Angel Chakma’s Lynching Exposes the Dark Core of ‘New India’
Students in Dehradun hold prayer meeting after the death of Angel Chakma in a lynching case. (Image Tarun Vijay on X)
From Tripura to Dehradun, an aspirational student’s killing collides with lynch mobs, hate crimes, and a collapsing rule of law.
By MANISH ANAND
New Delhi, December 29, 2025 — Angel Chakma was an aspirational youth. He came from Tripura to Dehradun to study. Believing in the making of a ‘New India,’ Chakma attended MBA classes in the Uttarakhand capital.
But the aspirational New India youth was killed. He was lynched. His last words have shaken up the “thinking Indians.” “I am an Indian; I’m not a Chinese.”
His death was preceded by an outbreak of lumpen attacks of Christians celebrating Christmas in northern and eastern parts of the country. Chakma’s death came on a day when a lumpen group barged into a restaurant and assaulted two Muslim students who were celebrating birthday of a fellow student.
Chakma’s death also came within days of a Muslim man lynched to death in Bihar. Mohammad Ather Hussain was a hawker. He was just 35 years old.
Before Chakma was brutally assaulted allegedly by six rowdies, Uttarakhand regularly reported incidents of attacks of Kashmiri students and hawkers. Chakma’s death sickened the social media on a day when videos went viral of an actress accusing a “BJP bigwig”, who is described as “VIP” for his involvement in the Ankita Bhandari murder case.
Young Ankita came from a low-income group family. She also was aspirational. Believing in New India, she took up a job of a receptionist. But she was allegedly ravaged and brutally killed. The young girl was devoured by morbid perversion of “powerful.”
The lumpen now carries a license—chant slogans, assault at will. When a kathavachak in an Uttar Pradesh district receives salute from the police force, the signal travels deep into the khaki ranks. This is New India. The rule of law has been reduced to an ornamental relic. The street no longer belongs to citizens; it is held hostage by the lumpen.
The rot now rides on rage. Politics has become the craft of manufacturing outrage. Targets shift at will—today the Mughals, tomorrow Macaulay, summoned from the grave for reasons even the faithful struggle to explain.
West Bengal holds protests for a Dalit Hindu burnt to death alive. Analysts warn of perils of the mob rule in Dhaka. Chakma in his death pleads—look into the mirror.
(This is an opinion piece. Views are personal)
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