Cloudbursts, Rapes, Abuse, Peace in Ukraine and Harmony at Home

Apathy, pure and simple!

Cloudbursts can’t be stopped but casualties and resulting havoc can be minimised. Speedy help can be ensured to be there in place just in time when lives matter.

Every time we regularise unauthorised construction or colonies, when we decide to extend the so-called basic needs like electricity and drinking water, never is the construction itself tested for quality which it had never adhered to, in the first place, not having been subjected to any building norms. Are we always brushing aside the root issue? Are we only cementing tragedies, promoting cosmetic surgeries, to become unmitigated disasters in the future. All the constructions along river banks, elsewhere, in numerous developments even in urban landscapes, there are tragedies waiting to be knocked on their doors, in times of excessive rains and other natural catastrophe. In every JJ colony, in numerous 1000 plus colonies either regularised or waiting to be regularised before every next assembly election. It is the same old story, glossing over an unholy nexus where we have first provided illegal shelter and then converted them into a vote bank. The underbelly is always overlooked, ignored, all to our own peril, to come knocking back again and again. Witness the horrific disaster in Wayanad, the rivers overflowing in Uttarakhand, and elsewhere. We need a reality check, that when we extend our resources in grants, we not just regularise, make them legal, but also test the construction for quality, insist they build plinth upwards. Many of the illegal constructions, so many of these houses that get periodically washed away, do not have even a basic concrete foundation.

The coaching centre tragedy in New Delhi’s South Extension resulting in the loss of three precious lives put the spotlight on where it mattered least - libraries in the basement! How is an architect’s office any better in the basement? How is a doctor’s clinic any safer in the basement? The coaching centre or the use of the basement beyond storage, that is the main issue? It never got highlighted. It became the normal blame game. What is worse is that the driver of the speeding car that splashed water, got arrested! The police might well have caught the cascading waters and produced it as witness. Whichever party is in power is immaterial, the nexus is common. So, to divert attention from how we work together, we start calling each other names. It’s the best foot forward to pull the wool over the eyes of a gullible public. The crisis gets blown over, forgotten, only to be raised the next time.

Justice delayed and denied: a Double Rape

The Horrific rape and organised violence thereafter in the Kolkatta medical college brought another dimension, yet again. Rapes, however terrible and dastardly, are signs of a sick mind, a rapacious breed of men who can think no better, most avoidable but always lurking behind every other corner in our society. To be signalled out for exemplary punishment, to be taught a lesson in the quickest and equally rapacious manner, to be called out as the guilty and made an example. But what we have seen is just the contrary, days pass by, with no quick justice meted out. We jump to bigger conclusions to suggest it’s a breakdown of law and order, when it has little to do with policing, except when we try hiding the truth from the public. There are demands that medical profession must get security and protection. Indeed, they must, as must also all other women who go out to work, the majority of them for a living, to keep their households going. It is not just one profession, but the ‘woman’ in our society, must get her due. It is not just ‘beti bachao’, but all of womankind!

What can one do about rape? Can you wish it away? Much that we would like to, such acts of brazen display of male dominance, brutality, inhumanity will inevitably come our way. What is important is that such acts do not get the protection of law; justice denied/delayed is justice breached. Acts of hostility, brazen misconduct in public from men in public life, cannot be given a simple ‘political’ whitewash. What has more irked the millions is the manner in which justice took time to unravel. There were repeated attempts, it appears from the press, to look the other side, or give chance to facts to escape. Not to forget the recent protests from female wrestlers about misconduct from their own federation chair – he was removed only for his family to take over, such is the sway political heavyweights have upon our system. This is rape of a bigger order, first the young unfortunate girl, and the rape of ‘law and order’ itself.

In the Kolkatta case, every attempt was made to hide the facts, it has been confusion worse confounded. So much so, we are at a loss to understand if this was an act of simple lust, or some pre-meditated murder that was meant to look like rape? Was the young doctor privy to more than she should have known? Was this a bigger plot, that only a Sherlock Holmes can unravel?

Every life matters, rich or poor, male or female, regardless of age and status in life. We remain selective. We do not have a common understanding of how to evaluate lives! Recall the tunnel tragedy when the nation awaited with bated breath for the coal miners to be extricated from inside the tunnel. Every national resource was ploughed into action, experts were summoned from overseas. Fortunately for us, indeed, the rescue was successful. As a nation we were committed to being there for all, saving lives. We need a similar line of thought to track the bigger picture, it is critical to get down to the root of the malaises that bring down the values in our society.

Mollywood Heads begin to Roll:

Disrespect to the woman is rolling out in another story in the south. Justice Hema Committee report has roiled the entire film community, there is no saying who is not involved. Rampant sexual misconduct in the Malayalam film industry, where several actors have come forward to narrate and share instances of alleged sexual abuse at the hands of their industry fraternity. It is basically trading sexual favours for being giving favours for roles, etc, where the entire 17-member body of the Malayalam Movie Artistes Association have resigned, including their president and superstar, Mohanlal. The Hema Committee report stated that there is a powerful lobby at work, there were serious allegations at many of the office bearers, some heads will roll. Or, will this too get glossed over in time, as passions abate, and counter charges get hurled against charges, till confusion and lack of clarity prevail. There is no saying, how much sleaze is there on the casting couch, it has always been there. Often, do women also find it the quicker route to success?

The Supreme Court is Supreme: No Compromises

That the final recourse for justice is the judiciary is a given. That the Supreme Court is the final authority to ensure justice is also a given. We need to start with the lower courts, first. That justice when denied, leads to cases going up for redressal. Justice must be fair, quick and transparent. The less arbitrary, the better. Very often it does not meet with expectations, either in the lower courts, or at the very top. While the learned judges can be quick to post speedy judgements, in one set of cases, they are slow and evasive in others. What we get instead is mouthful of platitudes. All for Justice: Justice for All. How can we transparently follow this dictum, is the moot question. One cardinal attribute of a ‘Viksit Bharat’ is that no one, yes no one, is above the law! And, that the law is the same for one and all.

Neighbouring Bangladesh: The Inevitable ‘fall’ guy

Meanwhile, the shifting sands have spread across borders to our neighbours where all of a sudden, a swift takeover, an overthrow, was inspired by a student agitation in neighbouring Bangladesh. Undoubtedly, the pot was simmering for some time, it did not come to boil overnight. So much so, the incumbent prime minister flew at less than an hour’s notice. Best guess would be there was already in place some well-researched plan, waiting for the right moment, when things can be made to pass. The ruling dispensation seemed unaware of the damage they had been causing upon themselves, so oblivious and far removed they had become to the ground reality. So, when the students went on strike, as the agitation moved ahead, the all-too-sudden, just happened. Within a matter of days, the strictures on Yunus, the much-revered figure among the average Bangladeshi, were removed and he was flown into Dhaka to take over charge of an interim government. A non-political, non-partisan government took over, including representations from the student community. Much hope rests in the country on the veteran shoulders of Mohammed Yunus – he has excelled in governance and public affairs and is said to have strong connections with the global stage, including the likes of influential Hillary Clinton, among others.

With Shiekh Hasina in Delhi, there is no escaping the fact that her continued stay will continue to rile the average Bangladeshi. India will again appear the ‘fall’ guy in the neighbourhood – our support for the Sheikh Mujibar Rehman and his family, is historical and understandable; the young man on the streets of Dhaka, however, has little memory of their liberation struggle, much like the average young man in the streets of New Delhi, of our own struggle for freedom. Like in our case, very often, we tend to attribute unsettling events to foreign powers. In the case of our neighbours, such a foreign power is often an unfortunate India, regardless of reason and right. So, a flooding of the rivers in Tripura can also be attributed to ‘revenge’ from the Indian side. A natural calamity that nobody can be blamed for, but when passions are high, few have patience to stick to rationale. So, India and Indians have will have to live with this ever-possible possibility. That we will be blamed for every other ill that happens in their country. Like the elder brother syndrome in a joint family, which we indeed are, as close South Asian neighbours with commonly shared roots.

Playing the Peace Maker, is India’s Task cut out?

Is PM Modi heading for a new role? That of an effective peacemaker. With almost back-to-back meetings, first with President Putin and then soon after with Zelenskyy, followed with telephone calls to President Biden and then Putin, could there be peace on hand, after all. It is early days yet, but that India’s repeated stance to stay neutral, to be guided by our own strategic interests, fairly and transparently, is giving us that elbow room for both parties to respect us and listen to us. When PM Modi says that this is not the time for war to find solutions, he is echoing a global sentiment that fears war. Is Ukraine only interested in our not buying Russian oil? Are the stakes in Europe beyond Indian understanding and outreach? Only time will tell. It was only under Modi’s leadership that a consensus communique was issued after the G20 summit last year. Those connections and successes can now be followed with further successes on the global peace front, where, too, many of the stage actors are common.

Will this equally power us to find peaceful solutions, in preference to wars, within our own sub-region, and equally more within our country.

Time to Peace at Home as well, find Common Ground, Not Disrupt

That seems the best solution going forward. Consensus driven policies, especially those that stand in national interest, must be above and beyond debate, beyond compromise, beyond public rattling. When events took a sudden turn in Bangladesh, senior Congress leader, Salman Khurshid, said we should not be caught off guard, sudden twists in public discourse can happen elsewhere, also in India. Uttar Pradesh CM, Yogi Adityanath, said something similar, warning people to stay on guard, as divisive forces are always on the lookout to create dissent.

As a policy, for some time, should we take rest from more ‘reforms’ that have the potential to disrupt our social fabric, howsoever strong it may be. Maintain status quo, no need to rake up new issues. Like a sabbatical, perhaps. Instead, look for ideas and solutions that bring our commonality, find common course.

When we look around, global unrest, divisive and ever hostile forces are at work; there is a bigger need for a counter narrative at the national level. A narrative that binds us strongly as a nation and people with shared beliefs and values.