It is really sad that federal blackmail should prevail over a State ‘ s prerogative. I can see eager critics jumping at the opportunity to quiz me if I think it is the State ‘ s prerogative to pull out an old Tamil scholar from his bed at ungodly hours. Though the wisdom of the police burning mid-night oil looks eminently questionable, their crime, according to me ends there, as far as the issue as it is burning today, is concerned.
My point in the last three days has been that the rest of melee was not wholly of the police ‘ s making as it had been projected in a blatantly one-sided presentation by the only media that had access to the event as it happened. If anything, the fracas started only after the advent of an aggressive Maran, uptil which, Karunanidhi and his family members were actually all smiles and geniality.
I am not sure if they could be videographed in such humorous moods had the police broken their way in and dragged him out of bed as originally insinuated by the Sun TV. If there was high handedness in that room and then after the arrest, it did not emanate from the cops alone as is made out and the DMK politicos too made a liberal contribution to the general level of frayed tempers. In fact, the cops appeared more on the defensive against the fiery fisty onslaught of the two union ministers and seemed completely unprepared for the prospect of Tata Safaris ramming into them.
The Centre has demanded stringent action against the ‘erring’ officials even while issuing a stern warning to the State government to mend its ways. But such lofty rhetoric flies in the face of the Centre’s own inability to chastise its fellow constituents namely the two cabinet ministers.
Do not these two men owe an explanation if not to the nation at least to the NDA or the cabinet on why they chose to behave the way they did? Being rational men with level heads and vested with the constitutional duty of presiding over the fate of the nation from their respective ministries, how could these men lose their cool and precipitate brawls, whatever the provocation?
Why has the union cabinet not sent a show cause notice to these ministers as it did to the State government? It is obvious that, had the police tapes not surfaced the episode would have culminated in Art 356. That it did not happen, much to the chagrin of the co-borns here was because of the realisation in the Capital that the role of the two ministers was not above board. But does not fairness demand that there is also a public rebuke of them so that the scales are even?
Police high-handedness, though a deplorable reality of modern times, is a double edged weapon. Before jumping into conclusions of brutish behaviour by the police it is also imperative that one sees against whom it is targetted, what was the role of the party on the other side and what were the provocations.
Over the years, and not without reason, the police have acquired a reputation for brutality and, in the people ‘ s perception, such behaviour is normally assumed unless proved otherwise. But here is where one has to exercise caution. When the spat is between the police and the public, one can be forgiven for making such assumptions, for the simple reason that the latter are defenceless, even if they are guilty of lawlessness. The common man who is at the receiving end of a police baton does not normaly hit back.
But can we come to the same judgement when the quarrel is between a policeman and a politician? I for one believe that when the latter is involved, the former deserves some benefit of doubt and one has to be circumspect before delivering a verdict. The politicos of the day have much greater potential for notoriety than any known tribe in the land and while the police can lay claim to brawn, the politicians have ‘superior’ brains too.
These slimy men can easily turn the tables on the unsuspecting cops and make good their escape under the camouflage of police atrocities, which the people will believe readily given their own contempt for the uniform. Why, the political offenders may even emerge as heroes and martyrs. Torn dhotis would be flashed on newspapers and TV screens as tell tale symbols of State violence, because they belong to men in power.
But what about the faceless khakis that got shredded? Well, they are for the cleaners.