There has been clamour at home and abroad for quite some time now about the ways in which the BJP and the government it runs at the Centre and in the states have been systematically undermining the institutions of democracy. What has pained the people who have a stake in the survival and success of democracy in India has been the silence of those that could have acted in time when the agencies they presided over were being attacked.
It looks like some of them have stopped being silent and want to be heard. If the questions the Supreme Court asked of the polity while staying the conviction of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case last week were any indication, the plain speaking by a division bench of the Punjab and Haryana high court on Monday is another such pointer. In itself, it is a loud reminder to governments that the law is not a joke, due process and procedures are not to be bypassed and the institutions of democracy are not doormats to be trampled on. Most importantly, the protection of the Constitution is the right of every Indian citizen.
The court was unequivocal in directing the Haryana government to stop the demolition drive it had started in the aftermath of the communal clashes in Nuh and Gurgaon, while ordering the government to come to the court with documents to show that it was being conducted as per regulations. Taking suo motu cognisance of reports about the targeting of one religious community, it also did not fight shy of confronting the elephant in the room which many have now begun to notice, albeit silently — were homes belonging to people of this particular community being brought down, if in the name of addressing a law and order problem? Was it an exercise of ethnic cleansing then that was being conducted by the State? The court reminded the government that “no demolition as such can be done without following the procedure prescribed in law”.
It remains to be seen if the court’s strong stand to defend the fundamental rights of citizens will have any effect on the BJP and its leaders who make no bones about defending “bulldozer raj” that the party’s governments in several states have invented and implemented. In fact, most of them hail it as an efficient tool for dispensation of criminal justice. Such a policy comes in direct contradiction with the Anglo-Saxon system of jurisprudence which calls for elaborate processes including the collection of evidence against an accused and a fair trial. All that the administration requires is a first information report against a person to send bulldozers to raze his house, business establishment, shop or any other piece of property. No questions asked.
It must be admitted that the processes of democracy are painfully slow and getting increasingly expensive to implement. Yes, democracy is slow; democracy is expensive as well. But we have chosen it consciously after realising that it offers hope to the last man when none else does, and bring material benefits to him in a sustainable way. Those who sing praises of the bulldozer, too, have sworn to protect the same. Now, let them please walk their talk.
