Parochialism...

Reportages of parochial hostility, goaded by divisive demagogues, have been dirtying a lot of newsprint and occupying huge bandwidth. The eloquent speeches that seem to bridle the mob and also spur it on are equally publicised. The impunity enjoyed by these men has always been a source of momentary wonder, quashed by remembrance of the lectures on the Constitution of India imposed on me during my penultimate semester in Engineering. These men are, of course, exercising their rights to free speech and expression, and to form associations. But, then again, these fundamental rights are not to be deemed absolute in that they cannot infringe upon other fundamental rights, namely, the freedom to move freely throughout the territory of India and the freedom to reside and settle in any part of India. These rights are bound by 'reasonable' restrictions. While the populists' practices of causing a stir, at least in my humble and grossly simple view, clearly threaten public order and incite the mob violence, their freedom remains unchallenged. This could have been ascribed to the contentious nature of their actions but, unlike their words, spruced up to suggest misinterpretation, the inflections in their speech, recorded in the Audio-Visual media, are testimonial to their invocation and provocation of ill will, lest the audience is assumed to possess the placidity of a frozen lake, decried by the ripples of adulation. In contrast, the residence of the oppressed in these provinces is only a violation of the borders between the states making up the Union - a border whose recognition would disparage the notion of the Union and the assertions in the Constitution, but their own defiance continues to be their only defense. So, the obvious question - a question belittled to the realm of the rhetoric by the repeated instances of interrogation ensued by silence - is, 'What prevents the reining in of these men?' Whilst it is imaginable, if not understandable, that an implicit 'anti dog eat dog as long as the cats are around' rule is in force, the passivity of the independent pillar called Judiciary which, too, apparently, is tired of taking suo motu notice of these transgressions is taxing on the thoughts of liberty.