Two chief ministers, united by one attitude: Arrogance

The responses of Yogi and Shinde leave one disturbed. Does power make one so blind to the pain of those whose human rights you have sworn to uphold?

Two chief ministers belonging to two parties, ruling over two states different from each other, have one thing in common: the arrogance of power.

A few days after mafia don Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf Ahmed were shot dead by gunmen on live television while under police escort, on April 18 Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced that “professional criminals would no longer be able to threaten anyone”.

The Chief Minister wasn’t upset that some random youth managed to outwit his police and shoot down two criminals. All that seemed to matter was that the latter were dead. For the Chief Minister of India’s largest state, the killing of professional criminals is a good way of putting an end to their crimes.

A gangster whose clout remains undiminished despite being behind bars, does present a tough challenge to any government. But this phenomenon isn’t something unique to UP, or even India. However, is murder the answer?

Atiq Ahmed’s reign from prison might have come to an end had he been sent to an anda cell. Such cells reportedly exist in all central jails. In Maharashtra, the 90 percent handicapped former Delhi University professor GN Saibaba, and writer Gautam Navlakha, whose trial hasn't even started, are just two of the many intellectuals to have been condemned to these cells, which are monitored constantly and from which prisoners are let out only briefly.

But sending Atiq Ahmed to such a cell would have meant letting him live. Adtyanath had declared in the assembly that Atiq Ahmed would be reduced to dust. Normally that goal would have been achieved in the Yogi Adityanath style — through a police ‘encounter’. Alas, the Supreme Court put the onus of Atiq Ahmed’s safety on the UP government. As fate would have it, three small time drifters from different cities, not known to have collaborated before, accomplished the desired end.

Does Atiq Ahmed’s killing mean that Uttar Pradesh is safe? Adityanath may thump his chest, but every day there’s news of yet another heinous crime. The latest victim is a six-month-old who suffered 35 percent burns when his home was set on fire by men accused of raping his mother. Out on bail, these men wanted the mother to withdraw her complaint. A Dalit, the mother is all of 12-years-old; the toddler, born of that rape, is the clinching evidence of the crime.

In 2021, the NCRB calculated that a woman was raped every three hours in Uttar Pradesh. The NCRB data also shows that Uttar Pradesh topped the states in crimes against Dalits between 2018-2021. Were crimes against Muslims registered as a distinct category, Uttar Pradesh might have got an honourable mention.

So, when the Chief Minister brags about law and order being tops after he took over in 2017, one wonders whether he considers women, Dalits, and Muslims as citizens he’s duty-bound to protect.

A similar indifference to the lives of citizens was displayed by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, when he didn’t think an apology was due for the death of 14 persons who’d waited under the blazing Sun for hours for a government function in the satellite township of Navi Mumbai. The guests of honour at this function —Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Shinde, and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis — sat in cool comfort under a shamiana. Apparently, medical aid had been provided at the venue; somehow, it didn’t reach those who needed it most. Shinde disposed of the matter by announcing compensation for the dead. Two days later, he did the same after five persons were killed when an illegal hoarding fell on them in Pune. In 2018, four Punekars had met an untimely end in the same fashion.

No one has been held accountable for the deaths in Navi Mumbai and Pune. In Uttar Pradesh, a judicial commission and two SITs will probe the killing of Atiq Ahmed. Any point waiting for their findings?

Apathy by governments towards citizens is unfortunately the norm in our country. But even so, the responses of Adityanath and Shinde leave one disturbed. Does power make one so blind to the pain of those whose human rights you have sworn to uphold? Shinde never expected to be Chief Minister, but nine months is long enough to learn that you bear final responsibility when citizens die due to circumstances that your administration could have prevented. Throwing money at them doesn’t absolve you. When Adityanath boasts that the public killing of two dons is one more step towards making Uttar Pradesh safe for investors, one can’t even imagine what must go through the minds of those living under the shadow of ‘upper-caste’ strongmen and saffron-clad hatemongers.

(Jyoti Punwani is a senior journalist. Twitter: @jyotipunwani)

(Disclaimer: The views expresse above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH)