“NSA has been imposed, bulldozers have also been pressed into action, Mama ji will bury the criminals 10 feet under the ground. Mamaji’s message is clear, so people with wrong intentions will think 10 times before committing crimes in Madhya Pradesh.” This is the language of the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh! We expect the head of a government to protect an uphold the rule of law. But Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s statement is further evidence of the steep decline in the political and executive consciousness of India. Is he alone in this?The context for this ‘message’ is the Chouhan government’s response to widespread outrage after a video of one Pravesh Shukla urinating on Dasmat Rawat, an Adivasi in Sidhi, went viral. Ordinarily, bulldozers are used in BJP’s India to ‘teach a lesson’ to Muslims. This time, the house of a Brahmin – and that too one allegedly belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party – has became a target of this new instrument of instant justice invented by the BJP.Doesn’t this prove that the charge against the BJP that its governments use bulldozers only against Muslims is wrong? Shouldn’t the critics of the BJP shut up after the bulldozing of Shukla’s house? Those who challenged Chouhan to demolish the house of a BJP-supporting Brahmin for humiliating a tribal have been been given their answer, we are told.Of course, some critics are saying the bulldozing is only a drama, that the house is still intact. That only one wall has been broken and an insignificant portion has been demolished. They are not satisfied with this partial version of instant justice. They want Shukla’s entire house to be demolished – as has been done to the houses of Muslims before. In response to this, some people are showing photographs of Shukla’s family cooking outside in the open to prove that the action taken was quite thorough.Even amongst those who were against the demolition of Muslim houses with bulldozers, many have started considering it as acceptable justice if it is also used elsewhere. But what is the issue at stake here? Surely we cannot now be arguing that our desire for justice requires the demolition of a house? Indeed, now that we ourselves have started asking for bulldozer justice, the BJP can rest content that Hindu society has become even more perverted and hideous than what Mamaji and Modiji wanted to make it.Those who demanded bulldozer action against Shukla should realise this will become a justification for immediate action against Muslims. Bulldozers will now be used more frequently and openly against Muslims. BJP state governments can always claim that they do not discriminate. Then how will we be able to oppose this bulldozer ‘justice’?After Pravesh Shukla’s heinous act was publicised, some tried to argue that he was not his normal self, that he was under the influence of some intoxicant. But we know that for the past several years, Hindu society – and especially caste Hindu society – has been consuming toxic Hindutva. They have got used to it. This intoxication is responsible for all kinds of violence against Muslims and Christians. But when it becomes a habit, the same acts of violence can be visited on everyone who is considered inferior in any manner. For those infected with the caste mindset, there are categories of inferiority and Adivasis are the lowest in that respect. They want to mobilise Adivasis for Hindutva but are unwilling to even consider them Hindu. The video clip of Pravesh Shukla urinating on an Adivasi demonstrates the ugliness that resides in this social subconscious.Unfortunately for the BJP, the constitution gives voting rights to Adivasis as well. So the party cannot afford to have them offended when elections are round the corner, especially in Madhya Pradesh where they are 21% of the population and have 47 reserved seats. They are not Muslims – about whom the BJP has often said it does not need their votes. So, after this typical act of upper caste arrogance by Pravesh Shukla, a gesture of repentance had to be made. For this reason, the chief minister made a gesture of washing the feet of Dasmat Rawat, the victim of humiliation and violence, and touched his own forehead after washing the feet of a tribal. Chouhan’s was not the call of humanity but the fear of tribal anger and more than that – of losing their votes. This is what forced the CM to enact this drama. His act was in no way less disgusting than Pravesh Shukla’s act.On whose behalf was ‘Mamaji’ apologising or repenting? When there is injustice in India, is this way justice will be done – instead of ensuring justice by law? Why is such a farce even considered acceptable? The chief minister’s job is to protect the rule of law in a constitutional manner. How can he project himself as a king who will decide the nature and form of punishment, and of recompense?This incident is yet another example of the decline in Hindu public consciousness after it allowed itself to be dominated by Hindutva. The reaction of many Hindutva supporters online and offline is even more instructive. They are seething with anger that the constitution forces them to accept ‘lowly’ people as equals and dreams of a day when this constraint will be removed.This is the same Hindu society which challenges others to improve and reform themselves, but never wants to look within itself. It always wants to hide from the truth by calling such incidents, whose numbers are increasing, ‘exceptions’. This mentality of denial will only produce more and more Pravesh Shuklas.