Power politics

Violence in politics is gaining a dynamic of its own

Political violence appears to have become a standard activity in India, much of it with the tacit endorsement of politicians themselves and often in the run-up to elections. This much was evident in the horrific lynching on consecutive days in Punjab over alleged acts of “sacrilege”, including one in the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The troubling point is that no political leader in the state or outside chose to speak out in condemnation of these crimes, though several have made sure to condemn the acts of “desecration”. Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu has even gone as far as to demand a public execution of those committing sacrilege. He appeared not to see the contradiction in his wholly unlawful, if not medieval, demand and a subsequent one for “constitutional punishment”. The cynical view, of course, is that all this toleration for murder is part of efforts to mobilise the Sikh vote ahead of Punjab’s Assembly election scheduled for early next year. The election is likely to be more contentious than usual with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) tying up with former Congress chief minister and charismatic local powerhouse Amarinder Singh. The issue of “sacrilege” had played a significant role in the 2017 poll and, given the more overt divisions of state politics along religious lines this time, it is likely to become a source of fierce contention in the days to come.

But the nature of political violence appears to have acquired a new dynamic in recent years. Impending Assembly elections may be a provocation in states such as Punjab or Uttar Pradesh, where religion plays an overt and central role in political contestations. But political violence appears to have gained a life of its own even when the polarising issue of religion is not in play. This much was clear in the gruesome tit-for-tat killings in Kerala, when the murder of a Social Democratic Party of India leader was followed less than 12 hours later by the killing of a state BJP leader. This, even as the ruling CPI(M) finds itself facing two murder cases involving the hacking to death of Congress workers in 2019, which are being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The striking point about the latest round of revenge killings is that there is no immediate electoral provocation involved. But then, post-poll violence is coming into vogue as well. It was West Bengal which witnessed a particularly egregious level of religious polarisation ahead of the Assembly election earlier this year, a CBI investigation is currently being conducted on a spate of murders after the booths had closed.
 

It would be easy to argue that political violence, whether before or after elections, has gained traction after religion became a central issue in the political discourse. But this dynamic has merely developed on fertile political ground. UP and Bihar, for instance, displayed this behaviour long before the forces of Hindutva emerged. In fact, the prize for organised political violence unambiguously goes to the two “secular” left formations of Kerala and West Bengal, where even Kolkata civic polls have witnessed headline-grabbing violence. Indeed, West Bengal under the Left Front practically patented the technique of state-sponsored violence, to which the present government has proved a worthy successor. Such extremism may offer an easy path to power, but reaping such whirlwinds do not make for sound politics in the long run.