Our leadership has got rather agitated about cow slaughter and appears determined to ban it. If only they were as concerned about banning human slaughter. There is a breed of private operators of buses and trucks that ply in Delhi. They are killers par excellence. For years they have been getting away with murdering innocent human beings as they break all rules by hurtling down roads crushing anything and everything in their way. The buses compete with each other to reach a destination as fast as possible. It is criminal that the administration has not stopped this treachery. Because the vehicles belong to politicians, or those closely ?connected?, does not give them the right to mow down people.
One devastating line in the newspaper the other day sums up the respect these people have for life. ?In trying to avoid a cow, speeding truck mows down a family of eight?. It?s sick. All the killers run loose and amok and no government is able to stop this rampant attack on humans. The drivers know so and therefore carry on regardless. The police look the other way and keep getting their remuneration for turning a blind eye. So, as the cows roam the streets with full protection, the citizens of this democracy continue to be assaulted with no recourse to anyone.
The tragedy in India is that any police or administrative officer who does his job according to the law and Constitution, is transferred and harassed. Both the Congress and the BJP ruling coalition share this belief and indulge in the same illegalities to support the corrupt in their midst. Recent examples are distressing to say the least. Police officers who gave correct information to the election commissioner on the horrors of Gujarat, were transferred. The Congress is not far behind. Ashok Gehlot recently transferred a Superintendent of Police from Sawai Madhopur for doing his job and protecting the Ranthambhore national park from armed miscreants who entered with their herds of cattle ? this was a blatant breach of a Supreme Court order of February 2000 (writ petition 202/95), which prohibits the removal of even a blade of grass from a national park.
The illegal entry was protected by the sitting Congress Rajya Sabha member from Sawai Madhopur who led a delegation of these intruders to the assembly and prevailed upon the chief minister to transfer, overnight, a police officer who was abiding by the directives of the Constitution and working honestly to ensure no encroachment into the protected area. We all know it is ?helpful? to have a malleable officer in a forest area for the obvious reasons of encroachment…money to be made through illegal felling and poaching! However, some of us do not understand the inability to stop these wrongs from happening.
With the transfer, illegal miscreants entered again, 400 men with 6,000 head of cattle. They took over the park by forcing forest staff to flee from physical attack. Gehlot?s government acted only after an empowered committee of the Supreme Court asked the government to explain their conduct for flouting the laws of this land. In a panic, the government replied saying that men and cattle were not in the national park area. There was evidence to prove otherwise and the government was asked to show cause yet again. Finally, in fear of being accused of contempt of court, they sent a force and flushed the intruders out. It is believed that the ?deal? is to transfer yet another upright forest officer in seven days, so that illegal entries can happen a few weeks from now! So much for good governance.
If the ruling party and the opposition are in the business of protecting illegalities by defying established laws, there is little hope for India. This is exactly how the Veerappans of the world are created and protected. Let us not forget what Veerappan did…he broke the law, killed scores of elephants and felled thousands of sandalwood trees. Anarchy seems to be the call of the day. The only saving grace these days is that the Supreme Court, recognising that there is zero governance, has taken upon itself the role of the executive to save some situations. This is a sad commentary on our elected representatives.