It is an irony of our times that the very Government, which promised to protect the country from any divisive internal or external force, has failed to fulfill its duties

When the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was voted to power in 2014 and then even more resoundingly in 2019, one of the pillars that the party sought to stand on was its claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will represent a strong Government and that it will protect the country from any divisive internal or external force. It is this assurance that forms the backdrop of the now-infamous belief that the Prime Minister’s “56-inch chest” will provide India with a protective shield. Events that unfolded in Delhi over the past week, where clashes broke out between communities that led to the killing of 35 people (at the time of writing), have thrown cold water over the Prime Minister’s hollow claims of leading a strong Government.

In fact, there will be few instances in the history of independent India where a citizen has felt more unsafe than he/she does right now. Delhi is in the midst of its worst riots since 1984. And as relevant authorities examine who exactly is to be blamed for the violence that has been unleashed, there are some issues that are indisputable and require some tough answers.

The first is, how did such a riot take place, that, too, in the capital city? Delhi is not just the capital of this country but is also home to India’s most well-funded and trained police force. Let this sink in. Theoretically speaking, this means that the Delhi police, which functions under the Central Government that is controlled by the BJP and more specifically comes under the direct supervision of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, is India’s best equipped police force. This means that in terms of numbers and assistance, compared to other forces across the country, the law and order situation in Delhi could not have been better protected. Well, hypothetically speaking, at least.

In addition to this, Delhi is also the centre for all intelligence agencies in the country. It is home to several intelligence bodies, whose job includes to be alert about all possible acts of violence or riots that may erupt in the country. But the intelligence bodies and the police force have failed to prevent violence in not more than a 10-km radius from Parliament. How does this make those residing in other parts of the country feel? If the Government could not stop acts of mass violence in places where its base is the strongest, how exactly does it plan to protect the rest of the country?

Let’s once assume that this is not true. But the element of bias cannot be denied because as per reports, the Delhi police was sent at least six alerts on Sunday (February 23), asking for deployment to be stepped up after BJP leader Kapil Mishra called for a gathering in support of the Citizenship Act at Delhi’s Maujpur. Why then was the police so helpless in preventing violence? This is a greater cause for concern because if the Delhi police is better equipped to tackle violence than any other police force in the country, why did it fail to deliver?

These are not the only questions over the conduct of the Delhi police. Why are videos of police personnel destroying CCTV cameras doing the rounds? The only way to get answers and to ensure that such riots do not happen again is to dig deep and find out as to what exactly happened. But how will the destruction of CCTV cameras help answer that question?

What I am concerned about and what should concern all of us is the establishment of truth and the delivery of justice to all those people who have been affected by this senseless violence. This can be done only by taking appropriate action against those involved in the violence. Perpetrators include leaders of political parties of every hue and any official, who allowed such violence to go unabated for three days.

The more serious concern is that slowly but steadily, we have reached this shameful place. There are a few reasons for this. One is the lack of resistance by the bureaucracy. I have some sympathy for the bureaucrats here though. Governments of the past have often shown — and the BJP Government has mastered — how adept they are in the art of abuse, twist and wrangle. This is in contrast to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s vision of the civil services being the “steel frame” of good governance.

Bureaucrats are now routinely being threatened with transfer orders, raids by income tax authorities or the Enforcement Directorate or any other agency which is at the Centre’s disposal with a degree of reckless abandon. I don’t think we would have to go more than a few weeks behind to find an instance of such abuse. It has permeated all institutions, including the Election Commission of India.

More recently came the brazen example of Justice S Muralidhar of the Delhi High Court, who received a presidential order transferring him to the Punjab and Haryana High Court. This order came a day later after he pulled up the Solicitor General and the Delhi police for inaction during the riots in north-east Delhi. Coming down heavily on the Delhi police, he pulled it up for its failure to register FIRs against alleged hate-speeches by three BJP leaders, Anurag Thakur, Kapil Mishra and other usual suspects from the BJP.

While pressure by a Government on the bureaucracy and the judiciary is not an invention of the BJP — there are obvious examples of the Emergency, 1984 and 2002 — rarely has there been as concerted an effort by a Government to undermine all institutions, all at once. Circumstances are not helped by members of these institutions either. So often, we see bureaucrats being asked to jump and respond back with, “How high?” In the judiciary, too, we have recently seen a sitting Supreme Court judge lavish heavy praise on the Prime Minister even as serious allegations of abuse of State power were being examined by the very same court.

Such acts and comments by individuals in positions of authority — whether in the bureaucracy or in the judiciary or any other institution — have chilling effects on the citizens. It erodes their faith in the institutions and the Constitution. This poses a greater risk to India’s democratic health in the long term than individual acts of abuse of power by the BJP that I have highlighted in this article.

So what do we do? If the State machinery is failing us and institutions are displaying a lack of backbone, the answer and burden (unfortunately or fortunately) fall on everyday people. Unfortunate because this is a great burden that the civil society must now discharge when its institutions appear to be found wanting. Fortunate because there is rarely a time in history when any Government or institution can suppress the will of the people. The only thing we must make sure is that we fight, not with violence, but with vigour, voice and vote to uphold the rule of the law and the Constitution. Victory then will be undeniable for everyone who wants to live in a unified, peaceful and prosperous democracy.

(Writer: Ajoy Kumar ; Courtesy: The Pioneer)

It is an irony of our times that the very Government, which promised to protect the country from any divisive internal or external force, has failed to fulfill its duties

When the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was voted to power in 2014 and then even more resoundingly in 2019, one of the pillars that the party sought to stand on was its claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will represent a strong Government and that it will protect the country from any divisive internal or external force. It is this assurance that forms the backdrop of the now-infamous belief that the Prime Minister’s “56-inch chest” will provide India with a protective shield. Events that unfolded in Delhi over the past week, where clashes broke out between communities that led to the killing of 35 people (at the time of writing), have thrown cold water over the Prime Minister’s hollow claims of leading a strong Government.

In fact, there will be few instances in the history of independent India where a citizen has felt more unsafe than he/she does right now. Delhi is in the midst of its worst riots since 1984. And as relevant authorities examine who exactly is to be blamed for the violence that has been unleashed, there are some issues that are indisputable and require some tough answers.

The first is, how did such a riot take place, that, too, in the capital city? Delhi is not just the capital of this country but is also home to India’s most well-funded and trained police force. Let this sink in. Theoretically speaking, this means that the Delhi police, which functions under the Central Government that is controlled by the BJP and more specifically comes under the direct supervision of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, is India’s best equipped police force. This means that in terms of numbers and assistance, compared to other forces across the country, the law and order situation in Delhi could not have been better protected. Well, hypothetically speaking, at least.

In addition to this, Delhi is also the centre for all intelligence agencies in the country. It is home to several intelligence bodies, whose job includes to be alert about all possible acts of violence or riots that may erupt in the country. But the intelligence bodies and the police force have failed to prevent violence in not more than a 10-km radius from Parliament. How does this make those residing in other parts of the country feel? If the Government could not stop acts of mass violence in places where its base is the strongest, how exactly does it plan to protect the rest of the country?

Let’s once assume that this is not true. But the element of bias cannot be denied because as per reports, the Delhi police was sent at least six alerts on Sunday (February 23), asking for deployment to be stepped up after BJP leader Kapil Mishra called for a gathering in support of the Citizenship Act at Delhi’s Maujpur. Why then was the police so helpless in preventing violence? This is a greater cause for concern because if the Delhi police is better equipped to tackle violence than any other police force in the country, why did it fail to deliver?

These are not the only questions over the conduct of the Delhi police. Why are videos of police personnel destroying CCTV cameras doing the rounds? The only way to get answers and to ensure that such riots do not happen again is to dig deep and find out as to what exactly happened. But how will the destruction of CCTV cameras help answer that question?

What I am concerned about and what should concern all of us is the establishment of truth and the delivery of justice to all those people who have been affected by this senseless violence. This can be done only by taking appropriate action against those involved in the violence. Perpetrators include leaders of political parties of every hue and any official, who allowed such violence to go unabated for three days.

The more serious concern is that slowly but steadily, we have reached this shameful place. There are a few reasons for this. One is the lack of resistance by the bureaucracy. I have some sympathy for the bureaucrats here though. Governments of the past have often shown — and the BJP Government has mastered — how adept they are in the art of abuse, twist and wrangle. This is in contrast to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s vision of the civil services being the “steel frame” of good governance.

Bureaucrats are now routinely being threatened with transfer orders, raids by income tax authorities or the Enforcement Directorate or any other agency which is at the Centre’s disposal with a degree of reckless abandon. I don’t think we would have to go more than a few weeks behind to find an instance of such abuse. It has permeated all institutions, including the Election Commission of India.

More recently came the brazen example of Justice S Muralidhar of the Delhi High Court, who received a presidential order transferring him to the Punjab and Haryana High Court. This order came a day later after he pulled up the Solicitor General and the Delhi police for inaction during the riots in north-east Delhi. Coming down heavily on the Delhi police, he pulled it up for its failure to register FIRs against alleged hate-speeches by three BJP leaders, Anurag Thakur, Kapil Mishra and other usual suspects from the BJP.

While pressure by a Government on the bureaucracy and the judiciary is not an invention of the BJP — there are obvious examples of the Emergency, 1984 and 2002 — rarely has there been as concerted an effort by a Government to undermine all institutions, all at once. Circumstances are not helped by members of these institutions either. So often, we see bureaucrats being asked to jump and respond back with, “How high?” In the judiciary, too, we have recently seen a sitting Supreme Court judge lavish heavy praise on the Prime Minister even as serious allegations of abuse of State power were being examined by the very same court.

Such acts and comments by individuals in positions of authority — whether in the bureaucracy or in the judiciary or any other institution — have chilling effects on the citizens. It erodes their faith in the institutions and the Constitution. This poses a greater risk to India’s democratic health in the long term than individual acts of abuse of power by the BJP that I have highlighted in this article.

So what do we do? If the State machinery is failing us and institutions are displaying a lack of backbone, the answer and burden (unfortunately or fortunately) fall on everyday people. Unfortunate because this is a great burden that the civil society must now discharge when its institutions appear to be found wanting. Fortunate because there is rarely a time in history when any Government or institution can suppress the will of the people. The only thing we must make sure is that we fight, not with violence, but with vigour, voice and vote to uphold the rule of the law and the Constitution. Victory then will be undeniable for everyone who wants to live in a unified, peaceful and prosperous democracy.

(Writer: Ajoy Kumar ; Courtesy: The Pioneer)