It happens only in India

24 November,2009 06:47 AM IST |   |  Daipayan Halder

I have seen it all before


I have seen it all before. The issues, the slogan shouting, the stone pelting, the lathicharge. In the narrow bylanes of north Kolkata. Where Lenin still lords over the hearts and minds of the varsity crowd. Believing all this will change the world. Knowing, much later, how days and academic sessions were lost in vain. And some careers too. But those protesting Sunday's eve-teasing incident inside JNU didn't have the benefit of hindsight.

Not greener this side: JNUSU president Sandeep Singh addresses the crowd

They wanted to dispense instant justice. Much like the praja durbars run by Naxals in India's interiors. Get the hooligans out of the PCR van, get their faces smeared in soot, make them apologise in public, and give them a good thrash. Unreasonable right, but what followed proved the adage that anything that you say about India, the opposite is also true. If taking the law in our own hands is wrong, well, in whose hands is it safe anyway.

The lawkeepers, the local DCP and his men, who were there to prevent any act of hooliganism, did just that. It was necessary to disperse the crowd, but not to beat up protestors and everybody else including the press like dogs. As our very own Prawesh Lama, Amit Singh and Subhash Barolia captured the brutality, risking life and limb, I stood there paralysed, transported to times gone by, knowing so little has changed. And as Paula Landes, a German student standing next to us, exclaimed, "This is India. It can only happen here", we nodded in agreement.

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JNU Riots Opinion Delhi