Why are state governments reluctant to wield a stick?

 Massive protests post Friday prayers across the length and breadth of the country, a continuum of the ongoing backlash in response to the comment on Prophet Mohammed has left the nation in a lurch. A wave of violence has swept the nation. The response of various state governments to this orgy of the mobocracy and penchant for street veto has vividly exposed their ham-handed approach toward the anarchy heaped by instigated mobs. The visuals of a whimpering policeman and those of a policeman bleeding heavily injured in stone-pelting and images of policemen helplessly watching the pandemonium mirror the abject failure in curbing communal riots. Together, the irresponsible statements unravelled the connivance and chicanery of the leaders in the power who dithered over calling a spade a spade.

Even as cities continued to burn and rioters continued to damage public property with impunity and hurl petrol bombs at temples and vandalize them, instead of cracking a whip on these conspirators, some state governments brazenly provided cover to the mobsters. The brazen trivialization of the riots as “gusse mein galti ho jati hain” by the Chief Minister of Jharkhand, the demand for seeking a martyr status for the two people killed in the Ranchi riots by an MLA and a shocking condemnation for the release of rioters’ photographs have exposed the appalling insensitivity of a democratically elected government. Having single-handedly whitewashed the violence, amid rising outrage, Chief Minister set up a sham committee headed by Minister in his cabinet to probe the riot. Incapable of taking the bull by its horns and reluctant to anger a section of the society, the Chief Minister has smartly evaded thorough scrutiny that would gravely expose the ineptness of his governance.

The gory details of the protests across different states have brought the nation face to face with the looming threats if unchecked can severely threaten the integrity of the country. In the Mehaboobnagar district of Telangana, the protestors assembled after the Friday prayers carried an Indian flag with Ashoka Chakra replaced by Kalma. In Karnataka’s Belgavi, an effigy of Nupur Sharma was found hanging while hundreds of protestors assembled before Delhi’s Jama Masjid. In Howrah, BJP office was ransacked and burnt all in the name of protests. The rioters have indiscriminately set on fire several public properties. In Dhulagarh, protestors pelted stones at policeman who tried to pacify them. Domjur police station was attacked and Panchala witnessed violence protests.  Similar protests accompanied with stone pelting erupted in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj and Saharanpur. While the commentariat contended that the protests are a fallout of Nupur Sharma’s “alleged blasphemous remarks”. Irrespective of how much ever one was angered or pained is the nationwide coordinated violent protests the only refuge in a democratic country?

Living in a democratic country and civilised society, instead of seeking recourse in debate and discussion, with a proclivity to silence inconvenient truths, a section has always sought to seek justice through arms. While faux liberals attributed the current round of riots to an outburst of anger in response to the remarks on PUBH, the recurring episodes of violence and targeted attacks have become a regular event. Communal tensions escalating into riots are thus far normalised as venting of the fury by the minorities.  But society is now cumulatively paying a heavy price for the fury and resentment of a few which are often snowballing into pan-India protests and street violence. Desecration of the revered symbols including the national flags, blockading of roads and holding the commercial centres of activity to ransom by favoured sections of society are also given a free pass.

The mindless justification of violence, street veto in the name of the right to religion, right to freedom of expression and dissent is widening existing fault lines in the society. Dismal enforcement of law and order and lack of swift and stringent punishment has emboldened the forces that are eagerly waiting to trigger dissensions and strife.

Pussy-footedness, pro-minority advocacy of the governments leading to the selective application of laws has only strengthened the motives of the elements who are on a perennial hunt to stoke tensions. Putting to rest, the cardinal principles of “everyone is equal before the law and entitled to the equal protection of the law without discrimination”, leaders in power are arm-twisting the law and order system for political mileage. The unquenchable appetite to appease a section of society for electoral primacy is at the root of the current malignancy of spawning riots at the spur of the movement.

The absence of deterrence, feckless enforcement of law, reluctance of government to impose punitive costs over the years has begotten an ecosystem that can kick start arson and violence. While confiscation and bulldozing of illegal properties of the promoters of violence can instill fear, the ecosystem ably bolstered by a string of PILs and a factory of faux liberals capable of inciting tensions with a stroke of a pen must now be extricated from its roots.

Espousing political correctness and resting on the favours of the swing voters to determine their electoral fates, Indian political leaders have cheaply surrendered themselves at the altar of a vote bank. Selective application of law on the grounds of religion, caste, creed etc besides bolstering the anti-national elements can severely destroy the delicate fabric of communal harmony and peace of the country.

Over the past eight years, a clear template for unleashing street violence at will has emerged. A standard operation protocol to destabilise the country has been in vogue. State governments have exclusive control over law and order. A casual approach to the threats, vandalization of buses over interrogation by ED of party leaders and destruction of public property at will to protest new initiatives and legislations have clearly emboldened people to go on a rampage. Politically unemployed, the dissenters are now weaponizing violence to settle political scores. Besides vitiating the social harmony these events are tarnishing the image of the country. It is time that the elected leaders show some spine to crack a whip on the forces deploying anarchy and arson to create unrest in the country.

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