Political Diary
New Delhi, 28 February 2023
Violent Sense Vs Moral Sensibility
WHERE IS SOCIETY HEADING?
By Poonam I Kaushish
Violence is the
rhetoric of the times. Pick any newspaper. Any day. Splashes of social schism
gore into news headlines. Massacres, murders, gang rapes, and dowry deaths.
Even the most gruesome violence shocks no more. Wherein, brutality and
beastiality have become synonymous in modern India. Welcome the Ugly Debauched
Intolerant Indian!
Last week a little
known Amritpal Singh, erstwhile truck driver from Dubai now pro-Khalistani
leader hit national headlines for all the wrong reasons. His band of followers who
call themselves 'Waris Punjab De' stormed
the Ajnala police station despite prohibitory orders, broke through security
cordons, clashed with police, fought pitched street battles using kirpans, spears and swords and laid
siege: all for an extraordinary demand: Release Amritpal’s aide Toofan accused
of abduction, rioting, criminal intimidation etc. Worse, it was done leveraging
Guru Granth Sahib carried by
protestors which forced police to hold fire.
Amritpal’s sudden rise
is mysterious and ominous. He styles himself as Jarnail Singh Bhindranwala, separatist
leader who was killed in Operation Blue Star 1984. Vocal on social media since
2015 he made joint appearances on Clubhouse with Deep Sidhu who too flirted with
Khalistan idea and set-up 'Waris Punjab
De' but died last year. Post his death, Amritpal took over reigns of the
organization, gathering a following via his radical Khalistan talk calling Sikh
youth to get ready for the “next war,” through his Amrit Prachar.
This is unsettling for Punjab with a
stormy past of violent insurrection and separatism where the primacy of rule of
law was re-established at great cost and sacrifice. Today radical elements are
trying to make a comeback riding on public disaffection on joblessness, rising
poverty and drug menace.
Next, Delhi’s Civic Centre descended
into hooliganism, vandalism and chaos as AAP and BJP councillors pushed and exchanged
blows, hurled plastic bottles, threw half-eaten apples, chairs, mikes at each
other, broke the podium, smashed glass paper-stands, tore ballot papers during
election of MCD’s Standing Committee entire night Friday.
Blistering scenes which strip India
of all balance, open-mindedness, equilibrium and tolerance. Am I shocked? Not
at all, graze a car and you could be shot dead, nobody sees red at the sight of
blood. Even if some blood is spilled in an ever-populated nation, what
difference does it make? Recently, three women were brutally murdered, their
body parts cut and stored in a freezer to be scattered or burnt, two others
dragged 10 kms by drunk men in cars, yet not a wimp of a public outcry.
Seven rapes occur every minute
across the country so what’s the big deal? Murders are committed in broad
daylight in busy thoroughfares, it’s difficult to distinguish between a bahubali, mafia don and a neta as all are rolled into one, an
80-year-old grandpa deflowers an innocent five-year-old in Haryana et al.
Clearly, the level of poison and aggression
coursing through political and social India injecting venom in citizens is
worrisome and fraught with serious ramifications. Certainly they have plenty to
be angry about. Unemployment, rising prices, inflation, lawlessness etc. Two,
polarization thanks to technology and social media is more extreme than any
physical ghettoisation.
Underscoring, violent inputs across
society starting with rabid politics of hate, communalism, religious hatred
leading to mob violence online and offline creates a domino effect destroying
innocent minds and turning them into monsters of venom and hate. Pointing to society’s utter moral bankruptcy
where aggressive elements openly target, vilify and perpetuate sexual violence
against women and minorities with alarming impunity.
Educated youth pursuing degrees use tech and Internet to
wage online ideological wars against communities. Targeted violent contents are
openly shared across Twitter, Facebook, Telegram, Instagram, WhatsApp. Remember
a Muslim man killed in Palwal video was shared on Facebook along-with a
14-year-old Muslim boy beaten for venturing inside Dasna Devi temple to drink
water video was uploaded on social media.
Raising a moot point:
Which way is society heading? Tragically, it is not a question of Amritpal or
MCD violence but a much wider and larger national problem --- of increasing anger.
This has resulted in a total breakdown of institutions, society, culture and
ethical values. Replacing moral rules with naked force, hypocrisy and fraud.
Killing yet another
signpost of an increasingly enfeebled system. Symptomatic of complete
lawlessness that has gripped the country. A new cult establishing an order of
hatred and rage. An eerie stillness filling the senses with smell of death,
mayhem and brutal carnage held hostage by rampant goondagardi.
Who is responsible?
The onus lies on all sides --- politicians, bureaucracy, police, ‘protected’
criminals etc. Politicians and police are two sides of the same coin. Both
viewed nowadays as venal and incompetent. Fake encounters. Torture deaths. Want
to get rid of somebody? Call up the “Police-wala
Goonda”.
Criminals in khadi herald the new dons of tomorrow,
hustling and muscling is the way to fulfil people’s aspirations. And what
should one say of hot young blood? Who will rape for kicks and kill for a
drink. In this milieu can criminalized mafia dons be far behind? Who now have
taken recourse to “out of court settlements” and extortions. And what about the
new intolerant rage sweeping across the country? Turning religion into burning
embers of hatred.
The forebodings are in
the air: rising prices, over-population, urban decay and proliferating of
slums. Killings take place. Property is destroyed. Work and economic activity
is brought to a grinding halt. Normal life is disrupted at the outbreak of any
festering conflict.
Evidently, the
administrative system had practically collapsed long ago --- not only in New
Delhi but almost everywhere. A life-style of Nano Yuppiesim only brings forth
the macro consequences of neglect of socio-political environment. A total urban
breakdown, neglect of rural poverty, unpaved roads, unsanitary environments and
a collapsing sewage and drainage system. Of degrading poverty. At a stage,
where another crisis threatens.
The truth is that even
as we have achieved political and economic freedom we still remain hostage to
errant elements of society. "Lopsided economic growth has created a dispossessed
population which cannot relate to Western cultural values and norms,"
asserted a social scientist.
Unfortunately, most
Indians do not care. Absence of national character and indiscipline has led to
a creeping paralysis of ‘sab chalta hai’.
Think. Is violence really worth the price the country will pay? Who will bear
the cross? How does one salvage India’s soul?
Nothing justifies
bloodshed or the call to commit violence in direct contravention of the law. If
anyone has angst against authorities or person they should take up legal battle
against them. Unless the larger network fuelling such anger and intolerance is
brought to justice it will continue unabated.
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. 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)
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