Crime Today News
As I have argued in the past the politician’s capacity to work in the national interest or according to his conscience, is seriously compromised by the fact that democracy is a game of numbers and in order to win the next election he has to cater to the populist demands of his vote bank, even if he were to be otherwise disinclined. Therefore, politicians do it because they (incorrectly) think they have to, and that suits them and their parties.
However, while judges are free from this limiting factor and are more likely to decide correctly rather than take decisions that would please the constituents of the parliamentarians who pass the legislation, the country has seen judgements that have drawn the astonished responses of citizens, activists, well-informed opinion makers, judicial luminaries and academicians, including even retired judges of the Supreme Court itself: Babri Masjid, Art. 370, Electoral Bonds… Where does the citizen then find himself? To quote a cliche phrase, “Between the devil and the deep sea.”
Parliamentarians and Constitutional functionaries must understand, as civil society does, that nationalism is not a substitute for patriotism and that the powerless marginalised citizen is not the enemy, whatever colours the so-called bought-over or cowed down mainstream media may paint him as. Neither is the judge who upholds Constitutional values.
The Pahalgam terrorist attack saw accusations against Muslims flood social (?) media: “It’s in their book,” “It’s their handiwork,” “Traitors,” etc. and “What was their religion?” However, if we search the net for recorded espionage cases, where Indians turned traitor to their country and were convicted, alongside a Mukim Siddiqui, a Mohammed Raees, an Armaan Ali, a Mohammed Fareed, a Sirajuddin Ali Fakir, a Mohammed Ayub, a Naushad Ali and a Mohammed Salman Siddiqui, we find a Ravi Prakash Meena, a Narayan Lal Gadri, a Kuldeep Singh Shakhawat, a Satyanarayan Paliwal, a Nishant Agarwal, a Noshir Gawadia and a Labhshankar Maheshwari. Is the religion of perpetrators, Islam or Hinduism, to blame, or, religion irrelevant, the real culprit is their absence of moral values and patriotism, their inability to differentiate between right and wrong, between good and evil, perhaps their upbringing, or greed, a desire to live lavish lives beyond their means?
Confusion or deliberate distortion?
Also, if terrorists come from Pakistan, where 96%-97% people are Muslims, most certainly they would be “Muslims” by identity. However, when the Chinese encroached into Arunachal, China did it, not the Buddhists. When an Iranian official was assassinated, Israel did it, not Jews. When Britain attacked the Falkland Islands, the British did it, not Christians. Who colonised India? Christians? No, the British. Similarly, now, Pakistan did it, not Muslims. Logic must prevail over illogical, convenient accusations of political expediency.
At times of crisis, people can become emotional and lash out, but the media must exercise restraint, have a sense of balance, build cohesion, not drive wedges creating or aggravating disharmony between segments of the population. The lady whose husband became a martyr, demands death for the perpetrators. So does every Indian. Authorities are investigating attack links with a Rs. 21,000-crore drug haul from Gujarat. India merely suspended the Indus Water Treaty, and Pakistan called it an ‘Act of War’. That’s not war: that’s just the beginning, but stand by for what is bound to happen.
Anyone committing such acts, from across the border or within, will see responses, learn lesson after harsh lesson. Death must visit their homes as well. NIA will investigate, RAW and IB will have sources that will reveal who, how, with whose help, and there can be no escape for the perpetrators, who can and will be brought back from across the oceans, to face justice. Since they came from across the border, the political establishment and the military know what to do, and will doubtless do it with telling effect. The real enemy outside the border badly needs to be tackled there. If it finds support inside our borders, that traitorous support will be identified, found and neutralised. National security must always have top priority.
So, the concerned citizen, waits… for the pendulum to swing back, to return to a state of constitutional equilibrium, restoring citizens’ rights, reversing harmful monochromic trends, correcting aberrations, heralding hope for the future. The citizen needs the Legislature and the judiciary to work as a team upholding Constitutional values, not the one working at cross purposes making it necessary for the other, the judiciary, to reluctantly adopt the role of a restraining mechanism, a “Constitutional sentinel”, for filtering out overzealous ill-conceived legislation, passed ostensibly with laudable stated objectives but calculated to deliver other ulterior ones.
A fractured nation
“Beware the Ides of March!” wrote Shakespeare. Beware the tides of elections, say citizens. Votes reveal who voters are made to think of as “the enemy”, and the possibility cannot be negated that to nudge votes this way or that, either populist announcements are made or a convenient enemy manufactured. A fractured population cannot build or become a strong nation. We must unite, and show the enemy we are smarter, more powerful, and more resolute.
Any segment of society, Hindu or Muslim, can be made to believe the other is an enemy, but when all the lies have fallen away, all segments are generally victims of highly complex international political machinations.
Time will reveal who the real enemy is within.
Jai Hind.
Concluded
📰 Crime Today News is proudly sponsored by DRYFRUIT & CO – A Brand by eFabby Global LLC
Design & Developed by Yes Mom Hosting
