Pardon sprayers of gas in Lok Sabha

The group of six responsible for spraying coloured gas has demonstrated that in the New India still lingers the spirit of the national struggle defined by the ideal of the individual sacrificing hisher life or liberty for the larger good For this alone the six should be pardoned Not to do so would imply that the independent Indian State is no different from the one the British establishedThe six require the Statersquos indulgence because they are not terrorists they were not armed they did not intend to harm MPsIt will be argued that they are not misguided youths for politically conscious as they are they would have known the consequences of their audacious act This is evident from Neelam Azad one of the six shouting outside Parliament ldquoTanashahi nahi chalegi Dictatorship will not be toleratedrdquo Since she characterised the Modi government as a dictatorship would she not have known that a defining feature of this form of governance is unforgiveness Why then pardon the sixYet paradoxically to book them under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act which prescribes punishment for committing or abetting acts of terrorism would also mean accepting Neelamrsquos assertion that the State under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become dictatorialThe paradox can be grasped from the perspective of historyThe six emulated Bhagat Singh and B K Dutt who tossed into the Central Assembly on April 8 1929 two bombs designed to create big bangs without harming anyone Their motive was to ldquomake the deafrdquo hear to warn the British of the deepening disquiet in India A Delhi Sessions Court sentenced them to transportation for lifeSingh and Dutt in a statement to the court said that had the bombs been ldquoloaded with some other high explosive with a charge of destructive pellets or darts they would have sufficed to wipe out a majority of the members of the Legislative Assemblyrdquo This they said to press upon the court to take into account their intent before it passed a verdict on themWhat if the two of the six who jumped into the Lok SabhamdashManoranjan D and Sagar Sharmamdashhad injected poisonous gas into Parliament By spraying harmless gas the six wanted to foreground the crisis of unemployment hobbling the youth This problem is not imagined it is real their action arose from their desperation not revolutionary romanticismThe Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy says the unemployment rate today is nine per cent This figure does not disclose the tragedy of the youth unable to find employment commensurate with their educational qualifications The six with the likely exception of Manoranjan belong to the lower middle class Their reading of Bhagat Singh Che Guevara and B R Ambedkar convinced them that their struggle for livelihood is a function of Indiarsquos flawed development model not their fateIt must have galled them that their misery does not engage the political class and that unemployment is seldom discussed in Parliament which is often dogged by shouting matches walkouts suspensions and adjournments The failure of democracy to respond to the nationrsquos woes prompted them to follow the path of Singh and Dutt who in their statement to the court said they tossed the bombs for ldquohoisting the dangersignal to warn those who are speeding along without heeding grave dangers aheadrdquoForget the Modi government even Opposition leaders failed them choosing to ask Home Minister Amit Shah to explain the security breach at Parliament rather than pressing for a discussion on the unemployment crisis Expectedly Shah did not oblige expectedly the Opposition created a ruckus and expectedly over 140 MPs were suspendedThe truth is that the Opposition did not raise the unemployment issue because they were apprehensive of the Bharatiya Janata Party accusing them of siding with the lsquoterroristsrsquo Rahul Gandhi was the sole exception In contrast to the timidity of Opposition leaders the indifference of the six to fear and punishment awes oneFew civil society groups have interceded for the six not to extol them but to argue that leniency be shown to them for they certainly are not terrorists Societyrsquos silence reflects the fear gripping the nationmdashthat annoying the government would invite reprisalsContrast this to the incredible wave of sympathy and support Singh and Dutt generated in their time both in the public and the political class Is it that democracy has hollowed out humanity from our quests Or is our democracy showing signs of stagnation even degenerationThe Modi government will likely think that condoning the action of the six would inspire copycat actions in the future It must therefore heed the profound truth Singh and Dutt articulated in their statement to the Sessions Court ldquoWehellipdeliberately offered ourselves to bear the penalty for what we had done and to let the imperialist exploiters know that by crushing individuals they cannot kill ideasrdquoThe Modi government does have a precedent for pardoning the six On April 8 1983 the anniversary of the Central Assembly bombing Bhagat Singhrsquos sister Bibi Amar Kaur flung pamphlets from the visitorrsquos gallery into the Lok Sabha decrying antidemocratic laws She was not prosecuted her son former professor Jagmohan Singh confirmedThe writer is a senior journalistSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper