Thread by @SatyenKBordoloi

1 Two #police ‘incidents’ involving @TajinderBagga & @jigneshmevani80 have dangerous portents for India. But they are just the tip of a very dangerous iceberg. A thread about the present and past of policing in India..

2 On April 20, MLA Jignesh Mevani was arrested by the Kokrajhar division of Assam police from Palanpur. Beyond the frivolous reason for arrest, Gujarat Police wasn’t happy as they were kept in the dark. This despite Gujarat & Assam being BJP ruled states.

3 #RSS isn't happy with the overreach by Assam CM at a time when BJP is facing anti-incumbency and is trying to win Dalit votes in Gujarat. This sends out a wrong signal to the Dalit community. Remember politics is a game of signals and dog whistles.
indiatoday.in/india-today-in…

4 Beyond RSS, message is clear: police is a political wing of a states ruling party to do what it wants to. That's not how constitution & IPC sees it. In democracy, police is a law & order arm of the public. Atleast a pretense of this is necessary to sustain order in any society.

5 Mevani’s arrest gave @AamAadmiParty the idea that they could do the same in Delhi, to Bagga. Remember in recent past #AAP has been modeling and selling itself as a milder version of the BJP, copying their modus operandi to a great extent. But that’s another thread.

6 What happened yesterday in Delhi, where @PunjabPoliceInd comes & arrests BJP worker Bagga in Delhi & @DelhiPolice not only stops them but calls backup from @HaryanaPolice27 who together snatch the arrested man - a stretch even in a #RohitShetty cop caper, isn't good for nation.

7 Of course, AAP must have felt really good because though they have had Delhi since 2013, this is the first time they have an official 'force' with guns under them, hence their Bagga arrest doesn't bode well for anyone. Remember power corrupts.

8 Beyond AAP & @BJP4indla fight, this does not bode well for India. Last year Mizoram & Assam police clashed on the border and 6 Assam policemen were killed, over 70 injured. Imagine if 6 soldiers had been killed by the Pakistan Army. The public would have called for war.

9 Home Minister Amit Shah intervened to prevent further escalation. Question is how was it allowed to come to this? Is the Home Ministry, or the PMO as it allegedly runs every ministry now, sleeping? Was there an inquiry on what happened & how it can be prevented in the future?

10 And now this Mevani and Bagga affair. Beyond politics, peace is essential for the nation and the cops across the nation need to cooperate for that. This reminds me of how the situation was before independence and how Sardar Patel had to struggle to unite the nation.

11 Take e.g. Gujarat. In early 1947 there were dozens of tiny princely states in just a small portion of Saurashtra. Criminals would commit crimes in one state, run away to another state where the police of this state had no jurisdiction. Cops at times even fought each other.

12That division was gotten rid of when States Ministry under Patel with V P Menon brought them under India, & importantly brought administrative services & cops under one law. Fun fact: Sardar Patel is also patron of the Indian Administrative Services (that’s also another thread)

13 Point is, cops being so overtly drawn into a political tug of war in the last few years is dangerous for the unity of India. Political parties come and go but peace & law and order are sacrosanct for a nation to thrive, and even survive.

14 What seems centuries ago, a cop had told me when I was a cub reporter that India could be reformed in a month under one condition: all political bindings are removed from all cops across India & they be given the power to uphold the IPC and constitution..

15 Police in India today have tremendous power but only under a political umbrella & not as per the law as its meant. Often cops become like goondas of politicians but it need not be this way. And despite the misuse of power by police in India, the judicial killings, beatings etc

16 People don’t realize how good the cops are despite being underpaid, understaffed & constantly overworked. The cop friends I have tell of how becoming a cop meant they had to abandon all hope of becoming normal. No other armed force feels so stressed.

17 Despite many bad apples & some horrible human rights abuse in many places, Indian police do exemplary work and are the force that is standing between a functional nation and all our anarchy, the latter seems to be increasingly encouraged using the police lately by politicians

18 Talking about Bagga, this muscle-flexing by AAP benefits both them and BJP. It shows AAP as a party not afraid to arm-twist even the all-powerful BJP. For BJP bhakts, it sends the signal that their bosses will protect them no matter what they do. BJP & AAP win, India loses.