The dangers of silence

Even though people like me sound as though we are banging on about the same things, griping about the ?breakdown? of all dignity, integrity and civility, the truth is that each day brings in its wake some unimaginable horror that leaves many of us aghast. Hounding Husain has become a mindless and sick pastime that smacks of petty vendetta conducted by illiterate bands of unthinking political ?workers? who think little of demeaning the Constitution of India and the freedoms enshrined in it, and seem desperate to take the law into their own hands, breaking civil rules and norms. Many variants of this parallel force, without any executive or statutory authority, are ruling the streets with impunity, with the so-called law enforcers choosing to arrest instead the innocent people under physical and other forms of assault.

This self-anointed and illegal moral police is out to wage battles against all that comes in the way of its uninformed one-track views on any and every societal issue, be it the wedding of two consenting adults of different faiths (an act permitted by the Constitution and law), or artistic self-expression (equally legitimate). The moral police barges into institutions, destroys others? property and, recently, even vandalised the work of art students in Vadodhra. In response, the khaki-clad police, representing the government and our leaders who have taken an oath to protect the Constitution and the people of India, went and arrested the innocent victim. By that single act, the police has broken the law blatantly, while protecting the offenders. No senior authority stops this from happening. Our leaders remain mute spectators. What kind of democracy is this? And, where is the voice of the President, the protector of the Constitution?

Silence from the pinnacle of power is an ominous sign. It endorses all that is rapidly and irreversibly being torn apart. It condones the degradation of civilised and appropriate governance. It defies all the tenets of civil society, dignity of citizenship and principles of protecting the innocent, and puts integrity and honesty through the shredder. It foretells a horror story that India may be headed towards?a story of painful and militant anarchy, with no true rule of law. These are the conditions that set the ground for a ?takeover? by dictatorial forces. The elite will, yet again, as history has shown, support the strongarm tactics of such regimes against other classes and creeds?the weaker and minority sections of society?as long as their private citadels are secure.

Early signs of this unhealthy disease creeping into the body politic came with the ?guarding? of VIPs, a breed that does not exist anywhere else on this planet. That isolation of our leadership from the realities of life in India, where failure of the system of governance and administration across the board is disregarded as the cry of fringe lunatics, has cut our rulers off from the trials and tribulations of ordinary citizens, whether in urban or rural India. Today, with an acceleration of the free-for-all we are experiencing, our rulers ?fiddle? desperately as Rome burns.

Why hasn?t the President addressed the nation, spoken up and damned these social assaults that do not abide by any law? Why is government ignoring these terrible happenings? Are they running scared of the possible reaction from certain political dispensations? Why? Are they not prepared to uphold their views on such issues that affect the pluralism of our civilisation, a diversity that has been our strength? Are they merely wedded to an inanimate ?chair?, unable to distinguish between right and wrong, too incapacitated to stand upright if it means relinquishing ?power??

What is the point of wasting time and money in celebrating 1857 and the struggle for Independence from British rule thereon till liberation in 1947, if as a government these leaders are incapable of effective rule, powerless to guarantee peace, law and order and civil liberties? This kind of ?governance? by those in our political arena is unacceptable to all citizens who live by honesty and integrity. A great civilisation is beginning to wither, and who knows where it will end.