Shiban Khaibri
Sahir Ludhianvi, a noted Urdu poet and Hindi lyricist, way back in 1957 had written:- “Jinhen naz hai Hind par, who kahan hain, kahan hain, Kahan hain….?” What we desperately watch these days happening in our country is touching the issue of the need of an effective leadership, the one which is politically and administratively responsive, where the security and the welfare of the people are not held hostage to petty political equations and considerations. While we boast of our country having been a light house of highest values, moral, spiritual and ethical; wherefrom the message of peace, and non violence coupled with learning of high order spread beyond its boundaries, at the same time, we feel ashamed of the levels of decay and degeneration we are heading towards, day in and day out. Where have gone those who boast of being Indians and take pride in Indian values? Where have those values gone, looking to the veracity and heterogeneity of the levels of increasing crimes taking place in the country? We cannot always measure the progress of our society in terms of economic prosperity, if worth any name. We seem to have cumulatively regressed instead of having progressed. If economic prosperity and development were the real criteria, then a lad of just 20 would have not entered a school and shot dead 21 tiny tots a few days back in an American town.
Does violence against women not continue to take place in homes, on the streets, in vehicles, in work places etc; whether it is day or night, peace or conflict in our country which should stir our conscience to do something to effectively contain it? The gruesome incident of rape and predatory committed against an innocent young woman on Dec 16 in a moving bus in Delhi which was to take her home safely, is a grotesque face of what are we reduced to and this face is staring back at those who are elected to rule this country. When the incident was brought into the notice of the Chief Minister Sheila Dixit , she is reported to have told the petitioners,” Meet the Police Commissioner.” The Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh , Vir Bhadar Singh was asked on 20th instant after Congress won 10 seats more than the BJP in the Assembly elections as to what was his first priority on assuming office, he said,” I , first of all, want to get two long brooms to cleanse the dirt of the out going government.” The Prime Minister broke his silence after a week and unfortunately took cover of “I too have three daughters”. So had the Home Minister and his deputy also already said that they too had three daughters each? Is it not again a crude joke with the Aam Aadmi as VIPs’ daughters move around under fool proof security and protection? The cry is loud and clear, “Care for others’ daughters as well.” Is it not a fact that on an average, there are three policemen for providing “security” for each VIP, not to speak of VVIPs, while for as many as 784 citizens, there is one police man? Is police force meant mainly for VIPs and not for citizens? Can governments ever behave in vengeance against those who criticize its functioning the way security provided to ex Chief of our army Gen. V.K.Singh was withdrawn? Why not against the politicians? Let it be percolated down into their minds that joining politics cannot and should not always be taken as coziest of professions where honour, dignity, prestige, money, power and police security at the expense of the common citizen can be an inalienable part of the “joining politics package”. Climate in the country is changing though slowly and the writing on the wall needs not only to be read but understood in substance as well.
If due to obstinate behavior of the government in not passing the Lok Pal bill and the resultant Lok Pal agitation virtually failing and disheartening the people, perhaps the nation, especially the youth, would have not plunged into the type of anger which we are seeing now against this shameful incident. Why did the youth face of the Congress – Rahul Gandhi, whom many “stalwarts “and non stalwarts in the party want to project as the future Prime Minister of the country, not show solidarity and practical sympathy with the agitating youth in Delhi and else where? The cry to free police force from the clutches of the executive has not apparently been heard so far, also the view that there is too much of political interference in the professional functioning of the police force is not without substance. The need to go in for effective police reforms and the report on it gathering dust since 1978 is shaking the confidence of the Aam Admi in the leaders of the country. Though there is also a good number of honest, able, hard working and sincere leaders in all political parties but how many accused (if not convicted) of violence against women, extortions , land grabbing, corruption and other crimes are there in our legislatures? Why not a special treatment for political leaders here also in that, as against “innocent till proved guilty” for common people, there should be the legal maxim of “guilty till proved innocent” for our politicians. When our law makers can sit overtime and pass the bill within a record three days in respect of enhancement of salaries and allowances, why can’t they show similar solidarity in matters of violence against women, female infanticide, rising crime, adulteration in essential items of daily consumption, corruption and other malaise affecting our societies and the nation?
Every agitating person almost chants death sentence for rapists, even advocating for castration but is there a unanimous acceptability of the proposed punishments and amending or making laws to that effect? Just a look at what Indian women organizations themselves say, proves on the contrary. Dozens of such organizations, human rights groups and even scores of noted social and political activists from across the country, are strictly opposing death penalty for it being “neither a deterrent nor an effective or an ethical response to such acts”. They counter the stereotype claim that rape is worst than death that can happen to a woman. They say that “rape is a tool of patriarchy, an act of violence and has got nothing to do with morality, character or behaviour.” A general considered view is that there are enough laws to deal with this type of brutal offence in the country but they need to be ruthlessly enforced, coupled “with the recognition of a variety of sexual crimes in a gradation”. It is also argued that “as long as we have a low conviction rate, the severity of the punishment won’t matter; the question of punishment arises only after conviction.”
We have been watching post horrendous incidence agitations, anger and concern of thousands of people, non stop debates and discussions on TV Channels etc; now for the last nearly two weeks with demands of removing Police Chief of Delhi, hanging the rapists, making rape an offence of rarest of rare category calling for death sentence and host of other remedial measures and very rightly so. None, however, seems to address the issue from the angle of preventive measures also, the negative impact of large number of modern movies advocating violence, projecting a woman as an entertaining object coupled with cheap and obscene dance items exhibiting nudity, eroticism and vulgarity; the low standard of lyrics and songs etc; all contributing to fuel the sick mindset of a prospective rapist. Why don’t women organizations protest against ads like “two ways of ladki patana”? What are innuendoes like “patana” mean? Why do we not rue the decay, if not the demise of moral values in the society which are found missing in such criminals as their parents and rather their teachers did not bother to equip them with, so that they could treat a woman as a respectable soul and not merely an object of satisfying animal lust like a savage predator? We are turning to be mere hypocrites in celebrating Nov 25 every year in the honour of a woman exactly the way we do on Oct 2 to remember the father of our nation each year but forget to follow pledges and promises with concrete action. Again in the words of Sahir;-“Zara mulk ke rahbarun ko bulao…………Kahan hain muhafiz-e- khudi ke, jinhen naz hai Hind par, Who Kahan hain, kahan hain, kahan hain?
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