When Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi met Uttarakhand gym owner Deepak Kumar — the man who came to be known as 'Mohammad Deepak' after defending an elderly Muslim shopkeeper — the moment was political, but it was also revealing.

“Every human being is equal. This is Indianness, this is mohabbat ki dukaan. Meeting with brother Mohammad Deepak from Uttarakhand — this same flame of unity and courage should burn in every Indian youth,” Gandhi wrote after the meeting at 10 Janpath.

Deepak later told reporters, “Rahul ji invited me. He introduced me to Sonia ji (Gandhi) and also spoke with my wife over the phone. He told me that you have done a good job and I will come to Kotdwar and take a membership at your gym.”

Congress leader Vaibhav Walia added: “Mohammad Deepak has carried forward the message that Rahul Gandhi gave through the Bharat Jodo Yatra — which is of opening mohabbat ki dukaan (shop of love) across the country.”

Also Read: Call it the ‘Mohammad Deepak effect’

Strip away the slogans, and what remains is something more elemental. Deepak intervened in a local confrontation and paid a price for it. That is the terrain on which advocates of communal harmony now operate.

The sequence began on 26 January in Kotdwar, Uttarakhand. Activists linked to the Bajrang Dal gathered outside the ‘Baba’ clothing store on Patel Marg, demanding that its 70-year-old owner Vakil Ahmed change the name of his shop. Why? Because 'baba' is a word sacred to Hindus, or so the hooligans said.

The irony is difficult to miss. The word baba predates modern communal binaries. Derived from Persian and Turkic usage meaning 'father' or 'elder', it entered the subcontinent centuries ago and became embedded across cultures.........

© National Herald