Bengaluru: Saffron stands for sacrifice. Saffron stands for knowledge as well. And saffron stands for purity as well. But saffron surely doesn’t stand for cowardice or hypocrisy.  

The murder of two Hindu saffron-clad saints and a driver at Palghar, Maharashtra is a living testament and commentary on how the lives of Hindus in their own country are in unimaginable peril.

Let’s reiterate that India is a secular garden with a myriad religions as its flowers. But the saffron ‘flower’ is always given the stepmotherly treatment.

At no point have we jumped to the conclusion that the perpetrators are Muslims or are we trying to give it a communal colour. The investigations are done and we will wait for them to be completed. 

But for a moment, if the saints who were bludgeoned with absolute impunity had worn a different colour, probably green and skull caps and the visuals of them being barbarically and disdainfully hounded went viral, well, the Left cohort, coterie and cabal would have gone bonkers by now!

Some of them would have even been contacted by the western media to write long-winded, harangue-like op-eds, with lies and misinformation abounding.

And some other anchors would have vomited hate on their social media spaces, invariably tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah.

And it is needless to say some others would have filled their TV screens with anti-Hindus, Left liberals and pseudos shouting their lungs out and issuing hyperboles on how Islamophobia has taken over and why India has become a place that is unliveable for all!

But the reality is diametrically opposite. The saffron robes of a saint have been equated with communalism. The saffron robes which also exemplarily signify universal tolerance, acceptance and accommodation have been poleaxed with causal disdain!

What hurts us all the more is how the chief minister Uddhav Thackeray was conspicuous by his silence till the visuals went viral and people started questioning him, well after 72 hours. 

It’s crystal clear that Uddhav Thackeray, who was shamed into taking action, is pussy-footing on issues related to Hindutva.

By joining hands with the NCP and Congress, he has become wishy-washy in his daily affairs and treads in a namby-pamby manner.

If you remember well, when Congress workers christened Veer Savarkar a homo and even distributed pamphlets, he was not moved.

We can go on adding more and more examples, and Bala Thackeray would be crying from heavens from birthing such a sheep!

Hindus are not weak nor are they debilitated. Their silence should not be misconstrued as something higgledy-piggledy. When the lion is awakened from its sleep, it sure knows how to deal with things.