhiSoon after the 1984 anti-Sikh massacres, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi infamously said that when a big tree falls, the ground shakes a little. “For some days, people have thought that India is shaking. But whenever a big tree falls, the ground shakes a little,” said Gandhi, in a characteristically Newtonian utterance. The statement was widely seen as a justification of the genocidal violence that followed the assassination of Indira Gandhi in which close to 3,000 members of the Sikh community were killed in Delhi alone.3. Prime Minister Narendra ModiRight in the midst of the 2002 Gujarat riots, Narendra Modi, who was chief minister of the state at the time, gave an interview to a private news channel on March 1, 2002, where he said, “”Kriya pratikriya ki chain chal rahi hai. Hum chahte hain ke na kriya ho, aur na pratikriya (A chain of action and reaction is going on. We neither want action nor reaction).” Modi was referring to the Gulberg society massacre in which former MP Ehsan Jafri was killed along with 69 others. Modi was implying that Jafri had provoked the mob by firing first, and only after that did the mob storm the housing society and set it on fire.He also virtually justified the anti-Muslim violence as a “reaction” to the killing of train passengers at Godhra:“It is natural that what happened in Godhra day before yesterday, where forty women and children were burnt alive, has shocked the country and the world. The people in that part of Godhra have had criminal tendencies. Earlier, these people had murdered women teachers. And now they have done this terrible crime for which a reaction is going on.”4. West Bengal chief minister Mamata BanerjeeIn 2013, Banerjee said that the number of rapes were rising because the population was increasing. “You say rape incidents are on the rise. But the population is also swelling”, she said. “There are more cars now. Shopping malls are increasing. Young boys and girls are becoming more modern”. Banerjee was speaking in Kolkata at the closing debate on the governor’s address in the assembly.Her remarks came in the aftermath of the 2012 Nirbhaya rape case in Delhi which horrified people across the country and sparked widespread protests.5. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari VajpayeeIn his speech to the BJP national executive in Goa on April 12, 2002, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was prime minister at the time, provided a Newtonian reading of the Gujarat riots:“What happened in Gujarat? If a conspiracy had not been hatched to burn alive the innocent passengers of the Sabarmati Express, then the subsequent tragedy in Gujarat could have been averted. But this did not happen. People were torched alive. Who were those culprits? The government is investigating into this. Intelligence agencies are collecting all the information. But we should not forget how the tragedy of Gujarat started. The subsequent developments were no doubt condemnable, but who lit the fire? How did the fire spread?”6. Congress leader and former health minister Ghulam Nabi AzadIn 2009, former Union health and family welfare minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said that in order to curb India’s population growth, the government should provide electricity to villages so that couples spend more time watching TV and less time procreating.“In olden days people had no other entertainment but sex, which is why they produced so many children. Today, TV is the biggest source of entertainment. Hence, it is important that there is electricity in every village so that people watch TV till late in the night. By the time the serials are over, they’ll be too tired to have sex and will fall asleep. Then they won’t get a chance to reproduce. When there is no electricity, there is nothing else to do but produce babies,” he said while addressing a gathering on World Population Day, another instance of India’s take away from Newton’s law on action-reaction.7. Samajwadi Party leader Abu AzmiAdding to the list of controversial statements made after the 2012 Nirbhaya case, Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi said that rapes were on the rise because women were not dressing appropriately. “Women should not venture out with men who are not relatives,” said Azmi, a member of the Maharashtra Assembly. “What is the need for roaming at night with men who are not relatives? This should be stopped. Incidents like the Delhi gang rape happen due to influence of Western culture” he said. Azmi went on to add that though he was in support of legislation “to prevent outraging modesty of women”, he thought scantily dressed women attracted male attention.8. RSS sarsanghchalak Mohan BhagwatIn a speech in Silchar, Assam in 2013 in the aftermath of the Delhi gang rape case, the RSS chief said rapes happen to those who have broken their bond with Bharat. Asked about the growing incidence of rape and violence against women across the country, he said,“इंडिया में जो यह घट रहा है, बढ़ रहा है वह बहुत खतरनाक और अश्लाघ्य है। लेकिन ये भारत में नहीं है। यह इंडिया में है। जहां इंडिया नहीं है, केवल भारत है वहां ये बातें नही होती, आज भी। जिसने भारत से नाता तोड़ा उसका यह हुआ।(What is happening in India is very dangerous and undesirable. But this is not happening in Bharat. It is happening in India. Wherever there is Bharat and not India, these things do not happen. Whoever has broken their bonds with Bharat, this has happened to them.)”By ‘Bharat’, he meant Indian culture and tradition, implying that rape in ‘India’ was a product of foreign influences.9. Khap panchayat leader Jitender ChhatarMohan Bhagwat’s theory was later finessed with a dietary touch by a leader of a khap panchayat in Haryana who said the consumption of chowmein leads to growing incidents of rape.“To my understanding, consumption of fast foods contributes to incidents like rapes. Chowmein leads to hormonal imbalance evoking an urge to indulge in such acts,” said Jitender Chhatar, a khap panchayat leader and resident of Jund’s Chhatar village.“You may also know the impact chowmein has on our body. Hence, our elders also advise us to consume light and nutritious food”, he added.
