At present, from East to West and North to South people are violently protesting the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) which has now become an Act if the notification has been done, after both houses of Parliament passed the Bill and the President of India gave his assent the next day after the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House passed it. But the question arises that why have the protests taken a violent turn and why are public properties being vandalised?
The Father of our Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, led a massive protest against the British Raj with no violence and that too in an age where the only medium of communication used to be newspaper or radio. Also, those who had the luxury of a radio had to pay a licence fee to own it. Yet, the message from Gandhi spread across all over the world in that era because he never took the course of violence. It was slow but effective and fruitful in the end.
But is burning of railway stations, buses, damaging private vehicles etc justified? No it is not. Public property is built by the tax-payers’ money, private vehicles are brought by money saved after hard work. Protests can always be non-violent and effective. Unfortunately, it is not news when the protests are non-violent these days.
Last year the Supreme Court hearing on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) said that those who destroy public property, and hold people to ransom and disturb the law and order situation during violent agitations should bear serious implications with jail terms and exemplary fines. The political leaders or office bearers must be liable to present themselves for questioning at a police station within 24 hours. On failing to attend the questioning without giving any satisfactory reason, they will be proceeded against as a suspect first and absconder later.
The protestors cannot vandalise public property and hold everything to ransom to get their demands met, said the apex court bench, underlining that those involved in the destruction of public property would not escape the consequences of their actions. It is a use of taxpayer money.
The Supreme Court’s strong observation came when violent protests over issues like cow protection, religion sentiments, price hike, movies or political ideologies are rampant in the country. Turning the screws on such protests by fringe groups and radical organisations, the top court also explained that the leaders or chiefs would be granted bail only after paying the estimated charge to compensate the loss or damage. Today it is against CAB. Why are the various State governments not adhering to the observations made by the Supreme Court? Law and order is a State subject, isn’t it?
In 2015 vandalising public or private property during agitations and protests invited heavy penalty like market price of the damaged assets and jail term of up to ten years, with the Home Ministry proposing to amend the relevant laws. In a notification, the Home Ministry has invited suggestions from general public and institutions for proposed amendments in the Prevention of Damage to Public Property (PDPP) Act, 1984.
Whether in Assam, West Bengal or elsewhere, empty buses and trains were set on fire. In West Bengal, in Howrah and Murshidabad, and at least three more districts which were affected on Saturday by protests against the CAB, prompting chief minister Mamata Banerjee to issue a fresh appeal for peace and warn against fundamentalist parties trying to stoke violence.
On Saturday morning when alerted by intelligence agencies to the possibility of violence, the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said harassment of common people in the name of protests would not be tolerated. But violence and arson were reported in Howrah, Murshidabad, Birbhum, Malda and North 24-Parganas districts of West Bengal. In Delhi too buses were burnt and Assam is on rage vandalizing all connections with their own state.
When the situation is tense and the protests often spilling onto railway tracks, and traffic on the road, who suffers? Yes, we the common people suffer. If the protests are carried out in a non-violent way, the common people would extend their hand of support which will lead to much more visibility and would reach the policy makers “deaf ears”.
