In an India, where anyone can issue fatwas of all sorts and get away with taking the law in their hands, as they rave and rant, destroy public property, where the authorities mandated to uphold the rules of fair play and enforce the tenets of the Constitution and dispense law and order, simply look away, openly defy their duty and code of conduct — in such an India social degradation and the ensuing chaos continue to damage and mutilate human values, ethics and liberal philosophies. Though the large majority of Indians of all caste, class and faiths, live their personal lives by the rule, they are increasingly compelled to function by illegal means because of the corrupt system of governance.

Much of India’s socio-cultural legacy, in its pristine avatar, lives and flourishes in some countries of the far east, where it is nurtured with love and care and where the people abide by the fundamentals of a Hindu way of life. There is a calm confidence in the people of Bali and a respect for those who belong to other faiths. They are a proud, content people, living peacefully in a Muslim majority nation. The average person longs to visit Varanasi and bring home some Ganga jal for their shrine that resides in the privacy of their homes. Unfortunately, we in India have lost the plot and those who claim to be protectors of the faith are, sadly, busy dismantling its very core. The extreme militancy around us is sacrilegious.

The other divisive reality that has begun to overwhelm us constitute of the unpleasant judgmental positions taken by our courts, the media and government agencies on all societal issues in the public domain that emphasize the rich versus poor syndrome. One example is the Sanjeev Nanda case, where the accused has been convicted and sentenced for his crime. However, the ‘poor’ drivers of the killer Blueline buses that crush men, women and children every day as they hurtle down Delhi’s potholed roads, breaking every rule in the book with the police watching them do so, walk free on bail. When questioned, the authorities claim they cannot do anything to these ‘regular killers’ because the buses are owned by rich and powerful politicians who are immune to the laws of this land!

Loud silence

If true, this is preposterous, and the problem needs to be addressed and corrected. Drivers and owners must be booked. The endorsement by the media, on grounds that the rich are bad citizens and the poor being poor must be ‘forgiven’ for their similar ‘crimes’, is unwarranted and causes huge and acrimonious discrimination. This attitude is not a social leveller but, instead, reinforces the sharp divide that is the primary cause of social anarchy and unrest. Our local administrators work hard at keeping both the rich and the poor alienated from each other, feeding off both like hungry parasites, perpetuating discord. Civil society then begins to crack and fissures allow for streams of poison to invade the public space that the political and administrative classes have destroyed by their abject inaction, by not enforcing the laws honestly and correctly.

Very soon, India will revolt against this tribe of rapacious rulers, as the past has shown. Hopefully, a silent revolution, a shifting of deteriorated values and crooked priorities will take over and restore civility in our lives. Our children deserve better than what we have given them. We have not only been ineffective but equally destructive of our exacting legacy, our cultural pluralism and ethnic diversity.

It is crucial that governments begin to govern, set the standards of proper democratic patterning of society, its needs and aspirations, without discrimination. As a start, the home minister of India, the chief minister of Maharashtra and their orchestras must cease to support the creation of all divisive monsters by their loud silence.