The Fear Factor In Indian Republic
By Parvez Alam
26 March, 2015
Countercurrents.org
If someone puts their hands on you make sure they never put their hands on anybody else again. --- Malcolm X
I am tempted to write because I am feeling insecure. May be I shouldn't write because it becomes easy for them to identify me and kill me. They can kill me any time anywhere, in day light, at mid night, in Hashimpura or in Sopore or in Batla House. What is the purpose of these institutions, only killing and intimidating or something else? Why have we made our society in such a way that police and army symbolize only fear? Why we train security personnel in the fashion which create them spineless robots who just do not feel any acquiescence with thinking and judging? Why are we not agitating against the acts of violence, denial of justice, inhumanity and banality of evil? Why are we so silent when we are feeling so disturbed inside?
I don't know how to answer these questions. But still I want to write. I want to write because I feel intimidated and insecure more by the prevailing silence than by the bullets fired at me if I write. let there be hundreds and thousands to stand with the perpetrators of violence; let them take the other side; let their side be defined by their constructed identity. My heart thumbs up and I get goose bumps when I see my brethren in Manipur and Nagaland and Kashmir getting killed; and getting killed just because they want to stick to their jal, jungle and zameen. Don’t write me off; I am not an anti-national. Sometimes I do try to empathize with these police and army personnel and seek to reflect on their actions. Are these actions by army personnel or police officials voluntary or they are forced to do as they are asked to; I question.
Are there any police or army personnel who think differently other than killing and intimidating? My hunch is yes. There are hundreds and thousands of police officials, constables who act humanely. Why I am not saying think humanely is because of one reason and that is the thinking capability of those individuals gets blocked during the trainings and they too get ruled by the fears. I have seen on television and elsewhere the army personnel saving lives of stranded people during natural calamities. Then the question is that whether they save lives of civilians voluntary or even that is ordered. To my mind nothing is voluntary; one fear is dependent on another. Fear gets accumulated and takes the shape of giant Leviathan.
So why fear gets emboldened again and again, instead of getting removed from the society? We are somehow bounded by the fear of law, fear of police, fear of God so on and so forth. Somehow we are driven in everyday life by the act of fearing. Our social world considers this fearing normal and this becomes part or our everyday life. The vicious circle of fear is so entrenched and entangled that sometimes fear starts acting as authority. Hindus fear Muslims of returning to Mughal era, Muslims fear Hindus that they will be wiped out, students fear that they will fail in exams, wives fear that husbands will move to other women and vice versa, politicians fears elections, ideologies fears other ideologies so on and so forth. One fear wants to out smarts another, we call it competitions.
Again the banality of policing is in such a manner that it is obvious and normal. Fear is so much normalised in our society that without fear we cannot move a step ahead. Authorities are installed to be feared. Laws are to control our instinct to stop us from committing wrong because authorities decides what is wrong and right for us. Actions of an individual is so much controlled that we assume that we are moving freely but in reality we just imitate according to the legal norms we are told.
Fear is virtue in our society. If we are not fearing person people assume that we are not normal. Fear makes people normal. The self of an individual is defined by the amount of fear he/she carries. The dutiful and righteous are those who fear more of ‘God’s wrath’, out-casted by the society or fear of failure in their career. We often hear from people in suggestive mode that Allah se daro, Bhagwan se daro, Kanoon se daro etc.
Basically freedom and liberty are now failing concepts to define the individuals mode of expression and actions. Freedom of expression is the prerequisite to the enlightenment of an individual. If individual is not free to make an opinion or voice his thoughts and ideas, it is difficult to create a just society. The way we are becoming dependent on each other freedom is shrinking only replaced by fear. I may sound pessimistic though I am confident enough and optimistic about others disagreement with my opinions and thoughts. Love is replaced by fear but still we imitate and say we love. We love our nature and environment because we fear that global warming can cause havoc on our life. Love is mere the expression of fear in moderate manner.
Let me come straight to the point which I was raising initially. Police, army or authorities are just intensifying our already existing moral fear. The institutional fear lies in the coercive apparatuses of the state. If today we will not stand against the fear of any kind, our tomorrow will be full of fear. We need to understand the structure of the state and the mechanism we have evolved to make our life worse rather than well being. Now is the time to question the inability of our cognitive self which is chained with the fear. Now is the time to question our actions and deeds we act to appease our feared mind. Let's stand tall to say that our renaissance begins now, and the symbols of fear will be thrown in the ocean.
Authorities make laws and authorities strikethrough for different logics and reasons (Read Section 66A). They strikethrough laws not to restore freedom but to improvise for another harsh one and till that time we wait to label whatever comes as draconian rather working day and night to create sustainable society.
Parvez Alam is a Reseach Scholar at Academy of International Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi-110025. He can be contacted [email protected]
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