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If I may offer my belated comments on the article
by DNB, I would like to say that it is an important article coming from not
only an educated and highly intellectual citizen in Assam but also
from one who has been showing to be a responsible, serious and concerned
welwisher and thinker on the affairs of Assam. Therefore I would like
to take his article and derive couple of important observations about
the state of affairs in Assam, observations which seem to strengthen
some of my views on Assam which I have been making in the net.
However before I discuss that, I would like
digress and would like to point out a major fallacy, or rather a
technical error, on DNB's beginning remark as noted below. He
stated:
>The biblical aphorism "The meek shall inherit the earth" is no longer
valid - at least not in Assam. Here the meek >are seen not as being more
civilized or law-abiding, but rather as the weak ones of the species, since it
is the >lawless ones who rule. In a land where lawmakers and the rulers of
the day prefer lawbreakers to law-abiding >souls, in a dispensation where the
ability to break laws with impunity is a coveted status symbol, the days of
>law-abiding citizens would seem to be over, were it not a trifle difficult
to banish laws altogether and yet >approach the electors for
votes
Without commenting on his
seeming frustration on the state of affairs in Assam, I want to point
out that the statement "The
meek shall inherit the earth" is simply a prophecy by Jesus and as such a
prophecy cannot be said to be a aphorism (truth) until it is manifested as
truth at some time in future (the English phrase 'at the end of the day' is very
appropriate in this case). Thus the beginning sentence is rather irrelevant
because the meek has not inherited the earth yet.' and therefore the question
of validity of the prophecy whether in Assam or in USA does not apply, and DNB
should not lament.
However I understand his motive of the statement
by DNB. He was simply trying to bring a quote from religion to make his
point that the state of affairs in Assam really hopeless. However,
even for that, he could have given a better quote from Geeta as spoken by
Sri Krishna himself in words like "Wherever there is deteriation of
morality in society, whenever there is destruction of the law (dhormor skholon),
I take birth, again and again, in the human form in order
to re-establish the law." etc.
It may be noted that both the quotes, one of
Jesus Christ "the meek will inherit the earth" and by Sri Krishna, "I will come
and re-establish the dharma", are basically meant as a words of hope to the
general public in this world which is basically unfair to the
downtrodden and the oppressed people. Both the statements are basically saying
"Don't worry, although you are oppressed now, at the end of the day, victory
will be yours." BTW, Islam has also similar sayings which preach the public to
tolerate the tyranny of the king in this life and not to revolt.
Anyhow, my only point was that the Christian
prophecy is a prophecy which is supposed to happen at the end of the day,
and as such we cannot say that it is no longer valid because it was never valid
although one can go on believing that when the world will end, the meek will
really inherit the earth. So much the better for the believer.
The Hindu prophecy on the other hand can happen
at any time, In fact Indians use this prophecy in the lives of all great men
from Sankarachaya to Mahatma Gandhi. We Indians take great solace in such
aphorisms which is one reason, I think, the Indians are so passive compared to
the Western world. We Indians like to justify our failure or the poor condition
with such statements, or the tehory of karma, or its local variations: Exo
goru marile baghorw moron. etc.
In my opinion, the Hindu and the Islamic world
has learnt to justify oppression or sufferings which is one reason Hindu and
Islamic world will never have revolution. Religious
beliefs do not allow that. (Is it true?). (The other day, I was
reading why there was no revolution in Persia after the death of Alexander)
As opposed to that the Christian world, I think, not having anything to justify
their poor present situation, they either revolt or try to
change their situation, and there is a constant struggle to advance
oneself.
My be I have digressed too far and may be with a
bit of nonsense.
In another mail I will discuss about the main
theme of DNB's article.
Rajen Barua
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, April 16, 2005 10:09
PM
Subject: [Assam] Is Law Important to
Law-abiding Citizens?
O"Mahanta,
Amaar Bezboruah saaror bor khong uthise. Pise eitu khong okol kagozote ne
xosa? Moi Cotton College -ot thakwte pise dhoribo nwarisiliw ketiya Bezboruah
saaror khong uthisile?
Abois-se (this is a hard one to write in transliterated Assamese, the
word is "However") Cotton College-or English department-ot mwr xodaiye bhoi
aasile je mor maamak khobor dibo.
So what do you think? Is it for real?
O'Deka
===================================================================
The meek shall be
homeless -I
WITH EYES WIDE
OPEN
D. N. Bezboruah
The biblical aphorism
"The meek shall inherit the earth" is no longer valid - at least not in Assam.
Here the meek are seen not as being more civilized or law-abiding, but rather
as the weak ones of the species, since it is the lawless ones who rule. In a
land where lawmakers and the rulers of the day prefer lawbreakers to
law-abiding souls, in a dispensation where the ability to break laws with
impunity is a coveted status symbol, the days of law-abiding citizens would
seem to be over, were it not a trifle difficult to banish laws altogether and
yet approach the electors for votes. After all, even lawless election
candidates want some protection from even more lawless souls with more muscle
than themselves. That is when being able to invoke the law and to file
election petitions (if not anything else) makes the law a handy tool. But
otherwise, the ! attempt is always to break the law and to take advantage of
the �hapless� citizen who quotes the law at every step. As such, the solution
to the current predicament is not to throw the law to the winds and join the
band of rulers who have no need of the law (but must pretend that they do),
since the greatest irony of it all is that they are called lawmakers. The
solution is not only to abide
by the law but also to use the law as a lever to prevail over the lawless ones
in the end and not to permit the system itself to wink at the law at any time.
For this, one needs endless reserves of perseverance and courage and the help
and support of like-minded souls at all times. Collective action is crucial,
considering that good people have always failed because of their inability to
unite;! whereas the main strength of the evil ones is that they always manage
to remain united. This week and the next, I propose to indicate how this
crusade must be undertaken (since nothing less than a crusade will do now);
but before that it is important to discuss why and how the number of people
who attempt to bypass the law has increased by leaps and bounds.
Perhaps the main reason why
law-abiding people are looked down upon today is that the number of
law-breaking �lawmakers� has greatly increased over the past three decades.
They constitute the support base for people who do not have the law on their
side, but have all the money to compensate for the fact that their cases are
backed neither by merit nor by the law. After all, the whole business of
corruption started because people who were not entitled to certain benefits
started hankering for them, and at one point in the short history of
independent India too there were people among the rulers who bent the law or
subverted merit to promote the undeserving ones for a price. Lets us not
forget that bribery and other corrupt practices were inherited by our rulers
from the Moguls as well as the British. Gandhian norms were too Spartan and
bland for that section of rulers who were waiting for their opportunity
to make the kind of ! money from corrupt practices that could not be made from
mere salaries. And pretending that the wrong and the unlawful is right and the
law is an ass is the kind of rationalization that lawless people must
undertake as a kind of psychological defence of their indefensible actions
because the law still exists in some form or the other to hold our society
together. An extension of this aberration of the system is that chief
ministers, ministers and others in the corridors of power never get convicted
or punished by our judicial system no matter how serious or anti-people their
crime may be. (Remember, that any corrupt action that loots the exchequer is a
crime against the people because the exchequer belongs to the people and the
money embezzled or looted from it is public money. Since there can be no
nation without an exchequer, any loot of the exchequer is an anti-national or
treasonable act. And let no quibbling politician try to argue that this is not
so.) A further extension o! f this aberration is that not only the lawmaker
but also his family and progeny imagine themselves to be above the law. The
judiciary is clearly to blame for no major politician ever being convicted or
punished for his crime since Independence. The conviction rate of even the
apex investigation agency of the country, the CBI, is a measly eight per cent.
Where is all this winking at the law leading India to? To the ignominy of
being one of the most corrupt and violence-prone countries in the world
(because so many people take the law in their own hands). Is that where we
want to be (with our much-vaunted 3,500-year-old civilization)? Things can
only get worse if we decide to continue with our familiar ways.
But what can the law-abiding
citizens do? That the question should arise is hardly surprising. After all,
in these 57 years since Independence they have done nothing at all to assert
themselves or even to assert the supremacy of the law. Have we ever
encountered a situation where even a hundred law-abiding citizens have written
angry letters to protest a crime by a lawmaker? But is there any newspaper in
the world that dare ignore a hundred letters from different people on the same
issue? And if even a hundred people write to say that they are disappointed
with the Judiciary for having failed to convict such a criminal, can the
magistrate or the judge concerned fail to act? Can he ignore the force of
public grievance that the hundred letters represent? Certainly not. And none
of the hundred people who wrote the letters of protest in newspapers can be
held guilty of having committed contempt of court. They did not accuse any
judge or magistrate of being biased or partial or even motivated. They merely
expressed their grievance at the Judiciary failing to take on a politician
with criminal charges against him.
Thus the first step is to make sure that there is
adequate evidence of the accused politician having committed the crime he is
charged of. Quite often the public perception may be at variance with what the
public prosecutor may have against the politician. This does not matter. We
have seen over the decades how keen most public prosecutors are to let
politicians go scot-free for lack of evidence. The public campaign must go on
in full swing until the magistrate or judge begins to respect this public
opinion and to ensure a proper trial. The alternative to this is to go on as
we have done for over half-a-century and do nothing. The criminal elements of
our society who cannot make a living with their skills or education want
nothing better. Ten more years of inaction from law-abiding citizens, ten more
years of cowardice, and they will dispossess all law-abiding citizens from
their hearths and homes and banish the law for good. How this will be don! e
is what I want to talk about next week. But let us not forget that long before
this happens we can say goodbye to any form of civilized living where there is
even a semblance of securityfor anyone.
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