Rethinking Politics: #NotInMyName

The recent countrywide protests in the wake of the public lynching of 16-year-old Junaid Khan in a train compartment are exemplary events in the life of our nation. Junaid’s father, Jallaluddin, has raised a fundamental question to a visiting reporter: “why do they hate us so much sir that they kill usbecause of our religion?”

EPW’s “Protest Diaries: Not in My Name, Break the Silence and More” on the website has nicely documented the protests with the following observation: “The simmering anger against the incidents of violence against Muslims and Dalits boiled over when a Facebook post from a filmmaker about Junaid Khan’s ‘unseen’ public lynching became a rallying point for a spontaneous citizens’ protest that spread across cities in India on 28 June 2017.”