The arrests mark a disturbing step in the establishing of a “security state” that has an openly partisan view of law and order. This, even as the air has been fouled by a new ugliness: abusive trolls, pressure on the media, hateful references to minorities (Muslims can go to Pakistan, or ramzade and haramzade) and the rest. Vigilantes can roam the highways lynching people or making a business out of cow protection, and go scot-free; indeed, a minister recently garlanded those arraigned on a lynching charge. Meanwhile, fundamental freedoms are trampled upon in the name of love jihad.
Meanwhile, what of the economy that was supposed to provide us with compensatory benefits? The promise of “good days" (achchhhe din) implied faster economic growth, but any hope of that was vaporised by demonetisation, which unsettled so much and so many in return for precious little. Farmers and small businessmen are unhappy, and possibly traders, too, while ‘Make in India’ and exports have gone nowhere. Those who thought the rupee would climb during Mr Modi’s rule from Rs 60 to Rs 40 as a mark of economic strength, see it has moved the other way to Rs 70 (though that is no bad thing).
The arrests themselves show up Maharashtra’s once competent police as malignant variants of the bumbling Keystone cops. An arrest warrant can’t be produced when demanded. First Information Reports don’t have the name of the person being arrested. Reputed citizens who are to witness a raid, to make sure the cops don’t plant evidence, turn out to be people brought in by the cops themselves.
It’s not just the police. A public prosecutor arguing for custody puts forward outlandish arguments that are not related to the documents produced. And a magistrate who can’t read the language of the documents placed before him passes orders regardless. The media is implicated, too, for TV channels hammer out conspiracy theories based on police leaks that sound like fiction. In an environment of general intolerance, a case involving an actress who winked during a song had to go all the way to the Supreme Court. Rahul Gandhi had better be careful.
Of a piece with current trends is the tendency to criminalise civil action. Any trader caught buying grain at lower than the official procurement price can go to jail, if the Maharashtra government has its way. Ditto for anyone who divorces using triple talaq, though how that would help the injured wife is a mystery. Punjab under Congress rule wants to imitate Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, and terrorist tax laws still exist, while disruptions of the internet are far more in India than in any other country. The truth is that India has jackboot laws legislated by all parties, a state prepared to stomp all over you, and citizens who don’t often realise how easily they can be crushed under both. Only if awareness grows, and we get some homegrown Thomas Paines, can there be hope of some reverse swing.
To read the full story, Subscribe Now at just Rs 249 a month
Already a subscriber? Log in
Subscribe To BS Premium
₹249
Renews automatically
₹1699₹1999
Opt for auto renewal and save Rs. 300 Renews automatically
₹1999
What you get on BS Premium?
-
Unlock 30+ premium stories daily hand-picked by our editors, across devices on browser and app.
-
Pick your 5 favourite companies, get a daily email with all news updates on them.
Full access to our intuitive epaper - clip, save, share articles from any device; newspaper archives from 2006.
Preferential invites to Business Standard events.
Curated newsletters on markets, personal finance, policy & politics, start-ups, technology, and more.
Need More Information - write to us at assist@bsmail.in