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FIFTH
COLUMN
Terrorised
State
It
is shameful-and horrifying-to see governments grovelling before murderers
By
Tavleen
Singh
There
is probably not an Indian alive who has not been outraged, shamed and
sickened by the manner in which the governments of Karnataka and Tamil
Nadu have grovelled and gibbered before Veerappan. But you need to go
to somewhere like Kashmir or one of our troubled North-eastern states
to understand the full horror of two Indian chief ministers cowering before
one of the most repellent thugs in the annals of crime. You need to hear
it, as I did this past week in Kashmir, from those who are already contemptuous
of the Indian state, hear the derision in the tones of militants who ask,
"How will India keep Kashmir from getting its azadi when it isn't
even strong enough to arrest Veerappan?" Would Messrs M. Karunanidhi
and S.M. Krishna like to answer that question?
 What
is the point though, when we know that the Veerappan affair is a reflection
of what is wrong with the Indian state in general and not just with Karnataka
and Tamil Nadu. Since Veerappan took the Kannada actor Rajkumar hostage
we have seen its uglier facets in technicolour. We have watched horrified
as some hack with a Veerappan moustache has easily wandered in and out
of the forest, returning with interviews and videos of his favourite thug
while the police have been unable to pick up the faintest scent. We have
watched him being allowed to address televised press conferences to boast
of his exploits as if he had scooped an interview with a great world leader.
We have then watched the said hack provide long lists of the most unacceptable
demands-the release of more than 100 of Veerappan's jailed comrades being
only one of them - and the chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka
willingly accept them. Were it not for the Supreme Court they would already
have been in the jungles helping Veerappan cut down more sandalwood trees,
kill more elephants for ivory and shoot dead more policemen.
What does
it tell us about the Indian state? Well, we have been forced to relearn
the Kandahar lesson (in case we had forgotten) that when it comes to hijackers,
killers and terrorists the Indian state falls instantly to its knees.
It also reminds us, yet again, that there is something seriously wrong
with our methods of police training and that inexplicably nobody so far
has done anything to change them. There has been, we are told, a special
task force hunting for Veerappan for more than 10 years. Where is it?
And what action has been taken against it for failing to find a criminal
whom journalists meet at will? Could it be that our policemen are not
properly trained to deal with criminals and that their shooting skills
only become evident when they are firing at unarmed crowds.
A Terrifying
Thought: This brings us to another aspect of what is wrong with police
methods. India must be the only country left in the world where policemen
do not use rubber bullets for crowd control. Here, because of our colonial
past, policemen continue to use real bullets because their training dates
back to a time when killing a native or two was not considered such a
bad thing. Why has this not changed? Who knows?
There are
rumours of the complicity of major political leaders in the southern states
in which Veerappan operates. So what stops the Central Government from
exposing this evil nexus? How can we rely on the Home Ministry to deal
with cross-border terrorism when it cannot catch a bandit?
The most
poignant comment on Veerappan came from the deputy director of the Lal
Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie, who in
an article in The Pioneer, pointed out that the academy organises a P.
Srinivas memorial lecture every year. It honours the memory of the only
IAS officer who dared arrest Veerappan in 1982 and who was killed by him
nine years later for this. What is the point of a commemoration this year
though, when Veerappan is now in a position to make two state governments
bend before his will. "It therefore becomes important to take time
off and reflect on the sacrifices of real heroes who dared to challenge
the might and authority of villains, who believed in their duty to the
Constitution and the country, and paid an extraordinary price for the
same."
These are
shaming words and if the chief ministers of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu cannot
catch this thug they should at least have the grace to resign. What use
are they to the citizens of the states they govern if all they can do
is behave like Veerappan's flunkeys. Veerappan's real hostage is not the
actor he kidnapped but the Indian state. It is a terrifying thought.
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