State of our democracy

The state of India’s democracy is reflected in the many instances where it is infringed with impunity. Apparently, we have all the freedoms as given in the Constitution. But in reality, everything is conditional. The Home Minister of the country recently reminded us that “after 2002, the troublemakers do not ‘dare’ raise their heads in Gujarat again.” The Election Commission finds nothing wrong in this since no community was named by the honourable home minister and ignores the implied reference to the Gujarat riots.

The Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh presides over a “Bulldozer Raj,” meaning the houses of rioters are demolished without any recourse allowed to them on the plea that they are illegal. The majority of those whose houses are demolished are those of Muslims, perhaps a mere coincidence. State terrorism is another word for this, where intimidation of citizens is executive policy.

The bulldozer policy has reached Kashmir, where a terrorist’s house was razed to the ground. One does not know whether it was illegal or not; one does not know whether his family has an alternate shelter; one does not know whether, in the height of winter, when temperatures in the Valley have been plummeting below zero degrees, it is humane and proper to do this if his family was staying there.

In spite of the horrendous Nirbhaya rape case in Delhi in 2012, which raised the question of women’s safety, we have similar cases occurring with clockwork regularity across the northern states of the country. A decade has passed, but women’s safety remains as much of a concern as it was earlier.

Recently, Bilkis Bano, the pregnant woman who was raped during the 2002 Gujarat riots, decided to go to the Supreme Court against the Gujarat government’s decision to release her rapists from jail on the grounds of ‘good behaviour’. She fears for her life if the rapists are allowed to roam free in Gujarat. Not only Bilkis, but a Karnataka woman has accused a seer in Chitradurga of raping her two minor daughters. The seer is also believed to have sexually assaulted other girls, and on these charges, he has been arrested. But now the woman who had accused the seer of rape is being charged with being involved in a conspiracy to defame the seer. The woman, who was without her husband, had taken shelter in the seer’s ashram when her daughters were violated but was forced to leave the ashram. Those who tried to help her were intimidated into silence. The police also seem to be involved in supporting the conspiracy charge and have been harassing the woman. Now this woman is a Hindu. Thus, women of any religion are fair game in today’s “democratic” India.

The law and order situation is also becoming increasingly alarming. Following the heinous murder of Shradha by her live-in partner in Delhi, a wave of similar murders has been reported in northern India and Bengal. People’s safety, one of the cardinal principles of democracy, is given a pass in today’s “democratic” India.

Minorities and lower-caste people are being targeted systematically. Starting from students to journalists, Muslims find themselves in jail for the flimsiest of reasons, and once there, the net of their offences is deliberately widened to ensnare them in the judicial process.

The poison has spread to educational institutions: a student was called “Kasab” by a professor at the reputed Manipal University in Karnataka since ostensibly he had a name sounding similar to that of the terrorist, and when the student objected, he said it was a joke!

The hijab hit the headlines in India before it did in Iran. It has been worn in the Malabar and Dakshina Kannada regions for generations and has nothing to do with education, which is a matter of the mind. The Supreme Court ruled that uniform codes need to be strictly followed. In the meanwhile, classes were disrupted, as were the lives of the protesters.

The harassment is not limited to the minority community. People of “lower castes” and tribals too are treated shabbily; shame and insult are heaped on them if they deviate from the track laid out for them by “upper castes.” It is shameful that this discrimination continues in “Amrut Kal’,” India’s 75th year of independence.

In our prime minister’s words, India, in its Amrut Kaal, will show the way to the world. But he should look back at his own home and put it in order before he attempts to give lessons to the world.

Our leaders refuse to accept the issues plaguing the country, even when pointed out by world leaders and other countries. It’s time India cleaned up her act.

(The writer is an engineer- activist living in Goa and writes on current affairs and the environment)