Political Diary
New Delhi, 14 January 2020
We Love Protests
VIOLENCE IS NEW BLACK
By Poonam I Kaushish
What
is with us Indians? Why are we so blasé’ about protest which turn violent?
About vandalism? Why do hooligans always get the better of us? Is it
symptomatic of the free-for-all which has gripped the country? Is violence fast
becoming the rhetoric of our times? Questions which bombard like staccato
gunshots when we talk of the mayhem which has ensnared the country in its
vicious tentacles.
So lucidly brought to the fore over the last three
weeks since protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act, National Register of
Citizens, National Population Register or JNU”s fee hike began
leaving many dead, injured and counting. In UP over 24 have died, 58
people and 269 policemen, 405 country-made pistols seized, alongside a few dead
and some hurt in West Bengal, Bihar, Karnataka, Andhra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
But
Union Capital Delhi was the worst hit when protests metamorphed into larger
than life when university students of Jamia Millia, Aligarh University, Delhi
University and JNU took to the streets over the CAA alongwith fee hike in JNU
resulting in havoc.
Last
week’s Bloody Sunday saw over 50 “unidentified masked goons” entering the
campus, going on a 3-4 hours rampage, injuring over three dozen including
students and teachers with stones, rods and sticks, vandalising hostels leaving
blood-stains and broken glass shards as they escaped . With the police standing
as mute spectators till the University’s administration asked for help. A case
against seven has been filed and a committee set-up to investigate.
Predictably,
for the Opposition it presented another opportunity to corner the Modi Sarkar, take it to task and add fuel to
fire as it gave them the opportunity to milk and exploit citizens angst and sentiments.
In the hope of garnering attention and getting votes. “The Government has shown
utter disregard for people's voices and is using brute force to suppress
dissent.”
Sure,
protest is an exciting word, the sustenance of democracy and a catchphrase for
free speech. It connotes peaceful march against issues from the mundane to
dastardly, injustice meted out by authorities, against a law, aggression by the
police, inaction by those in authority and what is perceives as encroaching on
their freedom.
Turn
North, South, East or West the story is the same. In fact, no day passes
without a strike somewhere or an arrest for intolerable behaviour. Be it a mohalla, district or State. Arguably, not a few would simply shrug it off
with “sab chalta hai attitude, many
would assert ki pharak painda hai. The cause is immaterial. It is all about registering ones
protest, the louder the better. Success is measured in terms of causing maximum
dislocation and discomfiture to people.
Sadly,
the word has acquired a new acronym, violence which has become the rhetoric of
our times. Pick any newspaper or surf any TV channel any day. Splashes of
social schism gore into news headlines. Curse all you want, it’s for a cause,
remember. Undoubtedly, India thrives on protests. Which has perfected the old
saying “jiski laathi uski bhains”!
However,
protests cannot or should not become a license to be violent, harm, blackmail, damage
or be used for political
opportunism. More than
three weeks have passed since the bloody protests over these issues. Visuals of thousands on streets with lathis, stones, bricks, petrol bombs and
arms made for charismatic pictures; the same What’s App and tweeted many times had
a multiplier effect.
Questionably, why and how did they turn from
being peaceful to violent, a free-for all? Importantly, is violence trying to
hijack democracy by vicious blackmail and mobocracy? Can a few people, rabble-rousers or thousands come
out on streets and hold a mohalla,
district or city to ransom by burning buses, vandalising public property, damaging
private vehicles, succinctly creating mayhem all cloaked as defending democracy?
Sic. Is it correct?
What message is this dangerous
descent into anarchy sending out? That the Constitution and Parliament are not
supreme and nobody has the patience for courts as proceedings are never ending,
thus it is easier to indulge in violence which then rules the roost. Whereby,
violence becomes a certificate for dissent all cloaked as defending democracy. QED.
What did the protesters achieve? Newspaper
headlines and some brownie points. Only the aam
aadmi and innocent security men became targets. All forget that violence
does not achieve anything, no matter what the provocation, the rule of law
cannot be made to go for a toss. Nothing justifies violence or the call for dangerous
descent into anarchy.
More.
It is time we took a hard look at our gun laws, notwithstanding the recent
amendment. The manner in which gun licences are issued in UP is a pointer to
the growing culture of violence. Today nearly 7.5 lakh people are licensed to
carry arms and nearly three lakh applicants are pending clearance from the
district magistrate. Interesting most of the applicants have a political mai baap. Imagine, out of 425
legislators in the State, over 165 MLAs have criminal record.
In
far flung Kerala, too, there is complete political subversion of the rule of
law. The probability of a arsonist or rioter to be brought to book is an
unbelievable 0.3 per cent, according to a recent report of the Intelligence
Branch of the Kerala State Police. In other words, those arrested in 99.68 per
cent of such cases are discharged by courts for one reason or another.
True,
the right of the citizen is paramount. But at the same time mob violence is a dangerous
trend. If this trend goes unchecked society will get dangerously fragmented. We need to remember India was
conceived as a democratic country and protests are part of our right but no person,
group or organization can threaten or indulge in violence, and if they do, they
should lose their democratic right to be heard.
We
need to understand that democracy is neither mobocracy nor a license to create
bedlam. It is a fine balance between rights and duties, liberties and
responsibilities. One’s freedom pre-supposes another’s responsibilities and
liberty. Paralysing the State, to get attention and policy reversals only
exasperates the public and inconveniences them. Using violent means gets one
nowhere as temporary respite is no answer for building a socially cohesive
society.
Where
does India go from here? In a milieu wherein adoption of strong-arm tactics to
extract one’s pound of flesh has become second nature, it is time to cry a halt.
Kudos, to the Government for asserting that those who indulged in mob violence
will have to pay for damages to public property.
Time to realise that
democracy is not a harlot to be picked up in the street by a man with a gun. Remember,
coercion has a thousand fathers but liberty is an orphan. We are a civilized
democracy and cannot destroy it as we shape New India. Violence is unacceptable. What do you say? ----- INFA
(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)
|