"An eye for an eye makes the world blind". What Gandhiji’s
golden words alluded to can be universally applied to any human society across
the world. Talking about India what's disconcerting is that, the issues which
churned violence at time of Gandhiji are still equally prevalent in modern
India even after 66 years of Independence. India can be proud of its secularity
but this secularism at many instances got diminished to just a feeble form of
tolerance, blown off by the smallest of sparks.
Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh-50 dead and about half a lakh
people forced to take refuge in camps!! Harassment of a Hindu teen by a Muslim
boy was rumored to have started the entire gory chapter. The Muslim boy was
killed by the teen's brothers and in retribution the two Hindu boys were killed
by the Muslims. What followed is riot and bloodshed claiming lives of 50 and
hard earned property of thousands. Although the reason behind the spark is
contentious and both the communities involved have come up with their own
versions, the form it took was horrifying. It is doubted that a minor tiff
between boys of the two communities might have triggered the mayhem. Whatever
be the initial backdrop, the incidents which subsequently transpired were
extreme forms of vindictiveness. Incidents of women being teased are
unfortunate but occur very frequently in our society. Same is the case with
minor quarrels given how quickly people get offended in these days. So most of
us would agree to these issues being trivial and such incidents engulfing peace
of the community only highlights the deadly volatility lurking in our Indian
society. Initial revenge (to the extent of killing) followed by a spree of
killings on communal patterns have taken lives of thousands of innocents in the
country. There is a very thin line separating secularism and communalism in
India. Everyday society treads cautiously when it comes to communal divisions.
But over the decades many petty issues have spiraled into big communal clashes.
Would scenes in Muzaffarnagar have been that violent if the issue had involved
a single community?? Definitely, not. An issue which should have been closed by
immediate and appropriate police and administrative intervention was allowed to
be fuelled even further. The usually latent animosity existing in minds of
people residing in areas like Muzaffarnagar has been highly shaped by the
communal history of the place. The cumulative factor therefore enables an
otherwise petty issue to spark off a big conflagration.
In the case of Muzaffarnagar riots the political parties as
expected have just bickered and have done nothing except for trading the blame
for inaction and deliberate escalation. But definitely its the police and the
government which are to be held accountable and responsible. Samajwadi Party
being the government can't play the blame game just as any other political party. It
is the ruling party and all the powers required for action were in its hands. SP's
complicity and decision to go easy with one community to consolidate its
minority vote bank has taken it nowhere. In 1990's Mulayam Singh earned the
sobriquet of 'Mullah Mulayam' for his stand to protect the Babri Masjid. The
order to shoot kar sevaks at Ayodhya on 30th October, 1990 further earned
Mulayam the trust of the minority community. But this time around, both Hindus
and Muslims have been equally on the losing side. Akhilesh Yadav government's
has thus been facing flak from all parties and most importantly from the common
people of all communities. Its routine appeasement policy didn't save its face
as it failed to take action when it was most required. SP has thus turned out
to be the biggest loser and the riots giving the much hyped CM a big blot on
his tenure. The SP's appeasement policy only shows its insecurity backed by the
party's lack of substantial development and administration in the state.
Bodies butchered beyond recognition, doctors reporting
horrifying conditions of dead bodies found shows the anarchy and uncontrolled
slaughter that took place. The police's inaction further escalated the tensions.
Politicians of all parties marking their party's support by freely delivering
fiery speeches added fuel in large quantities. Provocative posts circulated on
networking sites undeterred did the same. Warrants were issued for the sake of
action but no leader was actually arrested at the right time. The politicians
dared to arrest them and the police just submitted to the situation powerlessly
to avoid any political backlash. Top police officials were blamed and suspended
just as a token of the government's action.
But knowing the obvious fact that
political power pulls the strings of police in this country, shouldn't the
politicians be actually suspended? Every police personnel has to budge to their
pressure to hold on to their tenure and posting.
In the case of Durga Shakti Nagpal SP was so farsighted that
she was transferred in a jiffy. 41 minutes was boosted as a record time in
which decisions regarding her were taken. But despite getting alerts from Central
agencies regarding brewing communal tensions in Muzaffarnagar, no action was
taken or more correctly, no action was allowed to be taken by the government.
In almost all riots which have ravaged India, dozens of Commissions
subsequently set have raised fingers on the complicity of politicians and the
alleged role of police in blindly following their orders to go slow on the
situation. Be it the Nanavati report of 1984 anti Sikh riots, Srikrishna report
of 1993 Bombay riots, or reports of Gujarat riots and others, all have pointed
out to the connivance of political parties in giving shape to the situation
according to political benefits and their communal ideologies.
If the so called leaders of Indian politics want to do
something for the people apart from their languid lip service post such riots,
they should urgently look into the implementation of police reforms. The
Supreme Court's directives sought to achieve functional autonomy for the police
(through security of tenure, streamlined appointment and transfer processes,
and the creation of a "buffer body" between the police and the
government) and enhanced police accountability (both for organizational
performance and individual misconduct. Setting of a State Security Commission,
fixed tenure for top cops (to have someone who is conversant with the area), grievance redressal authorities in each district are
few of the desired features. The reluctance of state governments is
understandable as the reforms will rob the political parties off their
impunity. But the Supreme Court needs to push for its directives with stricter
deadlines. The Supreme Court's ruling on tainted MPs and MLAs is a silver
lining. It snaps the network the gundaas, criminals and other gangs have
developed with the bureaucrats and the government.
Wooing
one community (and in process alienating another) by playing tokenist politics
has always been clouded by insecurity. Providing better administration,
security and inclusive growth is the only way to create a healthy political
environment and a healthy democracy. More importantly it's the best way for a
government to credit its incumbency!!
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