The violence happening in Delhi is a matter of grave concern. There goes an African proverb - When two Elephants make love or war, it's grass which suffers the most. When two communal factions fight, it's the image of the country which suffers.
No doubt recent events at our nation's capital is a catastrophic failure of the administration. No question it is Nation's shame as it projects a very wrong image of India to the outside world in age of internet and social media which has shrunk the world to a global village.
Question is not about who among the Right or Left is at the wrong end. Truth is the casualty these days when blame games abound. I am not very sure who is the culprit behind this violence as I don't trust the overtly biased media. Those on social media are polarized based on their own political ideology and believe in what they want to believe. Morphed footages galore, originated by the IT Cells of political parties to suit their political agenda.
That leaves the Police to maintain the law and order - ideally without any fear or favor. But the violence can't happen without the complicit of the police force. And we know which side the police is, who along with our politicians are often the de facto criminals in India. I vividly remember during my College days on the aftermath of a youthful prank gone wrong we found ourselves huddled inside a police lockup for a night.
As it got darker, Police cooked chicken dinner and took their turns in enjoying the company of a local prostitute. As one policeman zipped his Khaki pants while coming out of a shanty room with a satisfied grin on his face, the next one followed. One of them was impatient enough to drop his shorts outside and barge inside the room in his underwear. All this happened a few feet away from us.
Not all police are corrupt though. It may sound unbelievable these days, but I have come across honest police officials, some who have given their life fighting miscreants. Yet there are a good number from their tribe who have given them a bad name. Except perhaps sub Saharan Africa and few other nations like Pakistan, no where Police is as corrupt as in India.
In a scene from the movie KALCHAKRA (The Wheel of Time) in the 1980s the actor Sadasiv Amrapurkar playing a corrupt police utters - "POLICE KE SAATH JYADA DOSTI YA DUSHMANI ACHHI NAHI HAI (It's not wise to be too friendly or enemical with the Police). Nothing is far from this truth. Police is hardly trustworty as its loyalty invariably lies with the ruling party. They can't go to shit without the permission of their political masters. Every ruling party mis(uses) them. Delhi police who is being accused of being complicit in this riots is no different.
How to end the anarchy without the ubiquitous left vs right, secular vs liberal blame game ? If we want to stay Democratic, then we must allow our citizens freedom of speech and right to peaceful protest. When things go wrong then the law enforcement authorities must act without fear or favor - as criminals have no religion or ideology.
We have 200 million minorities in our nation. As our former Prime Minister Vajpayee once said - we can't change our neighbors. Similarly we can't throw 200 million from our population into the Bay of Bengal. We must learn to live with them. For those advocating theocracy, if you are so desperate to be a Saudi Arabia or Iran, change the Constitution. We can't have it both ways. Jeffersonian democracy doesn't work everywhere.
No doubt recent events at our nation's capital is a catastrophic failure of the administration. No question it is Nation's shame as it projects a very wrong image of India to the outside world in age of internet and social media which has shrunk the world to a global village.
Question is not about who among the Right or Left is at the wrong end. Truth is the casualty these days when blame games abound. I am not very sure who is the culprit behind this violence as I don't trust the overtly biased media. Those on social media are polarized based on their own political ideology and believe in what they want to believe. Morphed footages galore, originated by the IT Cells of political parties to suit their political agenda.
That leaves the Police to maintain the law and order - ideally without any fear or favor. But the violence can't happen without the complicit of the police force. And we know which side the police is, who along with our politicians are often the de facto criminals in India. I vividly remember during my College days on the aftermath of a youthful prank gone wrong we found ourselves huddled inside a police lockup for a night.
As it got darker, Police cooked chicken dinner and took their turns in enjoying the company of a local prostitute. As one policeman zipped his Khaki pants while coming out of a shanty room with a satisfied grin on his face, the next one followed. One of them was impatient enough to drop his shorts outside and barge inside the room in his underwear. All this happened a few feet away from us.
Not all police are corrupt though. It may sound unbelievable these days, but I have come across honest police officials, some who have given their life fighting miscreants. Yet there are a good number from their tribe who have given them a bad name. Except perhaps sub Saharan Africa and few other nations like Pakistan, no where Police is as corrupt as in India.
In a scene from the movie KALCHAKRA (The Wheel of Time) in the 1980s the actor Sadasiv Amrapurkar playing a corrupt police utters - "POLICE KE SAATH JYADA DOSTI YA DUSHMANI ACHHI NAHI HAI (It's not wise to be too friendly or enemical with the Police). Nothing is far from this truth. Police is hardly trustworty as its loyalty invariably lies with the ruling party. They can't go to shit without the permission of their political masters. Every ruling party mis(uses) them. Delhi police who is being accused of being complicit in this riots is no different.
How to end the anarchy without the ubiquitous left vs right, secular vs liberal blame game ? If we want to stay Democratic, then we must allow our citizens freedom of speech and right to peaceful protest. When things go wrong then the law enforcement authorities must act without fear or favor - as criminals have no religion or ideology.
We have 200 million minorities in our nation. As our former Prime Minister Vajpayee once said - we can't change our neighbors. Similarly we can't throw 200 million from our population into the Bay of Bengal. We must learn to live with them. For those advocating theocracy, if you are so desperate to be a Saudi Arabia or Iran, change the Constitution. We can't have it both ways. Jeffersonian democracy doesn't work everywhere.
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