SP Government must take immediate action
The violence that took place in Jawahar Bagh area in Mathura on June 2 has already claimed the lives of 24 people, including one Superintendent of Police. The incident broke out when protesters allegedly started fire on a police team that reached Jawahar Bagh to clear the area after the Allahabad High Court ordered that Government land be reclaimed from the Swadheen Bharat Vidhik Satyagrahi. Reports received from the police says members of this outfit and another smaller organisation, Swadheen Bharat Subhas Sena, had been staging demonstrations in the area over the last two and a half years. What an irony for lifting the veil of a bizarre armed cult from the public property, the Uttar Pradesh Government had to wait until the order came from the State's High Court. Meanwhile, national political parties like the BJP have blamed the UP Government, saying that the main conspirator in the case has full protection of the ruling Samajwadi Party. The BJP has blamed the Akhilesh Yadav Government and condemned the violence in Mathura as pure intelligence failure. Indeed the Chief Minister himself has admitted that there had been a lapse on part of the police and the district administration in preparing for this operation.
Before it becomes what Hobbes called bellum omnium contra omnes (war of all against all), Uttar Pradesh must be rescued from slipping into total anarchy by restoring the law and order situation at the earliest. The immediate concern shown by the Union Home Ministry by assuring all possible help to the UP Government is praiseworthy. A State, constantly marred by violence of all hues in the past, should have been cautious before swinging into action, particularly in case of a land grab by an organisation linked to an unidentified religious cult. local police or State intelligence sleuths must be blamed for not gathering adequate information about the cult, as the land occupation in Jawahar Bagh has been an ongoing affair since last two years. Without political patronage of some sort, hundreds of acres of land, belonging to the forest department could have never been occupied by unidentified encroachers. Besides, no attempt was made by the State Government to identify the people who had encroached the land. Though the police lodged several FIRs against these protesters, a majority of them purely remained unidentified in the investigation.
It is sad that only after the Allahabad High Court intervened, the Government moved into action against the illegal occupants in Jawahar Bagh. Why is it soIJ Is it an ominous signal that all powerful sovereign institutions is fast losing its grip on public land and demonstrating helplessness in front of private armiesIJ It is also observed in the last decade or so that people are wary about democratic institutions and the void created by them is fast filled by an ever vigilant judiciary and the Press. Why did the Government take so long to fight a small cult which is harbouring its own army and threatening the public in broad day light in the vicinity of an ancient town like MathuraIJ It is high time that the Government woke up from its deep slumber instead of just announcing some freebies at the cost of public money, and take action against the culprits.