Shadow over Bharat

Gurbachan Jagat

Former Governor, Manipur

I SERVED in the police for a long time from the mid-1960s to the dawn of this century. I was witness to crimes of various kinds and law and order situations. Normal crime was limited to thefts, burglaries, the occasional murder (in some districts, the statistics annually were in single digits, whereas the Malwa region had more cases); rape was a rarity in Punjab. It was only when terrorism entered the fray that the cruelty of man was in full display. It began with the occasional killings, the throwing of beef, the lighting of cigarettes, the gradual division and alienation in society. Then, it became an all-out war between the state and the terrorists, till one fine day only the gun spoke. In the words of the old Bard, ‘Cry havoc, and let loose the dogs of war.’ Today, we have a situation where the leadership itself is raising the alarm of insecurity. Today, leaderships in the form of various parties and organisations of all hues and colours claim that Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Dalits and other segments of society are not safe in Bharat. From whom are we, the ordinary citizens of Bharat, in danger—each other? Are political parties in danger from each other? Are various religions in danger from each other? Where does this danger come from — it comes from a cross-section of leadership, both political and religious and their frontal bodies. They are the ones who see danger in every nook and corner and voice the danger from various platforms. These voices get louder and bolder in the face of inaction by the government and its law and order agencies.

The ultimate responsibility for this situation lies with the political leadership which does not intervene in time to solve festering problems and allows a flashpoint to be reached.

Looking at crime today across the country and reading about it, there is a vast change in the sheer numbers and also the accompanying brutality. Brutality and extreme mindless violence are the hallmarks of rapes, murders, kidnappings and extortions. Be it in Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh or Bihar, the scale of inhumanity is the same. The language of the day has changed into a language of hate and it is open and public. The biggest victims of this are women — beaten, raped, burnt, etc. Refrigerators and deep freezers are storage places for murdered women. It is open season on them and foolhardy is the woman who ventures out alone after sunset. Today, the faultlines in society are deepening, be it communal, social or caste-based. Criminals are being eulogised in songs by rappers extolling gangs and gang violence; they have mass followings on social media and other mediums. In the face of all this, what is most disturbing is the silence of the major political parties and social organisations. There are local protests but nothing big and sustained to force various governments to act decisively, with the result that crimes multiply and criminals proliferate. The whole criminal justice system is on a ventilator; the police, executive and judiciary are all part of this policy of ‘masterly inactivity’. We, the people, seem to have become immune to these inhuman acts. Empathy for the victim is missing; the only interest left is me, my and mine. Without patronage, crime cannot flourish, without it criminals, extremist movements cannot flourish, corrupt and criminal elements in the bureaucracy and police cannot flourish. Support and patronage are no longer subtle or hidden today; they are quite open and visible.

For a microscopic example of our political leadership in action, witness the scenes during the election of committee members in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). Our leadership was in full display, men punching men, women pulling each other’s hair and missiles flying from vantage points. That is our democracy in action. Similarly, the attack on the police station in Ajnala by an armed mob and the release of an arrested man under duress speak for itself. Further, the killing of two alleged murderers of Sidhu Moosewala lodged in a so-called high-security jail during a clash between members of two gangs, as per media reports, is a commentary on our times. Evidently, the clash lasted for an hour —whatever happened to the jail manual? These murders and inaction of the authorities will further feed the rumour mills and conspiracy theories. There are questions enough to merit a judicial inquiry by a high court judge. Meanwhile, the body count of Kashmiri Pandits killed by terrorists goes on increasing, with the latest one killed in Pulwama. How long will the Pandit families continue to mourn their dead? They are statistics to us but they are their flesh and blood.

The ultimate responsibility for this situation lies with the political leadership which does not intervene in time to solve festering problems and allows a flashpoint to be reached. As a result of all these political shenanigans, a pall of gloom and fear hovers over this land. You and I are afraid for ourselves, our families and our communities. This fear has been injected into us with the sole purpose of dividing us and winning elections and coming to power. Elections have become the be-all and end-all of our political parties. In the bargain, the language of hate and vitriol has become the norm, civilised dialogue the exception. If hatred is preached from one platform and danger projected from the other, how will we find peace and development? The country needs an immediate, major course correction and it has to start from the top and percolate downwards. The language of hate has to change into the language of love; unity has to replace divisiveness. If we do not make this course correction, we should prepare ourselves for greater danger, as Yeats wrote: ‘… the blood-dimmed tide is loosed and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned; the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.’

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