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CHANDIGARH | SUNDAY | 22 MARCH 2020 REFLECTIONS 13

When humour saved the day In times of adversity

blinded us to the plight of

I
T was the month of April in
1978 when a major clash had
taken place on Baisakhi day in
Amritsar. There was great ten-
sion in the city and surround-
ing areas; I had just joined as
Senior Superintendent of Police
Inspector General of Police,
Jalandhar Range, was actively
monitoring the situation. He
arrived at the Kotwali police sta-
tion and it was decided that I
should go to the cremation ground.
In those days, police officers did
began between the aggressive
crowd outside and the police per-
sonnel. We were trying to get rein-
forcements, but in those days
there were no paramilitary forces
in Punjab and we had to make do
with our existing resources. One
those who suffer the most and
attack and sloganeering. But at from rampant destruction of
this juncture, the DIG moved up plant and animal life.
slowly towards the window and For years now, respected
when the Nihang raised the slo- environmentalists, conserva-
gan, Mr Mangat told him in Pun- tionists, vegetarians and agri-
jabi: “Nihang Singh ji, raaj taa TOUCHSTONES cultural researchers have
Khalse da hi hai (Nihang Singh ji, IRA PANDE been highlighting these

THE INWARD EYE there. There was an Akali govern-
ment in the state headed by Mr
GURBACHAN JAGAT Parkash Singh Badal. On April 14,
virtually the whole of Punjab Cab-
The then DIG, DS inet and top police and civil
administrators had gathered in
Mangat, pulled us Amritsar to deal with the emerging
out of a very difficult situation. The immediate concern
was the maintenance of law and
situation at Amritsar order situation in the city and also
the cremation of those who had
in 1978 with his timely been killed on Baisakhi day. After
wit. He was known for deliberations at the highest level,
it was decided that the cremation
his phlegmatic sense would be held near Gurdwara Sha-
of humour and his heedan in Amritsar. The funeral
procession was to start from Sri
one-liners were always Harmandar Sahib and go past the
Kotwali police station to reach the
delivered with a cremation ground. That morning,
very straight face there was palpable tension in the
air and an emotionally charged
crowd was expected.
I had decided to camp at the Kot-
wali police station after having
overseen the approach of the
funeral procession towards the
cremation ground. Dalbir Singh
Mangat, who was then the Deputy
not carry any gunmen, escorts,
etc. As such, my driver and I were
driving towards our destination.
All of a sudden a man appeared
from an alley and swung a naked
sword at the windshield of our car
and damaged it. The car stalled
and I remember thumping the
driver on the back, asking him to
start the car before we could be
attacked further. Fortunately, the
car responded and we moved
ahead. Police station ‘B’ was on
the road itself just before the gur-
dwara. There was a big crowd and
they were pelting the police sta-
tion with stones. I left the car and
got into the police station to help
the men inside. There was only
one entrance to the police station
and we had locked it from inside.
However, there were a couple of
windows on either side of the door
which the crowd was trying to
damage.
Meanwhile, the then Inspector
General of Punjab Police, BS
Danewalia, also reached the police
station and a major confrontation
of the windows was completely
damaged, but the steel bars were
still in place. We were trying to
keep the crowd away from this
window in order to prevent them
from breaking it completely. As
this dingdong battle was going on,
a Nihang Singh arrived on the
scene with a long spear in his
hand. He began to repeatedly
thrust the spear through the win-
dow and accompanying every
such attempt raising a slogan,
“Raaj karega Khalsa” (Khalsa will
rule). Every time he did this, we
had to retreat from the window as
we did not want to use lethal force
against the Nihang and the crowd
outside because emotions were
riding high and any strict action
on our part would have further
aggravated the situation.
In the meantime, the procession
carrying the bodies was fast
approaching and we wanted to get
out and reach the cremation
ground to supervise the arrange-
ments.
The Nihang Singh continued his
I
it is the Khalsa who is ruling the
state).” The DIG wanted to convey N these times, what
to him that there was an Akali else can one write about
government in the state and but the dreaded C
hence there was no need for the word? I am sure that
Nihang to make this demand. like all of us, you too
The Nihang came to a halt and we have had your share of
could literally see the wheels
turning in his mind to understand
rumour, humour and panic
clog your phone. Neverthe-
the statement. Luckily for us, he less, it is time all of us woke
replied to the DIG by saying: “Gal up to the fact that there is a
taa twadi theek hai (what you are very real possibility we may
saying is correct).” The Nihang become the next epicentre of
left the place and so did most of this terrible virus. The PM’s
the crowd outside. address to the nation was a
Meanwhile, our enforcements
also arrived and the situation was
good balance between infor-
mation and advice and
defused. The then DIG, DS Man- should have permeated to
gat, had pulled us out of a very every community. Yet, only
difficult situation with his timely time will tell how many will
wit. He was also known for his abide by its message of social
phlegmatic sense of humour and distancing and care.
his one-liners were always deliv- The morning’s paper had
ered with a very straight face. distressing pictures of people
This was potentially a very seri- holding ‘lockdown parties’
ous situation and this dose of on beaches and neighbour-
humour won the day for all of us. hoods. This, despite several of
— The writer is ex-chairman of them being in severely affect-
UPSC & former Manipur Governor ed countries such as Spain
and USA. The arrogance of
the West never ceases to
amaze me. It is as if they imag-
problems and warning of
fearful consequences that
will follow unsustainable
development. Sir David
Attenborough and Greta
Thunberg draw large audi-
ences, but within a few hours
of their pleadings, we go back
to life as usual. If nothing
else, this crisis ought to
encourage a change of
lifestyles. Gandhiji lived by
the message he preached:
how many leaders today
qualify to be so honest and
fearless? I can think of only
one or two.
The other interesting trend I
have noticed is that adversity
either brings out the best in us
or the worst. Look at the way
our medical staff, safai karm-
charis and public transport
and airline staff, to mention
just a few, have risen to the
challenge. Sadly, they are far
outmatched by those who
only think of themselves and
lead to depleted shelves in
shops and supermarkets. In
India, thankfully, we still cook
the food our families eat. In

Runaway ambition can be a virus ine that just because they are
fair-skinned and well-off, they
will be granted immunity
from such outbreaks. In their
worldview, these are diseases
most developed countries,
eating out and ordering is the
norm. Many young profes-
sionals there have forgotten
how to cook large family

M
UMBAI wears a deserted
look! I was born in this city
and have lived here for
most of my 91 years. So I
should know. During riots when cur-
few was imposed, one could
encounter near-empty or empty
TRYSTS AND TURNS streets. The coronavirus, simply the
JULIO RIBEIRO fear of catching it, has made people
stay indoors. Though curfew has not
been announced!
With the lollipop Many, like my wife and I, have vol-
untarily chosen quarantine at home.
offered to former CJI The government ordered schools and
Gogoi, people must gird colleges to close till March-end. Cine-
ma houses, malls and sports arenas
themselves for other are shut. Then the government’s
own offices decided to work with
respected judges skeleton staff, ensuring that trains
succumbing to such and buses ran with only the most
intrepid of adventurous commuters.
temptations, thereby Finally religious services in temples
and churches have stopped.
sounding the death- The silver lining is that there is now
knell of justice in the plenty of time to catch up on my read-
ing. On my 90th birthday last year,
India of our dreams close relatives gave me a book each
as a gift. I finished reading all except
the one gifted by my own brother —
Raghuram Rajan’s The Third Pillar.
I hope to finish it this week since I
have all the time needed to do so!
Incidentally, I take much pride in
being the batchmate of Raghuram's
father, Govindrajan, who was the top-
per of the 1953 IPS batch. He was
only 20 when he appeared for the
competitive exam. That was allowed
in the early 1950s. If he had been 21,
he could have competed for the IAS
and topped! The IAS topper of 1953
was way behind Govindrajan and the
second in our batch, Anand Kumar
Verma, who was also 20!
Former CJI Ranjan Gogoi (L) has drawn criticism by accepting RS membership. PTI
Raghuram’s writings reflect the
character of the man. The moral and
the ethical matter to him more than
position and status. I thought to
myself that if he had been by chance
the CJI, he would not have ever
thought of accepting a Rajya Sabha
membership like the recent incum-
bent of that high office has done,
demeaning both himself and the
institution thereby. Ambition can
also be a virus! And runaway ambi-
tion worse than the corona!
Value systems have changed dra-
matically over the decades post Inde-
pendence. I have noticed, for
instance, that today many IPS
entrants are willing to sacrifice their
dignity and honour to please political
masters at the cost of their fealty to
the law and the Constitution and
even their own principles! If their
own advancement in careers
depends on sycophancy, they will go
the whole hog at the cost of their own
countrymen, who they conveniently
forget at such times. And yet these
new entrants are certainly more
knowledgeable than we ever were
and probably even more intelligent!
Justice Gogoi may not have had the
intellect of a Vivian Bose or a VR
Krishna Iyer, but lawyers who have
appeared before him did not com-
plain of a lack of grasp of details or
the finer points of law. Where he has
now been judged by the common
man as wanting is in his value sys-
tem, which even his own senior ex-
colleagues have sadly found wanting.
The present dispensation has gone
about systematically eroding our
institutions like the police, the
bureaucracy and the media. It has
succeeded in depriving the Election
Commission of the high pedestal on
which TN Seshan had placed it. The
Army and the judiciary are two insti-
tutions left on which hapless citizens
rely in times of stress. Alas, they are
being relentlessly besieged. With the
lollipop offered to former CJI Gogoi,
the people must gird themselves for
other respected judges succumbing
to such temptations, thereby sound-
ing the death-knell of justice in the
India of our dreams.
The Congress government was not
averse to the temptation to appoint
largely pliant judges. At close quar-
ters as Adviser to the Governor of
Punjab, I had seen Governor Sid-
dharth Shankar Ray, a successful
lawyer from the Calcutta Bar and a
known loyalist of the Gandhi clan,
nursing the ambitions of local judges
and lawyers in the pursuit of a judici-
ary working in close consort with the
executive — a goal set for himself by
Justice Gogoi in his new role of a
Rajya Sabha MP!
The difference between the present
government and the old ‘natural par-
ty of governance’ is that the Con-
gress was wary of being found out,
whereas the BJP is ready with all
guns blazing to defend the indefensi-
ble. The BJP has, in fact, perfected to
a fine art the practice of justifying all
its acts of omission and commission.
And while political machinations
continue in their naked pursuit of
power, we the people of India are left
to suffer injustices for which no
remedies will be available in the
near future! Unless our Supreme
Court and High Court judges start
disliking lollipops!
that occur only in poor, unde-
veloped parts of the world.
Dreaded malaria epidemics,
cholera, Zika, bubonic plague,
Ebola may have affected the
poorer countries, but we
learnt our lessons well. Cities
like Surat and Indore are now
free of the filth that earlier
caused plague and cholera.
And now look at what hap-
pened all over Europe and
America, because they did not
take preventive action in time.
Is it only me, or do you also
sense that nature is sending
us a message through a spate
of misfortunes to draw our
attention? Unprecedented
floods and earthquakes, rag-
ing bushfires, avalanches and
freak snowfalls, hailstorms in
Spring and locust invasions?
I was reminded of the Seven
Plagues of Egypt mentioned
in the Old Testament, in the
Book of Exodus. According to
my recall of it, rivers turned
bloody, fish died, frogs invad-
ed the earth, locusts devastat-
ed crops and then came the
plague that killed thousands.
The Jews believed this was
the wrath of their God that
was visited on the cruel
Pharoahs of Egypt and sent
Moses to lead them out of
there to the Promised Land.
Are we any different from
the barbaric Pharoahs men-
tioned there? For decades, if
not centuries, we have poi-
soned the very earth that sup-
ports us. Human greed has
meals and sit down together
to eat them. As schools close
down, young parents are
going crazy trying to entertain
ebullient kids indoors. My
own children send me pitiful
pictures of their tsunami-hit
homes as my grandchildren
romp around.
We all need to take a deep
breath and reorient ourselves
to a change in our lifestyles.
This epidemic can become a
learning experience too. Quite
apart from the lessons of
hygiene that we are all now
giving our staff and follow
ourselves (washing hands, not
touching each other, et al),
there is some merit in adopt-
ing a code of social etiquette
that was always followed here.
Food and behavioural taboos
had some merit and logic: per-
haps it is time to reflect on the
wisdom of age-old practices
and introduce them into our
lives once more, without the
taint of caste and creed.
Finally, I am delighted that
friends who had stopped read-
ing are now asking for recom-
mendations of books. Recipes
are being swapped as more
and more prepare themselves
for the day when they may
have to say a temporary good-
bye to their kitchen help. As
for senior citizens like us, the
best advice is to stay at home,
read, listen to music and write
long loving mails to all your
dear ones.
Happy hunkering down!

Why not make gambling legal, with regulations?

M
OST of us Indians, especially the chance and bravado. Indeed, gambling dur- roulette are not. But what about poker and
educated middle class, lead dou- ing Diwali is widely considered auspicious bridge? Many would consider them as
ble lives. We preach one thing, as it emulates the cosmic interplay between demanding more ‘skill’ than ‘teen patti’.
but practice just the opposite. We a Hindu god and goddess. Still, it is illegal! There are other grey areas that have not
are basically humbugs, or to put it more Actually, the law on gambling in India been properly addressed, the biggest one
crudely, hypocrites. I was reminded of this goes back to the Victorian era and was perhaps being online gambling. There are
when reading about the Goa government’s enacted in 1867 (it was called ‘The Public online casinos catering especially to Indi-
MY TAKE latest stand on casinos. If you have seen the Gaming Act of 1867’), a time when the ans. Online poker is also big business, with
RAHUL SINGH James Bond films, you will know that casi- British wreathed themselves in puritan millions of dollars at stake.
nos are establishments where gambling superiority. They imposed this puritanical A word on Islam’s view of gambling. Basi-
takes place: roulette, blackjack and slot ethos on their colonies as well. Incredibly, cally, Islam forbids gambling. The Koran
The Public Gaming machines being the most popular. You can that Act still applies in India, even though categorises ‘games of chance’ as a ‘grave
ISTOCK

win a fortune but also go bankrupt.
Act of 1867 still Goa is one of the few states in India —
applies in India, even Sikkim is another one — that allows casinos
and gambling. The Bharatiya Janata Party-
though the British led coalition is in power in Goa. It has
repeatedly said over the years that it will
have moved on and it close down these casinos. In fact, the late
no longer holds good Manohar Parrikar, probably the longest-
serving BJP Chief Minister in Goa, and per-
in the UK itself haps the best CM the state has ever had,
once called them ‘dens of vice’ and ‘a
social evil’, vowing to close them down
when he was in the Opposition. However,
once in power, it was a different story. The
casinos thrived. The same hypocritical sto-
ry is being repeated under another CM, also
of the BJP, Pramod Sawant.
‘ From February 1, we are stopping all the
original Goans from entering casinos,’ he
Goa is one of the few states in India — Sikkim is another one — that allows casinos and gambling.
declared a day earlier. ‘They will be banned.’
‘Original Goans’ — who on earth are
they? We are now at the end of March, but no
signs of a ban on ‘original Goans’ entering
casinos. In any case, why should Goans,
original or not, be banned and non-Goans
allowed to gamble? Are Goans so weak-
willed that they’ll go wild and lose heavily
while non-Goans are much stronger mental-
ly? That amounts to running down your
own people, virtually saying they are in
some ways inferior to others when it comes
to behaviour while gambling (incidentally,
Nepal too bans its own people from casinos).
Don’t get me wrong. I am not against casi-
nos or gambling, only against double stan-
dards. Gambling is enshrined in Hindu
mythology. Shiva and his consort, Parvati,
gambled, using dice (she usually won).
There are ancient sculptures in Ellora and
elsewhere testifying to this, as well as pas-
sages in the Hindu scriptures. Parvati even
said that those who gambled on the night of
Diwali would prosper while those who did
not would become donkeys. Which is why
gambling is common, at least in North
India, during Diwali, though it is illegal.
Thousands of crores, much of it black mon-
ey, is spent by millions, playing ‘teen patti’,
what is also called ‘flush’, a game of pure
the British have moved on and it no longer
holds good in the UK itself. Presently, gam-
bling is legal in the UK for anybody above
18 years of age. What’s more, there is no tax
in the UK on winnings in Bingo, lotteries,
horse-racing, casinos, etc.
Despite the 1867 Act, fortunately there are
no specific gambling laws in India and
every state can do what it likes. Which is
why horse-racing, with betting, is permitted
in Maharashtra, casinos have come up in
Goa and Sikkim, and several states have
legalised lotteries. In 1996, the Supreme
Court tried to clarify matters but the issue
got even more complicated. In effect, it
ruled that ‘a competition that substantially
depends on skill is not gaming’. Rummy
and horse-racing are considered as being
‘skilled’, whereas lotteries, ‘teen patti’ and
sin’ and an ‘abomination of Satan’s hand-
iwork’. But here, too, there is a great deal of
hypocrisy. The Dubai World Cup, which I
have been to, is one of the most talked and
written about horse races in the world, with
$10 million as prize money. Many more mil-
lions of dollars are actually bet on the race,
even though there is no betting at the ven-
ue itself. It is all done behind closed doors in
the Emirate, and overseas.
The Indian Law Commission in May 2017
invited public opinion, asking if gambling
should be legalised. One has not heard if
there was any response. Of course, gam-
bling should be made legit, with regula-
tions, needless to say. The British have
moved on since 1867, with legal betting
shops all over the country. We should too.
— The writer is a veteran journalist