Perhaps the only good thing that can be said about UP after the second massacre of Harijans in six weeks is that its chief minister does not need to be reminded of his duty. Mr. Vishwanath Pratap Singh is one of that vanishing breed of politicians who are not busy amassing personal fortunes and in the process wilfully and deliberately destroying the administration over which they preside. He means well. But how effective has he been in toning up the administration tackling the dacoity menace? Not very, judging by the results. What then is to be done?
To be fair to Mr. Singh and those of his cabinet colleagues who do not place their personal interests above the well-being of over 100 million people who inhabit the state, it should be acknowledged that they have inherited a very difficult legacy. They and other Congress (I) leaders blame it all on the Janata rule which preceded theirs. The charge is not unjustified inasmuch as the state Janata leadership was incompetent and promoted casteism to make it the most important factor in UP’s political life. That, however, is only part of the story. The rot in the state started right at the time of independence under the aegis of Mr. Govind Ballabh Pant who allowed party legislators to interfere in day-to-day administration, postings and promotions at every level. More recently, the Congress (1) leadership has allowed well-known criminals to join the party. Therefore to ask for improvement in the morale and quality of the administration that it can check the caste and gang warfare and the atrocities on the Harijans is in fact to ask for a reversal of what has been happening in UP for over three decades. Obviously an impossible proposition. Yet the country’s most populous state which is truly the country’s heartland cannot be allowed to drift into anarchy.
After the earlier massacres of 25 Harijans in Deoli village on November 18, Mr. Singh said he would resign if the culprits were not apprehended. Recently he expressed satisfaction over the progress of the anti-dacoity operations and withdrew his resignation threat. Clearly he spoke too soon. But even before the latest carnage exposed the weakness of his claim, it was being said widely that the police were killing minor criminals in alleged encounters in order to show that they were really doing a remarkable job, that this had led to the alienation of the Yadav community and that for every “dacoit” killed 10 Yadavs were acquiring arms. Perhaps these reports were exaggerated. But they must have contained a kernel of truth which would be enough to prove that it is as dangerous to give the police a free rein as to expose it to political interference. One leads to excesses and the other to loss of elan and morale. It is a difficult nettle to grasp. But grasped it must be.
Like most other states, UP faces problems which will inevitably take a long time to tackle, even if the political will to tackle them exists. Similarly, it is a herculean task to fully restore discipline and morale in the police force, requiring as it does much higher pay scales and better working conditions for officers and men and non-interference by politicians in their appointments, transfers and promotions. But it should be possible to improve the mobility and equipment of the force on the one hand and to check the spread of weapons on the other. The countryside in UP, as in the rest of the country, is badly under-policed. It is neither possible nor even desirable to increase the police force – not possible because the resources are just not there and not desirable because in the countryside the police are likely to make common cause with the dominant communities. But a more mobile force with better communication facilities can improve policing of the countryside at a relatively small cost.