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.

On January 30, a young man waved a gun around, threatening anti-CAA protesters and and saying things like, “Yeh lo azaadi.” A huge contingent of policemen could clearly be seen at the back, standing idly by with their arms folded, not lifting a finger. When the gunman fired and injured a student, the cops finally arrested 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.

Compare this to the school where 100s of kids wearing saffron were made to re-enact the Babri Masjid demolition. Students had to tear down a massive poster of the Babri Masjid, then cheer and shout ‘Jai Shri Ram!’.

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.

However, when masked goons with rods beat up both students and teachers in JNU, the police just watched them walk by. There was video evidence and numerous calls made to the police from several people, but they did nothing to catch the accused or restore order. 

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.

When Pragya Thakur refused to listen to the crew who asked her to change her seat, she delayed the flight for 45 minutes. Even other passengers fought with her. Despite this, no action was taken against her.

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.

Meanwhile, BJP’s Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur incited a crowd to shoot ‘traitors to the country’ while campaigning in Delhi. There is no FIR against him, he has only been banned from campaigning for a few days.

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.