Majority Rule Or Mob Rule: India Has To Decide – OpEd

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The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was passed in both the houses of Indian Parliament, after a majority of members voted in favour of the Act.

Immigrant  issue  started after partition of India in 1947. Several Prime Ministers in the past including Congress Prime Ministers wanted to regularize the citizenship  in India, but they were not courageous enough to catch the bull by the horn. Now, the Modi government has tackled the issue in a democratic way,

CAA was extensively discussed in both the houses of Parliament,  highlighting the plus and minus of the issue and finally majority opinion prevailed. This is the democratic and only civilized way of taking decisions. In a healthy democracy and in orderly society, it is necessary that the majority opinion should be accepted gracefully by all concerned.

Unfortunately, some political parties and activists have wanted to defy the decision of theParliament and have whipped up  public agitation against CAA and inciting hatred and violence to convert the issue to one of  bitter confrontation. This has resulted in huge violence and in the process, tarnishing the fair image of India as a progressive and forward looking nation in the eyes of the world.

Agitation which was supposed to have been started by the student community (obviously, number of them are politicians in the making), it has been taken over by  a few political parties and section of activists and even section of media that are giving wide publicity to protests and not condemning the violence. It is very sad that breaking the public properties and setting fire to the police vehicles and police stations have been described and even   justified by the opposition political parties and section of activists and media, as reflecting the anger of the people, which amount to  justifying the violence and hooliganism.

In recent time, it is shocking to hear some of the opposition party leaders demanding that CAA issue should be taken to United Nations. Obviously, they do not seem to have any sense of proportion or care, while making such statement.

It appears that opposition political parties and some activists who could not defeat  Mr.Modi in election, want to defeat him in street by encouraging violence. One gets an impression that they want to reap political benefits for themselves by creating situation of law and order problem and chaos.

India consist of more than 1300 million people.Number of those who are indulging in violence are a few hundreds. They are not representative gathering of Indian citizens and do not reflect the overall view in the countryman. However, a few hundreds of persons can disrupt the society and normal life by indulging in violent behaviour, particularly in a country like India where there is no clear understanding  about the limits of democracy. Freedom cannot be absolute to do anything but  freedom has its limits. One cannot break public properties and call it freedom.

Matter of great concern is, that if  mob violence would force the government to take decisions, then what will be future of India?

Obviously, this is a critical situation and Government of India has to act very strongly using stick and carrot approach. 

While the issue of CAA has to be explained to the people by the government,  as suggested by Chief Justice of India, those who indulge in violence should not be allowed to go scot free.

India’s stability would be threatened, if mob psychology of forcing their will on the country would become a habit , as it now appears to be  happening. Several projects have been stopped or suspended in India in recent past, due to public protest and agitation often supported by political parties and some activists, even though concerned authorities have carried out detailed investigation and approved the projects.

In many of such cases, state governments and some time central government have bowed to the will of the mob and in the process, India has lost many opportunities. This situation cannot be allowed to continue any longer.

There are millions of  hard working people inIndia who silently carry on with their tasks and contribute to the country’s  as well as their family welfare. They are watching the present scenario of mob forcing decisions with great concern.  Vast country like India should not be allowed to be led by small group of violent prone protestors,  hate mongers to force the course of events.

The Government have great responsibility to put down the negative elements with all  force at it’s command for the sake of longterm stability and progress of India. This would not be against the spirit of democracy but in favour of protecting the democratic spirit as well as the  image and tradition of democracy.

N. S. Venkataraman

N. S. Venkataraman is a trustee with the "Nandini Voice for the Deprived," a not-for-profit organization that aims to highlight the problems of downtrodden and deprived people and support their cause. To promote probity and ethical values in private and public life and to deliberate on socio-economic issues in a dispassionate and objective manner.

2 thoughts on “Majority Rule Or Mob Rule: India Has To Decide – OpEd

  • December 25, 2019 at 1:41 pm
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    Disagree with the analysis. It is rationalizing a decision made by BJP to convert India into a Hindu State. One cannot separate this Modi from the Modi who allowed the massacre of Muslims when Chief Minister Of Gujarat. He got elected on the promise of improving India’s economy. On the contrary India’s is slowing, lives of citizens is worse and the air in major cities is worse than ever. CAA is a divisive issue to shore up his sinking popularity. He has failed.

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  • December 29, 2019 at 10:27 am
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    Identity of “Vijendra Kumar’ is suspect. It is an ISI narrative. BJP is not converting India into a Hindu State but wants wants India to be India -respect and tolerance for all her citizens. All these lies about CAA being anti-Muslim is the biggest lie and the ordinary. The sooner ISI gives up this bogey and concentrates on finding solutions to the serious problems in its own country the better will be for the masses there.
    Indian citizens practicing Islam know that very well. Attempts to turn them against the State is doomed to fail, notwithstanding the current unrest orchestrated by disgruntled elements from within and foreign actors. As a democracy and a secular State has shown remarkable tolerance towards minority religions an achievement that riles those acting to create chaos in India and to bring it down thereby.

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