FORGOTTEN LESSONS FROM DADRI
By Sugato Hazra
The latent fissures between communities explode and lead to loss of life when the attendant institutions meant for ensuring harmony fail to act. Institutions work efficiently in a well functioning state where law and order is generally maintained as per law and in an orderly manner. This also demands an efficient judiciary, which will inflict exemplary punishment in the shortest possible time to the guilty. Needless it to mention we also need other stakeholders and influencers who will fall in line with what the civilized code demands and not argue incessantly when the institutions take a decision.
Sadly India remains still a soft state as Gunnar Myrdal pointed out more than 40 years back. Here none of the above wish list operates properly. Take the case of Dadri for instance. There was some kirtan going on in a local temple. Somebody made an announcement of beef eating by Akhlaq and his family. A mob gathered and by 10 o’clock in the night on 28th September. The 100-strong mob attacked the house of Akhlaq. Akhlaq died while his young son Danish is fighting for his life. Clearly the gullible mob did never hear of a civilized state nor did they have faith in whatever is left of it in their area. They felt outraged and did not suffer from any qualms to take the law and punishment in their own hands.
The incident happened in the communally sensitive district of Dadri. According to the Indian Express reporter in another village in the district about a month ago three Muslim men were killed on the suspicion that they were cattle smugglers. It was also said that some small militant outfit of Hindus had been active in that area against cattle smugglers and cow slaughter. That the sentiments are charged up could be gathered from the umbrage local people took against media and visiting politicians to that area. Women and children attacked media persons who went to cover the incident. They made fun of the state government in Lucknow giving Rs 45 lakh as compensation to the family members of Akhlaq. The post event reactions of the state government merely helped increasing the gulf between the two communities.
The event clearly draws attention to dereliction of duty on the part of the administration. When sentiments are charged up and untoward incidents had taken place in the recent past what do we expect from the administration? Are they not supposed to round up those who had been responsible for fomenting the communal sentiments? Are they not expected to investigate the alleged cases of cattle smuggling and soothe the nerves of the agitated people? More so since there was the Muslim festival of Eid on 25th September and communal sensitivity was building there should have been precautionary steps. True, there cannot be police post everywhere but what about gathering timely intelligence. Clearly there was no effort to prevent untoward incidents in the sensitive district of Dadri.
What is curious is the reaction after the unfortunate event. Politicians of all hues queued up to be photographed with the affected family. Commentators and media persons kept churning out commentaries without ever questioning whether any preventive step was taken or not. This is not the first such dastardly act in a village in Uttar Pradesh. In 2013 there was a much bigger flare up in Muzaffarnagar. Did the incidents there teach anything to the administration? Nobody asked and naturally nobody bothered to respond let alone review. Instead we started bickering, a free for all of sorts. Politicians visited the family – it being just about 40 km away from the national capital Delhi the incident gave them an opportunity to figure in media. For media, too, with easy availability of logistics this became a good story to dwell on. Add to this, volumes of arguments on beef eating were churned out for adding to our knowledge. The Dadri lynching ended up as yet another nice story for all. Tragedy suffered by Akhlaq and his family made attractive headlines. For a change Akhlaq’s mother found herself on the front pages of the national dailies. Family travelled in State aircraft to Lucknow and collected an amount which Akhlaq would not have ever dream of providing when alive.
Forgotten in the cacophony is the real issue. How should the administration act so that such incidents can be nipped in the bud? If within the stone’s throw of the nation’s capital having easy connectivity such incidents can take place what safety is there for our ordinary citizens living in far flung areas? Was there any way police could have reached the spot and saved Akhlaq? Did the police fail in gathering intelligence and having preventive steps? How did the police miss the role of one of its own official, a homeguard, in inciting people?
Instead of fishing in troubled water is it not the duty of the political class, of all shades, to sit together and devise ways and means to protect the lives and livelihoods of Akhlaq, or for that matter Amar and Antony as well – all living on the similar edge? Can the wisemen in our judiciary call the people in charge of administration to explain what were the reasons that they had failed to take necessary precautions in a sensitive area? Will anybody ask what was the police intelligence doing?
Busy as we are in seeking response from the Prime Minister, errors and omissions on ground will never be addressed. Not a single report on Dadri lynching has yet mentioned the issue of administrative failure; none of the august commentators has come out with suggestion on how to check repeat of such unfortunate incidents.
The disease that killed Akhlaq is not new. When this flares up and spreads this attracts attention. Ordinarily had it been in some far flung corner it would have by now been consigned to inside pages. Life is so cheap here in India. Like the six-year-old girl in a village in Bareilly who was killed by her father Chand Miyan for failing to keep her head covered while having food. The pretext of killing is religion. In reality it is frustration arising out of a meaningless life.
Do the politicians, commentariat or media pundits care to address the disease called poverty and light up these lives, which are lost in such tragic incidents daily in some corner of the nation? (IPA Service)