On the Delhi gangrape case

On the Delhi gangrape case

As the victim of the gangrape has now been laid to rest there are many things that come to my mind about how the government bungled. First of all it seems to have absolutely no idea on how to handle flash mobs. This was evident from the Anna Hazare fast. But surprisingly no one in power thought of putting together a team to find a resolution on how to combat flash mobs.

In case of the people coming on streets to show solidarity to the gang rape victim as well as express frustration on the government’s ineptness, there was no one in the ruling class willing to come forward to address the crowd. It was surprising to see the ruling class’s complete disengagement with people’s concerns. The government thought it could sabotage these protests the way killed the Anna Hazare agitation. They failed to understand that the common man who was earlier a bystander is now ready to come on the streets and is ready take a beating to effect change in this country.  The police action only further alienated the people in power as being rulers instead of being leaders. The series of gaffe’s by the rulers –

• Sushilkumar Shinde equating the agitators with Maoists
• The Prime Ministers “Theek Hai” moment
• The Presidents son’s remark about “dented and painted women”
• Kakoli Ghosh’s (TMC) insensitive remark on the Park Street rape victim
• Another Andhra politicos equally insensitive remark
• The Communist MLA’s offensive and disgusting remark about Mamata

The list goes on with more insensitive comments from the ruling elite. So it should not come as a surprise when Pratibha Patil in her term as a President gave record number of clemencies to criminals accused of raping, robbery and murder. Check this link

The so called young leaders in the Parliament and others failed to respond to the occasion in dealing with public wrath. None of those “young” leaders from all parties -  be it Akhilesh from SP, Rahul, Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya or Deora from the Congress – came forward. Everyone chose to remain away from the media. The mark of leadership lies in how one deals with adverse situations. The ruling party failed to grab this opportunity to bring forward their youth icon – the one waiting to be crowned king. In Delhi where the majority of the protesters were college students and young people, he simply missed that moment where he could have connected with the agitators. Or probably that he chose to be behind the scenes gave a completely different meaning to all that was happening. For us the common citizens it looked as though he and his party seniors are either clueless on tackling the situation or they are apathetic about it. The only response that came from his office was a statement mourning the death of the gang-rape victim a fortnight after she was hospitalized.

Sociologist Dipankar Gupta says in the ET “Rahul has lost an opportunity. (But) so have the President of India, Sonia Gandhi, and the prime minister. That is because they have barricaded themselves and the government has again and again shown haughtiness and callousness in dealing with these non-party agitations.”

Yogendra Yadav made an equally telling comment,” …. that so-called young politicians are out of touch with what the country wants. These people whom we call young are just biologically young. They are dynastic successors and are more disconnected than their parents were. The problem is in our expectations. Why do we expect them to connect?” 

Does the party think that they are isolated from the common man? The government behaved as though they were not sure who should take the blame – the state government or the central government. Don’t they know that they control instruments of physical power and have the steering. In a sensible and matured democracy, response should be to sincerely address the problem, discuss earnestly why it happened and take purposeful steps to prevent such things from happening. That’s how politicians are supposed to react and demonstrate their intent. It was with anguish and heartfelt hurt that the agitators held up banners saying, “Rape allowed but protest against rape not allowed in the world’s biggest democracy”. It is appaling that since the Anna Hazare stir India’s ruling elite has become so very used to certain unapologetic clampdown on dissent.

It is high time that all political parties accept the situation that today’s youth (And India’s half population is below 30) is not foolish or uninformed. They are aware of what they want and are not afraid to express their displeasure. These are the kids born in post Independence era in a liberalized economy. To quote Amitabh’s dialogue from Agnipath,”दिनकरराव, हवा तेज़ बह रही है, टोपी संभालो.”