At the drop of a hat a crowd can be collected in India. Once that crowd goes beyond a critical size, violence and destruction of public property are routine happenings. There is a degree of permissiveness that has imbued our law enforcement culture in respect of such defiance of public order. For politicians of most parties, calling for bandhs and rallies with inevitable violence has become an inherent part of their political culture to demonstrate their power to inflict loss of lives and damage to public property.
Such disruptions, from Parliament to the streets, are projected as indications of the political machismo of the parties. In that sense, India, as Gunnar Myrdahl termed it fifty years ago, is a soft state. Therefore large crowds and destruction of public property and casualties in police firings should not be allowed to influence our long term perceptions at this stage of the political development and constitutional evolution of this country.
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4:30 AM
Moderate Islamist here
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