By Aditya Aamir
They do duplicity as part of their job description. That’s what people have begun to believe of the police in strife-country Kerala. People can do nothing other than to resort to foul language, which comes easy to those who feel cheated and betrayed. The choice spectrum is limited. So, they stormed the border, what are you going to do? The change agent is not welcome because the change being pushed through is not welcome.
And look at to what extent the change-agents will go. The latest is the proposal to introduce an identity-card for Ayyappa devotees. The harebrained idea of the Travancore Devaswom Board is actually being discussed. It will not be possible this year, but the proposal is being given urgent thought as if life depends on accomplishment, clearly another move to push through the backdoor controls to contain the flow of the right-sort of ‘Ayyappans’ into Sabarimala.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is a control freak. The Marxist template perfected by Lenin and Stalin in Soviet Russia, a glimpse of which Malayalis are getting used to and are wary of. Ironically, Malayalis were the first Indians to usher in a communist government. Now, they are getting paid back, with compound interest, for doing the favour.
Whoever would have thought destroying a belief system based on a principle that harms no one will be seen as progressive? The hyperbolic surrounding the total transformation of Sabarimala pinned to ‘Navothana’ is loud, dismissive and absolutely monstrous. Seems like Pinarayi Vijayan is running short on patience. The controls he has introduced at Sabarimala confounding, to say the least.
So much so, laws have been twisted and “vengeful” is good behaviour, accepted statecraft. There are lessons from Sabarimala. And Indians better take them seriously. The common citizen. Political parties. Activists/party workers. Police behaviour affects everybody. The deliberate mutating of Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, for instance.
And the use of CCTV footage to identify and trace alleged violators and rioters right to their homes, basically opponents of the ruling regime. Today, it could be those of the CPM; tomorrow those of the Congress and the day after those of the BJP. Non-bailable charges are slapped and jail is certain. Section 144 prohibits assembly of five or more people in an area where 144 is imposed. It doesn’t matter a fig leaf whether the five or more are staid citizens or confirmed thugs.
The operative part is “assembly of five or more”, but in Sabarimala Section 144 is interpreted in a manner to target perceived political opponents of the ruling regime. Section 144 in a temple compound is itself unprecedented. An average of 30,000 Ayyappans have been visiting Sabarimala every day this Mandala season, i.e., 100s of “assembly of five or more” per day.
But who gets picked up for violating Section 144? Only those chanting ‘namajapa’. Why? The chanting bhaktas are “confirmed” BJP/RSS. There’s a BJP circular out to prove that. But that’s not the point. The point is the subversion of Section 144. The point is if today, it’s in Kerala, tomorrow it could be in any or all states. Ruling regimes using Section 144 to go after political opponents will become the norm and innocent citizens will be caught in the middle.
More so, because the IPS can be manipulated. But even among the IPS, there are those who have refused to toe the regime-line. The Kerala cadre of IPS are a divided lot now – ‘Malayali-IPS’ and ‘Outsider IPS’. And every IPS officer posted in Sabarimala is an ‘Outsider IPS’. It’s not good news to the IPS. The Pinarayi regime is doing immense harm to the IPS but it doesn’t seem to care a wee bit.
And it is not just Section 144. CCTV footage showing KSRTC buses being vandalized have come in handy to identify “miscreants” and lookout notices with their pictures have helped police trace them to their homes in districts and villages; hound them to their hideouts. Arrests were made and more than 6,000 have been put behind bars; most of them committed BJP/RSS workers but also quite a few “innocents/common citizens” who took part in ‘namajapa’ outside police stations.
It is hard luck for these people. Usually, police throughout India arrest protestors and let them go free even if public property is vandalized. The Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984 is used rather injudiciously. But in Kerala it has come in handy wherever ‘namajapa’ have taken place. Scores are behind bars, bail denied unless damage is paid in full, in many cases up to Rs 13 lakh. The party is not paying. That’s a grim reality.
What’s more old cases are being reopened to target party leaders. Fresh warrants against a leader are issued the day bail is allowed in one case. It ensures the leader remains in jail “forever”. It will take a regime change to deliver him freedom. And regime-changes don’t happen every day. The lessons from Sabarimala are sobering. Also, ominous.
(IPA Service)
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