Mysuru: The shocking incident of Marigowda, former ZP president, a close associate of CM Siddaramaiah, threatening an IAS officer on July 3, is nothing short of murder of democracy. In any functional democracy, the head of the government would have tendered an unconditional apology to the IAS officer.
However in our state, the politician has managed to escape from the police without any difficulty. It has to be seen how many hours or days it will take for the police to arrest the offending politician. Whether it is true or not, the public is speculating that because of the special relationship the politician has, the police is waiting to ensure that he gets the bail. Is this the way our constitution is expected to work?
In Mangaluru, when an RTI activist Vinayaka Baliga was murdered because of his whistle blowing, the murderers were booked in less than two days. The person behind the murder who is the real culprit was caught after a few weeks despite the enormous difficulty involved. However in this case, the person threatening the DC is well known and has been identified by the top civil servant of the district. Still the police are unable to find the “murderer of democracy”. The question which should agitate the public is why?
It is sad commentary on our democracy that despite all the media publicity of the event, CM or his office has not found it important to offer an apology to the DC. The CM has taken an oath to protect the constitution. If he fails to protect his highest civil servant of the district, has he not abdicated his responsibility?
It is good development that Mysuru’s MP has condemned the incident. He should do much more. He should write to the Central government to ask the CM for an explanation. He should raise this issue of “murder of democracy” in the next session of the parliament. He should also ask his party’s MLAs to raise this issue in Karnataka Assembly. Holding a press conference is easy.
Media has the responsibility of not only keeping the issue in front of the public till the end of justice is met, but also to dig into the reasons for threatening the DC. There are speculations that the DC was delaying the transfer of an official who had prevented land grabbing. It should be possible to unearth the facts.
In the past when upright IAS officers have been threatened, IAS association has taken up the issue and defended the officers. Will this issue be taken by them?
This should not become just a women’s issue or a political ball game, but very survival of democracy. It is to the credit of the DC that she has taken the principled stand to uphold the rule of law.
We, the public have even greater responsibility in a democracy since we are the real rulers. We should not vote for any politician who indulges in this kind of violence or who supports such violence or who does not fight against such violence. Let history not repeat as has happened when another upright officer Rashmi Mahesh, former Director General of ATI was assaulted in Mysuru few months back.
(The author is Bhamy V Shenoy of Mysore Grahakara Parishat)
