The scale of the violence in Haldwani on Thursday came as a surprise to the local administration. The rioters, supposedly protesting the demolition of a ‘mazaar’, could do considerable damage and inflict injuries on more than a hundred cops and other personnel before matters could be brought under control. Who and how many died in the fray has not been confirmed to prevent escalation, but even a single death is regrettable. However, the government’s response was speedily raised to the required level and some semblance of order restored. The Nainital District Magistrate, Vandana, in her interaction with the media on Friday, rightly emphasised that it was not a ‘communal’ incident, but an attack on the official machinery to thwart the proposed demolition.
In this context, the Shaheen Bagh protest will be recalled that took place in Delhi to protest the CAA, initially as a civil movement with women in the forefront, but escalated into serious communal clashes and many deaths. Although it caused grievous harm to the local community and long-term disruption, for some it has become a ‘model’ for a new form of targeted ‘civil-disobedience’. Those behind such movements exploit religious sentiments for mobilisation and prepare from the start a narrative of victimhood, beginning with placing women in the frontline. The fervour for the cause among the public is in inverse proportion to awareness of the issues involved. It is left to the media to spread the message and the administration to bungle management of the protest. The violence is supposedly ‘spontaneous’ and the blame is put on police ‘high-handedness’. It seems this model is believed to have achieved its goals, so other protests are patterned on it.
This happened in Haldwani, and, on Friday, there was a massive turnout in Bareilly. Governments and administrations should study this pattern and evolve ways to short-circuit its progress at every stage. The equanimity displayed by the District Administration in Haldwani, and the use of technology as a force-multiplier, indicate that some lessons have been learned.
It must also be noted that many such opportunities are provided to trouble-makers by the failure to dispose of cases in the courts with the required speed. People’s grievances should be dealt with quickly, particularly at the individual level, rather than allowing these to become those of the community. So many problems, such as those of encroachment, come about because the officials concerned were sleeping on the job in the first place! Correcting this requires a larger, more comprehensive approach.
