Mood:
hungryNow Playing: Can Modi be held culpable for fake encounters?
Topic: The politics of encounter
When the plea for CBI investigation into the fake encounter case in Gujarat was dismissed by the Supreme Court on Thursday several records were set straight. First, politicising the issue does not help matters. When you listen to the political pundits, mostly who are avowed secularists, you start wondering why in all the other states where there are rampant police excesses no one finds the chief minister of the respective states culpable. Have you heard the names of the Maharashtra chief ministers or the Punjab chief ministers, even in the passing, when fake encounters are brought to light?
And in states like Kerala where police's mainstay remains elimination of political adversaries of the Left, some even from the affiliated organisations who don't toe the party line, it is best left to discussions at the village tea shop. It is like comparing Gujarat riots with Marad killings. As the joke in Ahmedabad is that even the earthquake and the cyclone in Gujarat have been promptly attributed to Narendra Modi. But beyond the humour, there is another image that is being created by the Congress and the Left. That all this terrorist threat to Modi is bunkum. Can one even comprehend the security enhancements which have taken place in the US and the UK after September 11, especially for the political class.
The logic behind high security given to politicians in power is that they have to take tough decisions in relation to national security which increases security threats against them, hence it is incumbent to protect them. One former election commissioner in India has been naïve enough to be qouted as saying people who want security cover should refrain from pursuing political career. That is to suggest that only people who have suicidal tendencies must join politics. Thankfully the public opinion in this country has not been so unsophisticated to buy that argument. People don't cavil the security provided to politicians like Bal Thackeray, Modi or even Mayawati as their role in politics has been to call a spade a spade, just as take stringent measures to curb terrorism.
Another strange fact that keep bobbing up is that another shoot-out and killing of terrorists in Mumbai by Gujarat police is now being given a colour of fake encounter. This refers to Israt Jahaan, a college student and resident of Mumbra, some 50 km away from Mumbai. Though it was conclusively proved that Jahaan was an accomplise to her terrorist boy-friend, the secular parties are busy working on giving the pack of four terrorists who were planning to eliminate Modi, a resurrection.
Posted by Anil Nair
at 8:49 AM
Updated: Sunday, 22 July 2007 6:56 PM
