“Did you always thrash your children?” I asked an elderly father.
“Of course not!” he replied indignantly. “I only used my belt when words failed.”
“And how often did words fail?”
“Every Saturday!”
There was a time when many fathers believed that a belt was an educational instrument. The child bent, the belt rose, and wisdom was expected to enter through the backside.
Today, parents are told that children must be corrected with patience, understanding and love. In countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, striking a child can bring serious consequences.
But it seems some of those belt wielding fathers have quietly joined our system of governance.
We watched young protesters being chased, dragged, beaten, lathi charged and blasted with water cannons. These were not enemy soldiers crossing our borders.
They were our own children raising their voices in their own country.
“Who gave the orders?” asks the nation.
Nobody answers.
Orders in our country are strange creatures. They appear fully grown, march into police stations, swing lathis, fire water cannons and then disappear before anyone can ask who fathered them.
But somebody gave those orders.
To every young person who faced that violence, I say, go home and tell your story. Show your bruises to your parents. Tell your grandparents what happened. Tell your uncles, aunts and neighbours. Do not allow the pain to remain trapped inside your body or buried beneath official statements.
Your story must travel from house to house and village to village, because what happened to you is part of a larger pattern.
Force does not always arrive carrying a lathi. Sometimes it comes as a threatening telephone call. Sometimes it wears the uniform of the police. Sometimes it carries an Enforcement Directorate notice or an Income Tax summons. Sometimes it whispers, “Keep quiet, or we will find something against you.”
That too is violence.
India is the world’s largest democracy, but democracy is not merely about standing in a queue and pressing a button every few years. Democracy means being able to question those in power without having your bones broken and your future threatened.
And now, dear parents, the responsibility is yours.
Your children showed courage when they stood before the lathis. Will you show courage when you stand before the ballot box?
If you see their bruises and remain silent, do not call their fearlessness foolishness. Call your silence what it is.
Cowardice.
The children have already spoken with their wounds. Now parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts, speak with your votes and your voices.
Otherwise, same belt that was used on your children, will be used against you, and the whole nation will writhe beneath it…!
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Robert Clements is a newspaper columnist and writes a daily column, which has graced the pages of over 60 newspapers and magazines, from a daily column in the Khaleej Times, Dubai, the Morning Star, London, and in nearly every state in India, from The Statesman in Kolkata, to the Kashmir Times in Kashmir to the Trinity Mirror in Chennai.
Wake up, O citizen
Its time the parents are thrashed. Cowards
When will you guys understand that it’s not ONLY the ballot box that is responsible. Every institution is compromised. These 12 years have had people inserted into the bureaucracy who are unqualified. You speak about the lumpen ass**** who create violence and melt away into the crowd; they have the backing of these same bureaucrats. Army, police, judiciary, media, education all compromised. The youngsters agitation succeeded not because of the CJP, they succeeded because of the irreverence of the youngsters. They took the norms of protest and chuckled it out of the window and did things on their terms. Their leaders were turncoats. This will be seen in time.
All are us aware are that every institution is compromised. But the ballot box is where the Govt. could be changed and only then the investigation could happen and corrupt in the govt. and of every institution could be put behind bars. Institutions can be restored only if the Govt. is changed.
Lets not consider who is wrong. Somewhere someone started it. By someone means somebody from the students agitators. Before this hooliganism spreads, action has to be taken. In a lathi charge they don’t see whether you are a man or woman, not involved or not, injured or not, they just swing the lathi as taught to quell a mob. Head, limb or body, they don’t have the time to ponder. Mr whoever you are try and be one of the mob when violence breaks out. Why didn’t any of the organizers get hurt or injured.
I agree with Bob totally. YES, we must ask the questions, but we should be careful to ask them in the correct order. So before we ask who gave the order for the police lathi charge, or the water cannons etc. we need to ask WHO gave the order to march on Parliament without proper police permissions. WHO invited the nearly 3000 lumpen elements / history sheeters and convicted criminals to join the march? WHO encouraged the students/crowds/hooligans to attack the police and the Journalists, to throw rocks at them and grievously injure more than 150 of our men in uniform? WHO incited the crowds to attempt to breach the parliament’s perimeter and try and enter parliament ? AND , not to forget, WHO inspired and ordered the GenZ activists to hurl the foulest of abuses at our army, police, elected government officials, our PM and our Gods?
Bob observes that orders in our country appear “Fully Grown”. That phenomena my friend is called SOP. Standard Operating Procedure. As part of their training the Police, CRPF, and our armed forces ALL are given training to ACT instinctively and decisively when they feel there is danger to public order, to peace in the country and to our institutions like our Parliament. They are also instructed how their response must escalate in seriousness depending on the developing situation. I was not present , nor do I suspect was Bob, so it would be very difficult for us to judge if the police did right or not. I am sure there will be an enquiry and a proper report published in due course. If there was an excessive use of force by the police then that will be dealt with with the proper punishments. But we must ALSO make sure that no student or political activist or hooligan are spared either – for the violence and chaos that they unleashed. How does attacking police vehicles or hurling rocks at policemen doing their duty serve the student’s cause?
And why does anyone believe that attempting to breech the outer perimeter to the Parliament house should not be considered as a VERY VERY SERIOUS matter of National Security ? We have already suffered an attack on parliament some years ago. What was to stop actual terrorists from mingling with the crowd , reaching Parliament house and setting off some bombs injuring or killing our parliamentarians? What message would that have given to the world?
M.K. Gandhi had shown the way of Non -Violent protest. The students could have taken out a SILENT march, with their hands firmly in their pockets to show that they did not want violence. But the sad part is that the students are an amorphous lot. Not bound together by ideology or agenda, or even any clear leadership . They were supposedly led by the leadership of the CJP who were conspicuously absent from the march. Why? If they wanted they could have kept the tempers low. But could it be that they WANTED the thing to go out of hand? That they WANTED violence to erupt? That they WANTED police to take strong action which they could use to foment more trouble? There are some private WhatsApp messages doing the rounds “hoping” for someone to die , as a requisite step towards more widespread and violent demonstrations to follow.
So my fellow citizens, PLEASE do not swallow the simplest and smoothest narrative that comes forward.
It is great that GenZ is becoming active. It is great that they are raising their voice. But it is important that they learn to do it with dignity and restraint.
To my fellow readers, please do some digging and research and look at the picture from ALL sides before coming to any conclusion.
NO OFFENCE MEANT.
This is what I mean. How can ANYONE justify this kind of behaviour?
If this is our GenZ and our future , then I am quite depressed.
I wish Bob would have said sonething about this behaviour also.
India and the comman man are already writhing under the harsh treatment and injustice of the powers that be. It is, as Bobby says, time to wake up , speak up and be counted.
More than anything else the countrymen and the youngsters need their voices in the wilderness to be heard. Sonam Wangchuk did not have to fast for 20 days and be ignored. Just a word from a person in authority could have assuaged and quelled the situation. Instead the top man was more concerned about his travels round the world. It is the arrogant, san soucie, nonchalant, “don’t care” attitude that escalated the situation out of control. Don’t forget the number of students who committed suicide. Don’t forget, There are videos showing the police violently beating up those youngsters even girls. Again is that ignorable?
The children paid a price further mistakes done by their parents… Wish the parents realize and mend their ways !!!