Play by the Book

Editorial:-
Under the pressure of an election countdown, Politics invariably becomes too much about violence and too little about ideology or public service. Another election approaches, and political violence, which comes visiting every time there are serious contenders in the fray, was always expected to return to Sikkim’s streets, nooks and crannies. And sure enough, less than a month into the New Year, the uglier side of confrontational politics slugged its way into the news starting with skirmishes in remote west Sikkim on Wednesday to ripple effects lapping into Gangtok on Thursday evening. As always, the incident snowballed and shot off on many tangents. Such situations tend to take on a life of their own, bouncing into so many corners that it becomes easy for different sections to latch on to different aspects of the various incidents to have their say and claim their positions as the wronged. Invariably, there are so many voices and so many versions being thrown about that all that one is left with is a string of allegations and counters which unfortunately, despite all their name-calling, take the discussion away from the reprehensibility of violence. It is thus important for the unattached to look at political violence as the disturbing sabotaging of democracy that it is and for people at large to unanimously condemn every incidence of violence; rejecting excuses and demanding that all sides play by the book.
The latest incident involves heckling, confrontation, muscle-flexing and hounding. Normally, the ‘hardcore’ supporters get snared in incidents of direct violence, but in the present instance, lay sympathizers, even journalists and family were drawn in. Soon, the entire episode will become one of political one-upmanship, but before that happens, it becomes necessary for all agencies of the civil society [and also the media because some journalists also had a close shave in the incident] go public with their condemnation of violence in any form and demand that all parties turn a new leaf. The political environment is only going to turn more hostile in the coming days, the face-offs more violent and the collateral damage higher. In fact, social and other representative organizations should come together and draw up an advisory for political parties to abide by. If enough such groups, genuinely representative of the lay people can come together and demand better conduct, Sikkim could actually enjoy violence-free elections. The people will have to however agree first that they wish politicking to abandon violence. People’s groups, for example, could demand that parties prove their commitment to peaceful campaigning by abandoning sloganeering [which does tend to set up confrontations by inflaming passions and instigating response]. That would be a public display of respect for people’s wishes since it is their votes that many will soon be trying to win and influence.