Author: Editorial
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: June 6, 2011
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/343644/Abominable-misdeed.html
Tainted regime takes recourse to brutality
The raid by heavily-armed personnel of Delhi
Police and the Rapid Action Force on Ramlila Ground in Delhi in the early
hours of Sunday has understandably outraged the nation. The sheer brutality
of the manner in which the police assaulted sleeping men, women and children
who had gathered there to participate in Baba Ramdev's satyagraha against
corruption, fired scores of teargas shells inside the tent, and dragged out
the protesters merits unequivocal condemnation, as does the callous indifference
of the Police Commissioner who was more keen to please his political bosses
than to ensure orderly behaviour by his men. But the real reprobates are those
who ordered the police to crack down on the gathered crowd of people in the
dead of night - it matters little if the Congress is now desperately trying
to wriggle out of the mess; the party and its leaders stand accused of trying
to put down mass unrest over rampant corruption that taints the UPA regime
through means that are reminiscent of Mrs Indira Gandhi's Emergency. Nor does
it matter what Mr Manmohan Singh has to say about the appalling misconduct
of the Government he heads: After Sunday morning's naked display of fascist
state power, he stands exposed as a morally decrepit wimp who, having presided
over the most corrupt regime India has witnessed, is happy to see popular
anger being doused with state-sponsored brutality. An indecently supine and
morally dishonest Prime Minister cannot claim to be either decent or honest.
It is abundantly clear that the Congress tried
to create differences among those leading the anti-corruption movement and
discredit Baba Ramdev by first despatching senior Ministers, including Mr
Pranab Mukherjee, to negotiate with him and then plant the story, with the
help of 'friendly' media, that he had struck a deal. When that fiction stood
exposed and Baba Ramdev went ahead with his satyagraha along with thousands
of his followers, the Government ordered a crackdown, supremely confident
that nobody would dare question its patently illegitimate action. Did the
Congress fail to anticipate the fury this would unleash? Or is it arrogance
that led it to commit what is clearly a monumental blunder? The latter appears
to be more likely. To now slyly allege, as the apologists of this shameless
regime are doing, that the gathering at Ramlila Ground was sponsored by the
RSS or that the BJP was working behind the scenes is sheer bunkum. People
have the right to protest peacefully in our democracy, and it is of no consequence
as to what is the ideology of the protesters or those organising the protest.
Hindu-bashing, in which both the Congress and the Government it leads excel,
cannot be justification for such barbarism. Saffron is not a banned colour
in this nation, at least not yet.
This cash-and-carry regime owes an explanation
to the nation. But we know it shall remain silent. The only way forward is
to force the Government to call an emergency session of Parliament so that
it can be held accountable. If it refuses to do so, as it will, then the Opposition
must prepare to take on the Government during the Monsoon session. The collective
bluff of those who claim to be concerned about corruption while allowing it
to flourish must be called. The Prime Minister, his colleagues and their political
bosses must be pitilessly exposed for what they are. The people of this country
have suffered the excesses of this corrupt regime for far too long. India
deserves better.
