Pummelling Prashant:India Violent

The ‘treatment’ of Prashant Bhushan by two youth representing some ‘sena’ or the other was violent. Times Now camera and reporter’s presence notwithstanding, the youth slapped, punched and kicked Prashant Bhushan this afternoon in his office near the Supreme Court of India. It was a brutal show and Prashant was rather shaken.Who wouldn’t be?

As years go by since the days of Gandhiji, the violence has only grown. Names of some the ‘victims’ of violence I recall are: Pratap Singh Kairon, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, MG Ramachandran, Devyani Chaubal, Jai Prakash Narayan, Lala Jagat Narayan,JS Bhindranwale, HS Longowal, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Safdar Hashmi, General AS Vaidya,Asghar Ali Engineer, Phoolan Devi,Syed Modi, Santhakumaran Sreesanth… now Prashanth Bhushan.

From the list, one can see clearly that the Degree and Kind of violence is immaterial ... Wife-beating husbands, pupil-caning teachers, gun-toting gangsters,political and ideological opponents, and indisciplined actors and sports-persons, child-beating parents, AND the victims (we play both roles, I hasten to add) all generate violence. The sum of which is so high that trying to theorize and categorize violence is a futile academic exercise. This all pervasive violence is appalling, especially in India which prides itself as the karma-bhoomi of Gandhi. Every wakeful minute of our lives is spent negotiating this monster called violence. The reasons for such violence lie within ourselves. The red-chip that Danny Denzongpa inserts in Rajnikant’s Robot is already present in us and can remain within us for all we care.

In which case, what is this great civilization, this principle of non-violence? A big ruse and a big failure. We are great at pretending to be what we are not; we are hypocrites,; we are incapable of tolerance; and before that, we are incapable of understanding. So we roll up our sleeves at the slightest opportunity.How else can we explain the Prashant Bhushan incident except as illogical, irrational, impulsive behavior? He said something which we do not like… so bunch the fists, gentlemen and sock into him… so simple you see! This whole business of police, police-stations, lawyers, courts, round-table meetings is unnecessary, as indeed useless, witness Kasab and Kalmadi. You only need to bunch your fist, look menacing, and have a god-father in the right places.It is a perfectly acceptable technique of dispute-settlement. It is a time-honoured method, you see… Pummel Prashant into submission. Others will fall in line. Flex your muscles, gentlemen while you can. In India law will take its own course and time.