POLITICS AND RELIGION

Long back I read a joke which is somewhat like this: The bright students in the class, sitting in the first bench get good marks and become IAS, IPS and IFS officers. The not so bright last bench students know how to tackle the problems of life and become politicians and they become the masters of the bright students who are now IAS IPS etc.  The ones who droped out of school become Godmen, who are visited by both the bright students and not so bright students in school. The recent happenings in the country somewhat reinforce this thought.

The politicians, irrespective of their creed, colour and party affiliation have to remember the age old saying that those who swear by the sword get killed by it.  We have innumerable examples of the same from history and of even recent happenings.  Jarnail Singh Bndranwale was put up by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi to oppose and neutralise  the Shiromani Akali Dal which was gaining ground politically.  Every one knows what happened later with the government of the day had to act against the same JS Bindranwale who was holed up inside the Akhal Takht.  Having lost all its peace overtures, the government had to resort to army action which was a turning point in the Indian political scene. This paved the way for the assassination of the primie minister.  Rajiv Gandhi had in his naive political wisdom agreed with Julius Richard Jayawardane, the wily fox of the Sri Lankan politics, during his presidency to send the Indian army to fight the war for the Sri Lankan forces.  Though the army detachment was called Indian Peace Keeping Force, any one who was following the developments, knew that the Indian army had to fight in a foreign soil with its one hand tied back. The government had to pacify the emotional Tamil population in the country and at the same time honour the inter-governmental agreement.  Rajiv Gandhi paid the price for this immature decision with his life.

The present imbroglio involving the Godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim is another one in the Indian politics but it is of different hue with different political leaders supporting the Godman in various times. The congress government under BS Hooda had allowed the godman to become a figure far larger than his physical self. They had allowed the godman's ashram mushroom in different parts of the country. There was a report that there is a branch in AP. The present government headed by ML Khattar, on assuming office, went to his ashram to seek his blessings. The entire cabinet had gone to meet the godman.  The officials who were/ are there in the various ministries may be aware of the case pending against the godman which was left in the cold storage by the previous governments both in the center and the state.  The perseverance of the IO had resulted in the case coming up for final hearing and conviction the godman.  Why the political leaders were not advised by the executives, the pending case and likely verdict even before they made a beeline to the godman seeking his blessings on formation of the government?  What prevented them from doing their duty of proper advise?  Was it their loyalty to the previous party in power?  It is no secret that the executives are smarting under the present administration both in center and in many states ruled by BJP that many of their perks had been cut down. Many of them still long for the "golden age" of the UPA in center and similar rule in the states to reap the benefits.  Some of them are working as informers to their earlier political bosses who in turn prepare the ground for meeting the action of the government of the day.

Be that as it may, the government of the day in the state has promulgated prohibitory orders u/s 144 of CrPC but did not bother to enforce it.  They allowed congregation of the followers of the godman in huge numbers.  Anticipating trouble, the government should have acted in haste to nip the trouble in the bud; instead it allowed the same to bloom into one of the biggest arson and rioting by the followers.  The police leadership and administration has failed the people of Haryana.  The culpability of the political leadership in the incident has already been addressed by the high court of Punjab and Haryana.  The home ministry in getting early warning signals from the ground and the state government had not acted to prevent the arson and rioting which spread to other states.  Only when the trouble reached the outer parts of Delhi, the home ministry realized the seriousness and the LG of Delhi issued stern warning to the PC for taking action against the perpetrators.  The government in its wisdom decided to send army columns to the trouble spots in Haryana.  

The high court of Punjab and Haryana had pronounced the assets of the Godman have to be attached and sold to mitigate the loss of the people in this arson and violence.  The court also had come down heavily on the state government headed by the present CM.  From the media reports, it appears that the court also censured the central government.  As is its wont, the media might have taken a line in the judgement out of context and made a mountain.  But it is amply clear that both the state and central government did not act promptly, though it is claimed that the entire arson and violence was brought under control in three hours.  There was no need for the arson and violence in the first place.  The bull has been allowed to run amok and after catching it by the tail,claiming victory is foolishness.  The HC also said that on the sentencing day the judge will visit the jail where the godman is incarcerated.  This probably to avoid such similar happening on that day as well.

The godman may get the maximum punishment but will come out eventually.  The political leaders who made a beeline to the ashram seeking his blessings will continue to visit him both in jail and post release in his abode.  The day is not far off to witness something ominous and similar to the ones the country witnessed not so long ago.

It is time that politics and religion are kept apart as envisioned in the constitution. The political leaders seem not to learn any lessons from history.