In the volatile climate of today’s India, there’s some kind of flare-up almost every day. As astonishing as some of these events might be, the reactions to them by the authorities and the police has been even more telling. There’s a disgusting double standard in how the people in power have been dealing with instances that are similar but differentiated by their political affiliations.
In December 2019, a young protester was dragged out of a house near Jamia and beaten up with sticks by a large group of policemen. The excessive force they used on an unarmed and peacefully protesting individual was shocking, and only stopped after a group of women formed a shield around him.
After a school in Karnataka put on a play apparently denouncing the CAA, cops swooped in and didn’t just interrogate the teachers, but also questioned and harassed the students – in this case children of class 4 and 5. Cops harassing children is unheard of, but it happened. Consequently, a teacher and a mother have been arrested. Over a play.
When there were reports of Jamia students protesting against the CAA, a night of madness ensued where the police barged into the campus without permission, fired tear gas, terrorised the students, and even allegedly fired their guns.
When Kamra confronted Arnab in a flight, the right-wing lost the plot. They denounced him completely, and almost all major airlines banned him. This was despite even the pilot confirming he was respectful of the staff and there being no formal complaint.
UP’s Dr Kafeel Khan, who was earlier wrongly arrested for trying to help dying children at a hospital, was arrested arbitrarily 40 days after an FIR was lodged against him for inflammatory speech against CAA. The nature of the speech is unknown.
With this brazen bias against anyone who tries to dissent, and a clear tolerance of terrible behaviour as long as they support the government, the double standards of those in power are plain to see. All this does is turn the democratic foundation of this country into a farce.