JOIN US‘Arson at MLA’s house symptom of a deep malaise’
Men arrested for setting fire to an MLA’s car last week said they had done it only because the rich don’t care about the poor.
Academics, human rights activists and sociologists see the incident as a symptom of a deeper malaise.
The three arrested youth--- Bandepalya Naveen (22), Garebavipalya Sagar (19), and Begur Sridhar (20)---were unemployed and implicated in bike thefts, according to the police.
Sagar, hailing from Nepal, had tried to meet the MLA to ask for a job, but he was not allowed inside. That made him furious, reports say.
After jumping over Satish Reddy’s compound on August 12, the three men allegedly set fire to two of his SUVs and escaped. They told the police they were desperate to even arrange for a meal, but others around them were living it up and driving around in plush cars.
“We have to interrogate them. It is all too early to decide whether what they are saying is true,” says an investigative officer.
When leaders fail to meet the expectations and demands of the electorate, the result is frustration and hopelessness, observes Niranjanaradhya V P, development educationist who has been campaigning for the strengthening of government schools.
“The leaders must be open and willing to meet those who come to claim their legitimate right. The incident is not justified, but it is disappointment that drives people to take extreme steps,” he says.
Any progressive society should have good infrastructure, education and healthcare. What we see emerging now is a crony alliance between corporate houses and the government, making the rich richer and the poor poorer, he says.
Elected representatives have dissolved the boundaries between public service and private favours, says Dr Meera Baindur, who teaches philosophy at Manipal University Jaipur.
“They have perpetrated a culture where knowing the right people can get things done. The men did not challenge the MLA on his public service but only on his refusal to get them a job,” she observes. Politicians are seen as demigods with the powers to grant wishes and death sentences.
“This is dramatic and reminds us of films in which a disappointed hero begins to smash down the sacred place of a god who has betrayed his trust,” she says.
Activists say
Dr Joseph Xavier SJ, director, Indian Social Institute, says people in a democracy have the right to protest, but doing so in a violent manner is not the way to go.
“This will trigger more violence and unrest. But this is a clear message for elected representatives that they must take the youth into confidence. They have to be accountable for the taxpayer’s money. The gap between haves and have-nots is widening by the day. Shortage of food and unemployment are gnawing problems that demand urgent attention and resolution,” he says.
The already existing inequality will lead to more inequality and more violence if ignored, says Salil Shetty, vice president, Global Programs of The Open Society Foundations.
“The discontent among the masses has massively increased in the last few years. The effort to suppress voices and curtail freedom of speech has rendered people powerless. When people are free to express their discontent, incidents of violence and tension are fewer,” he says.