What Bernard Shaw said about Sydney Webb- that he was a good man fallen among Fabians- may be said about Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well. He seems to be a good man fallen among Hindutva standard bearers. Speaking two days after the widespread violence in Haryana and other states following the conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim for rape, Modi has said that violence in the name of faith would not be tolerated and law breakers would be punished. It makes no difference what political ideology one subscribes to or whether it is allegiance to a person or customs and traditions. The Prime Minister has made it clear that state satraps should be brought into a uniform code of conduct. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has already been under fire for not taking prompt action. The Haryana and Punjab High Court has already indicted Khattar’s government severely. It was considered political surrender just to allure the vote bank. The BJP leadership was at pains to defend Khattar and praise prompt action taken by him against violence. That was preposterous. Passing the buck to the army and the paramilitaries does not do. The police under political pressure sit idle.
Modi has made it clear that no one has the right to take the law into one’s own hands in the name of one’s beliefs. He added that everyone had to bow before the law. The law will fix the accountability of Ram Rahim. On Monday the Haryana High Court has sentenced him to seven years imprisonment for rape. It is a sad commentary on India’s secularism that the army intelligence had red flagged the possibility of Ram Rahim’s followers being provided weapons at the time the court delivered its sentence, but that these warnings were willfully ignored.