Whatever the banal and hackneyed utterances of the political leaders about Indian ethos of tolerance, forgiveness and compassion, India is increasingly becoming a violent nation.
The year just gone by saw more violence than was witnessed in the previous year and there is nothing to give hope that there will be fewer killings in the New Year.
The growing violence should worry the leaders of every political party and those running the administration but they are unable to see that unchecked violence can create more tensions, sharpen divides, cause political instability and unsettle the democratic system.
The rulers are smug in their belief that the promised 10 per cent growth rate is enough of a help for having a good sleep at night. The soporific effect of the Sensex going up makes the decision-makers oblivious of the gunfights on the street.
In a way, the entire society is getting brutalised, small incidents turn into big riots and each riot leaves behind wounds which take a long time to heal. And before a wound begins healing another riot takes place leaving fresh wounds and a trail of bitterness and more tensions. The cycle is vicious.
The responses of the politicians and their nitpicking babus are familiar and insensitive. Transfer the district collector, suspend the local police chief, appoint an inquiry commission which will take years to give its report, only to be put on the shelf. The stencilled orders are routinely issued while the rulers hide themselves behind barbed wires, afraid of the very people who elect them.
No one at the Centre and in the States has the time and inclination to look into the real causes that lead to frequent bouts of violence in one part of the country or another.
The Indian mind is increasingly accepting violence as a way of life. There is so much violence in the country and so frequent that the people now do not get easily shocked at the killings or what they do to the concept of a plural society and tolerance that should guide societal conduct and cement a democratic polity.
The gory scenes that dominate TV screens every day are making people impervious to blood, tears and hatred. Not a riot, but a peaceful day at times makes news.
Violence begins early. If killing the daughter before birth is neither considered a sin nor a crime, why will killing a neighbour be? Individual resort to violence leads to collective bouts of anger and violence.
Nandigram has stirred some souls in Kolkata but all will be soon forgotten with lessons unlearnt. More Nandigrams can take place if not in West Bengal, then elsewhere. The killers will get away as they often do when the rulers are on their side. Those who indulged in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots are yet to be punished. The Gujarat riots culprits are enjoying the freedom to get elected with renewed mandate.
Society is not even rejecting criminals, thugs and the rogues out on the rampage. They are often voted to govern the 21st century India of over a billion people.
The accident of birth and religion, caste and ethnicity define attitudes, place in society, access to education, jobs and the right to live a life of dignity or otherwise. These sharpen the divides and create an atmosphere of intolerance and hatred, and often passions for the politicians to play with. Each riot becomes a political investment by the politicians for capturing power.
Primordial passions still govern the conduct of many. There are rival senas which try to rule the Bihar countryside settling argument at the point of gun. Over 165 districts of the country are under varying degrees of the naxalite menace.
The state governments are just not able to tackle the situation. Every few months, the Central government calls a conference of Chief Ministers or police high-ups in Delhi to work out a coordinated strategy to tackle naxalism. The decisions have no impact on the ground. Raising more forces is always an agreeable remedy, easy to administer and usually ineffective.
While the politicians — and criminals among them — whip up passions for their ends, the administrators, bothered more about saving their own skin, are reluctant to take action against those who take the law into their own hands.
Essentially, the political leaders are too busy in their daily pursuit of power to think of their duty to the nation. Even if they are innocent of playing partisan games, they have no time to ponder as to what leads to anger and outpouring of hatred, to mental divides and intolerance that make the people take to violence.
At the beginning of the New Year, will the politicians make a resolution to work for a more tolerant India, free from tensions and mutual killings? This may look a tall order but it is worth working for an India at peace with itself.
