Editorial: Celebrate in Peace

Political violence should have no place in a democracy. As this space has often argued, when the weapon of the ballot was handed to the people, the need for physical violence was made redundant because not only are votes more empowering, they are also more effective tools to decide who wields power on behalf of the people and how. In this context, the Tuesday assault of an Independent ward panchayat in East Sikkim becomes condemnable, more so because the victim happens to be a woman. This one incident will undoubtedly tarnish a celebratory moment for Sikkim as it welcomes a new batch of rural Sikkim representatives, at least half of whom are women. The coming days will see the incident get both, sensationalised and trivialised depending on which side is commenting on it. That, while expected, would be ill-advised because the incident is already shocking enough without needing to take recourse to embellishments, and trivialisation is not possible because when one speaks of an assault on a woman, one is ill-advised to start discussing the scale or severity of the assault because it is not only the deed but also the intent which needs to be roundly condemned to deter future repeats. The panchayat elections were keenly contested this time, witnessing more contests than ever in the past and added to the mix was the confrontational approach of the SDF dissident camp. Major incidents occurred in the run-up to the polls, so it was a relief when the elections were eventually conducted peacefully. In fact, the actual voting process has rarely seen violence in Sikkim, but the lapse into post-poll violence is something that all concerned need to develop stronger defences against. The incident in question obviously did not begin pre-planned, but the fact that it still transpired demands that party youth and supporters are better briefed and monitored. It will also be unwise for the ruling party to ignore the incident or try to defend it. Addressing the issue directly and taking the brickbats on the chin if its supporters have faltered should be the recommended approach because that will set the right precedence. More so because it will mark out the Tuesday incident as an aberration and not the norm as its detractors will try to paint it as. If aggression is going to infiltrate the political process in the coming days, it will be important for leaders of all sides to marshal their supporters more responsibly and closely because now the people will be watching public conduct even more closely and no one in Sikkim condones violence. Continuance of peace is embedded in the verdict rural Sikkim has awarded to the ruling Front and with the clean sweep, it has shouldered the party with an even greater responsibility to sustain peace.