Vandalism in India is very often
a heroic feat. In the past marauders and vandal
- invaders came from Afghanistan,
Iran and other places to loot India to their heart's content, destroy places of
worship, desiccate religious places, rape as many women as possible and carry
thousands for their harems and return emperor style to their kingdoms and
places to recount their vandalism and barbarism in heroic epics ghost written
by gold - licking slaves. The East -India company, perhaps the first big
corporation did the same things as the invaders did with some polish as they
were answerable to the masterminds sitting in London. But in independent India too whenever communal tensions flared up shops
were looted and burnt, temples and masjids were decimated and trains, buses govt
buildings were given as offerings to the bonfire of hate. But no one was found
guilty of those crimes. Governments repaired the damaged assets with taxpayers'
money. The vandal was a vote catcher and a prospective candidate for the ruling
party.
But for the first time perhaps ,
the Uttar Pradesh government has taken a bold decision to make the vandals pay
for the damages to state and private property after the CAA protest which ended
up in violence in many cities of the largest state in India. The Citizenship
Amendment Act was passed in the
Parliament by both Houses to, as the
Home Minister says, give citizenship to the refugees and it has nothing to do
with the Citizens of India. The protest against the CAA was somewhat
inexplicable as the cause did not have either a legal or a moral sting. Some
political parties floated rumours that this law is anti- muslim and the idea of
India was demolished by the law. The print and electronic media along with the
new Lethal toy of social media fuelled the rumours with inflammable chemicals .
In U.P, Delhi and Karnataka lumpen elements made the protest pitched battles
leading to death of Indians both innocents and conspirators. The Delhi - Karnataka
governments however, have not decided to collect fines from the vandals to
repair the damages. The UP government has already confiscated the shops and the
properties of the vandals and have noticed them to pay the fines otherwise their properties would be sold by auction to collect the fines.
To a sane modern the whole thing
appears to be somewhat odd. The identified vandals will certainly go to a court and the
political parties and men like MIM chief will leave no stone unturned to prove
their innocence in a court of law. The
police being the scapegoat may come under fire from both sides of the political
divide. I doubt whether the UP govt's stand would be vindicated by the legal
temples. But the Kerala High Court in a
different case and the Supreme Court of
India in cases of a similar nature have given judgments which will support the UP government's averment.
But a man who believes in
Newton's Third Law may agree to the UP
government's intent. If public property could be destroyed to protest against a
law made by the Parliament in a
democratic country, Why should the tax payer's money be used to make good the losses? Why shouldn't justified
moral revenge be accepted as instant law? If a group destroys public property
the same group should be responsible for repair and restoration. What is wrong
with it? If England and America could take war reparations from Germany after the World Wars why can't
the UP govt. take the fines from the vandals? One may argue that England and
America and other allied powers had the logic of the Victor: So does the UP
govt. Once this happens, maybe in future the violent elements may stay away
from burning busses and damaging public property.
The Indian political scene today
is so dismal that no party in the Opposition thinks that about the greater good
of the country. The parties have their ideologies, which mostly are ineffectual.
The world has moved away from the Imperialism
of the intellectual or the foxy machinations of a dictatorial state. The events
of Honk Kong are in no way a repetition of the Tiananmen Square. Things are
fast moving. No group can armtwist a
government to submission nor can
blackmail the power group to concede points detrimental to the future of the country.
The Rule of Law must prevail in a democracy which does not cater to majority or
minority. If you have a pathological hatred for the ruling powers, never try to
use that hate to win the love of the rulers. Democracy is a number game, defeat
them with numbers not with knives and illegal weapons. The illegal migrants are
used as weapons against the system today but the same illegals can drive out
all legal frames when their numbers increase. Hence respect the Parliament and respect the Country if you think it is your
own.
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