'A constable is the most used and abused person ever'

Excerpts from P Chidambaram's address

The challenge of internal security has two dimensions. The first is the state of our police system. That system is completely outdated and our police forces are ill-trained, ill-equipped and ill-paid. Adding to these woes are the short-sighted policies followed by governments with the objectives of control and patronage.

Let us take the average constable. He is perhaps the most used, misused and abused person ever to wear a uniform. He works, on an average, 12-14 hours a day; generally seven days a week, and throughout the year. Since he is drawn from the common stock of people, his behaviour and attitude reflect that stock: Only a feeble attempt is made to improve his behaviour or change his attitude.

When he travels from his home (in 80 per cent of the cases, it is not official accommodation) to the police station and back to his home, he transits from one cultural milieu to another. At the end of the day, he brings the culture of his home and neighbourhood to his work place.

He is perhaps the most reviled public servant in India. From a violator of traffic laws to a rich man whose family member has run over several hapless persons sleeping on the pavement, everyone assumes that the average policeman can be cajoled, bribed, bought over, threatened or bullied into submission. The people’s estimate of the average policeman is low; the self-esteem of the average policeman is even lower.

It is this police force that is our frontline force to provide internal security and it is this police force that we have to work with. Nevertheless, it is this police force that rises to great heights in a time of crisis. How many of you still remember Tukaram Ombale who grabbed the barrel of the gun and took the bullets on his chest in order to help his fellow policemen overpower Ajmal Amir Kasab?

In the first eight months of this year alone, 320 men and women belonging to the security forces have laid down their lives in the course of discharging their duties. Let us spare a thought and a prayer for these brave-hearts and their sorrowing families.

The other dangerous source of threat to internal security is an adversary that first reared its head in the 1960s in a non-descript village called Naxalbari in West Bengal. That movement attracted a number of genuine ideologues, including some who even merited the description of intellectual. It is a sad fact that some sections of civil society continue to romanticise the left wing extremist movement. It is seen as a friend and defender of the poor. It is seen as incorruptible and motivated by the highest ideals of service. It is seen as a bulwark against capitalism and neo-colonialism.

There may be some truth in these perceptions, but the few grains of truth must be seen in proportion to the mountain of deceit, violence and exploitation.

The Naxalites — or the CPI (Maoist), as they call themselves — make no secret of their political goals and methods. In an extraordinarily frank document issued by the politburo of the CPI (Maoist), they have made it clear that they regard elections as "a meaningless, irrelevant, pseudo-democratic exercise".

Kobad Ghandy, a member of the politburo, who was arrested a few weeks ago, has stated on record that the Naxalites will never participate in the mainstream of politics. How can a country that is democratic and a republic accept these pronouncements?

The Government of India and the Governments of the States are not colonial governments; they are governments elected by the people. The only way in which an elected government can be deposed is through the ballot box. What prevents the CPI (Maoist) from winning power through elections and reversing current policies and putting in place policies that they think will benefit the people?

We have not heard a logical answer to these questions — not from the Naxalites, not from left-leaning intellectuals, and certainly not from the human rights groups that plead the Naxalite cause ignoring the violence unleashed by the Naxalites on innocent men, women and children.

(Excerpts from the Sixth Nani A Palkhivala Memorial Lecture in Mumbai on October 5, 2009, delivered by Union Minister for Home Affairs, P Chidambaram, on 'The Emerging Challenges to Civil Society')