Crossing the line

The reported reprimand by the Uttar Pradesh DGP for Meerut’s SP (City) over his communal remarks and counsel to ‘say nothing (in future) which hurts the sentiments of a community; we have to respect the Constitution’ is not enough. Whatever the provocation and however trying the situation, a line has been crossed. A strong message needs to be sent to the rank and file, not only in the state, but across the country, on what is simply not acceptable. For an officer entrusted with maintaining law and order, particularly in a communally surcharged atmosphere (unleashed by the new citizenship law in this case), the responsibility increases manifold.

The video of the officer, in riot gear, purportedly asking members of the Muslim community to go to Pakistan, is damaging not only for what’s being said, but also the mindset being conveyed. To his credit, Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi did not mince words in demanding action and reminding the police that their job was to maintain peace and not provoke. ‘Indian Muslims,’ he said, while speaking in favour of CAA, ‘chose the country out of commitment, not compulsion’. Following an outcry, all sorts of explanations have come forth in defence of the officer, with UP’s Deputy CM leading the charge. The SP, according to him, ‘did not say it for all Muslims, but probably to those raising pro-Pakistan slogans while pelting stones’. The officer, on his part, reasoned that his reaction was a counter to pro-Pakistan statements by anti-social elements/rioters.

The circumstances were different, the context far removed. But an editorial carried in The Tribune on June 16, 1939, seems as relevant today. ‘A Government whose servants think of themselves primarily and principally not as citizens but as Hindus, or Muslims, or Christians is, indeed, a Government that is doomed to utter and irretrievable failure.’ It does call for serious introspection, and action.