Social media serves an important purpose
by reflecting the unedited and unfiltered public opinion. One may agree or disagree
with an opinion existing among the public, but it is critical to know the existence
of such opinions.
Rishi Raj Singh is an ADGP level
officer of Kerala police. A man who follow unorthodox policing, Rishi Raj Singh
has been a darling of the social media. Many a time, the support he received
from the public was justified as the issues involved his taking on some or
other entrenched and organized crime syndicate. His actions to uphold the rule
of law and control the crimes in whatever field he may be working in, made him
a kind of hero in many people’s eyes.
The problem with deification of
someone into a hero is that once given that status the fans are bound to seek
excuses for rationalizing all his or her actions are heroic. Just like in those movies, the hero can do no
wrong. When a hero stalks and woman or use violence against his detractors it
is all just part of the game! However, unlike the characters of action movies, individuals
cannot be classified as hero and villain.
Perhaps this what happened when a large
section of the social media extended full support to him when he failed to
stand up and salute the Home Minister of the State when the latter arrived at a
police function. The Home Minister,
being the political head of the Police forces, is, no doubt, the boss of the
ADGP. It was also clarified by none other than the Chief of Kerala Police (DGP)
that the police officers are required to stand up and salute when a minister
walks in, into a public function.
Despite the clarification by DGP,
social media continues to support Rishi Raj Singh. Many excuses are presented to justify the indiscipline
by a police officer. It was not surprising, given some of the public opinions
already existing in some sections of Kerala. Not everyone in Kerala values the democracy
or supremacy of political leadership. There are the right wingers who miss the ‘strong
police’ that can stalk women or kill innocents, at will, just like in Gujarat.
There are sections of dogmatic left that do not care for the democracy, in the
first place. For them, democracy is only a means through which they can try and
capture power. There is yet another group that yearns for the autocratic rule
of Gulf countries as they think those countries are far more ‘efficient’ than a
democratic India. Then the usual
anarchists, who will support anything and anyone that goes against the state
and political leadership. There are the political opportunists who will support
the officer as the minister happens to be a political opponent (thankfully, many
saner voices from the opposite camp were not seen supporting the officer, in
this instance). Last but not the least,
there are also those well meaning citizens who wants to support the officer since
they think he has been wronged in the past by the state.
I would like to deal with the last
category of the opinion discussed above, in a little more detail. I agree, the officer has been unceremoniously removed
or transferred from many posts when his acts became too hot for the entrenched
interests. Therefore, some people think that he has a right to show his
contempt for the political leadership. However, as I indicated at the beginning
we cannot classify individuals as heroes and villains and then rationalize all
their actions based on our classification. There may be hundreds of incidences where an
officer is stopped from doing his right duty, for various reasons. There are
also remedies available to him, in case he feels that he has been wronged. However,
he cannot adopt indiscipline as a means for redressal of his perceived grievances.
If such a thing is allowed to take place, every officer, soldier, or policeman
will be justified in refusing to do his duty as perceived grievances exist in
almost all cases.
Perhaps, it is this well-meaning
group discussed above, who sought to justify Rishi Raj Singh’s action by quoting
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. A quote attributed to Dr. Kalam was circulated widely
through social media. It said, “If you salute your duty, you need not salute
anybody, but if you pollute your duty, you have to salute everybody”
This quote appears to be a very convenient
tool to justify the behavior of the officer. However, what the people forget or
conveniently ignore is that saluting the Home Minister itself was a part of the
officer’s duty. People are given uniform
and the procedures like saluting for a specific purpose. I wouldn’t even dare
to think what would happen if any soldier and policeman adopts this above quote
to justify their indiscipline in the forces!
I know this sounds childish, but let
me demonstrate what Dr. Kalam said was not meant to be taken literally. Dr. Kalam had been the President of this
Country for five years. Saluting and receiving salute was part of his duty,
just like in the case of Rishi Raj Singh.
Have you ever heard Dr. Kalam
refusing to give or take salute since he believed that saluting is not
necessary unless one is polluting his duty? Apparently not, as these pictures
here clearly show!
In this picture, Dr. Kalam is seen saluting along with the three Chiefs of armed forces. I am sure none of them thought
they are saluting because they have polluted their duty!
Again, Dr. Kalam is seen receiving the
salute. I am sure Dr. Kalam would not agree that all those, whose salute he was
receiving and reciprocating had polluted their duties.
Let me conclude
by saying that this episode is another reminder about how shallow is our
feelings for democracy. We have to inculcate
a respect for democracy and its institutions. If we perceive them to corrupt or
bad, there are in built remedies but those do not include glorifying indiscipline among police or armed forces.
“Democracy is the worst form of government
except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time” - Winston Churchill
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