Murder, rape and loot abound in Delhi — the capital of India — and in its adjoining areas, Noida and Gurgaon. The police in all three places are incompetent, and unable to bring the criminals to book within reasonable time, enforce law and order, ensure protection and safety for the ordinary citizen who pays for their keep by generating wealth. This failure only points to the complete breakdown of honest governance and administration. The police force is busy looking after the personal interests of politicians who have infested Delhi instead of living in their constituencies and delivering the goods and services for their constituents. They race down the capital’s boulevards in fancy cars — usually bought with ill-gotten money — followed by gun-totting cops in white ambassadors, symbol of all that has gone wrong.

VIP duty is a deadly strain of cancer that has enveloped civil society and badly damaged the rule of law in our nation, particularly in the capital. The arrogance of the protector, and the people he protects, is fast becoming an anathema to the citizenry. Nowhere in the world does one come across such embarrassing trappings of high office. The overriding hypocrisy of our leadership slaps one in the face each morning, throughout the day, till one falls into a slumber, having experienced a part of the horror of this wrong way of living.

Properties that belong to the state and not to the leaders, that only house them for the time they are in government service, are mutilated to suit their individual tastes, styles and palates. Additions are made to accommodate all and sundry, quarters are rented out, and this free-for-all carnival continues unabated under the very nose of the Central government and its law enforcement officers.

Diseased tree

This is corruption — corruption of those mandated to enforce the law of this land with honesty and integrity. Criminals get away with their crimes, as do rapists, extortionists, blackmailers and suchlike. Those who raise their voice against this convergence of criminals are harassed by the acts within the law that absolve you only after you have proved yourself ‘not guilty’ before an authority that manipulates the law and destroys your life if you fight for the right. Most thus find it easier to indulge in wrong and to internalize their horror of state (in)action.

Since the guilty are protected, they put on a mask of innocence and ask for more laws and stringent acts. Why do they not ensure the clean, honest and unwavering enforcement of the existing laws? Surely that is the job of the elected representative? By asking for more laws, they are deferring any possible solution to the problem, absolving the corrupt delivery system they preside upon of blame, and trying to create more areas for manipulation, extortion and therefore, corruption. Cleansing the system would require an honest, upright individual who would turn the status quo upside down and would be ready to give up the chair in the process. The tragedy in India is that life in the ‘bungalow city’ that Lutyens built is far too comfortable and easy and none of the incumbents want to vacate that ivory tower. Greed and a perverse ambition mark these men and women.

Delhi today represents the decline of all that we once upon a time believed to be ethical or correct. The manner in which the parliament functions points to an assault on democracy that is far more serious than a physical attack. The law enforcement machinery, as it exists today, shows the citizens how it should never be. The men and women responsible for this devastation see it for what it is but they have filled their tummies with the fruits of a diseased tree, which is about to crumble and fall, burying them.