Selective Colour Blindness!

(The recent clashes of Hindu-Christians in Karnataka and Orissa has caused much stirred discussion and debates in the news channels. There were warnings to the state governments by the Central Government of India, and the revoking of Article 355. The present article will focus on the implications on how (and why) the Central Government has reacted so. The author is not interested to discuss the details of the religions who were involved in the clashes: the goods and bads of who done what, but the actions of Central Government, which have left certain issues unanswered.)

Article 355 of the Indian Constitution states: "It shall be the duty of the Union to protect every state against external aggression and internal disturbance and to ensure that the government of every state is carried on in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution." And the following Article (356) empowers the Union to proclaim an emergency, dismissing the state legislature and the executive, in case of a breakdown of the "constitutional machinery" in that state.

Violence in Karnataka, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh is to be strongly condemned by anyone. Well, chaos in any place due to any reason at a large scale is bad for the society on whole. I am not interested to speak about some Hindu fanatics, or Islamic terrorists or aggressive Christian missionaries in my blog. But, I would rather limit myself to the political implications of the recent warnings of the Central Government to the state governments of the above mentioned states.

There was an organised violence in Kannur (Kerala) few months back. That was by mostly the Communists and it was on RSS supporters and BJP party members, ofcourse the latter too reacted vehemently on the agression. State has taken little steps to stop the violence. After that there was a huge violence in Maharastra on North Indians by MNS kaaryakarthas, on the basis of origin and linguistic differences among people. There was organised violence rampant for 2-3 days. State Govt. of Maharastra needed 'some' time to react to subjugate the terror, as the state govt. was not sure on how to react (to make sure that their vote bank is not disturbed).Thousands were displaced and terrorised. Quite recently we had the issue of Amarnath land issue in Kashmir. Peaceful protestors (who neither carried a gun nor a hand grenade) against the stance of a 'few' people, were beaten and shot by police; few killed and many injured. And all along, we have seen the Singur issue running over past several months. State Govt. was in dilemma on how to respond to it. We have seen protests national wide against the way State Govt. was acting, for different reasons though. Violence in Asom against the Hindi speaking people, was just seen as a 'small' seperatist act, and not noticed by the Centre. Violence on the Hindus by a few aggressive Chirstian missionaries in Tripura has not even been seen as a threat to peace. Now, the farmers of Andhra Pradesh face terrible crisis of fertilizers for their crops, which has ignited a state wide protests. And ironically the Central Government of India, ''fails" to notice all these! No threats, no warnings, no aritcle 355s.. nothing or such sort. But why? Doesn't it ring a bell? All these states are ruled by Congress or its allies (read: the Left)!

Mr.Naveen Patnaik, the CM of Orissa, has made an interesting statement in this outset. He says the Central Govt. hasnt responded properly to their plea for help when there is an outbreak of violence in Orissa. "We had asked the Centre for para-military forces to be deployed in Kandhamal. But they have been slow in dispatching forces to us," said the Chief Minister after the state government received a letter from the Home Ministry of GoI.

"Protection of minorities and restoring law and order is our top priority," said Mr.Gupta, the secretary of Home ministry. But, I would have been happier if the Hon.ble. Dept. of Home ministry says protection of 'citizens' rather than 'minorities'. I hope they would notice that we do pay taxes in equal proportion for the Government.

The fact is this: It is a shared responsibility of Central and State Government to ensure peace in society. Whenever there is a violence in any place within the boundaries of Indian Union, it is also the Centre's responsibility to ensure peace by supporting and assisting the State. Afterall, we pay taxes to support Police and paramilitary forces to ensure the internal security, and not for the 'Tamasha' of all these mutual mud slinging of state and centre.