It is a beautiful sight to see the corporate media, the opposition parties and even the Congress that has brought the Aam Aadmi Party to power in Delhi joining hands with feminists and left-liberals to bring down the new party by concentrating on one wrong call. They all have their reasons. Is it beyond plausibility that the media, ideologically or financially bought over by Campaign Modi, was more than a little upset that the AAP wave was starting to hurt the Dear Leader?
Perhaps it's more than that. Few of Delhi’s journalists will know where Sagarpur in West Delhi is, but they do know where Khirki village is: in the heart of elite South Delhi, next to a mall, and famous for a fancy art studio. This past week, they have gone on and on about Khirki for good reasons, but ignored Sagarpur. In both places, the new AAP government in Delhi tried to prove a point. It blundered in Khirki, so the media has gone after it. Black and white narratives demand ignoring the other side of the story. For the media, the AAP can be either heroic or evil. Complexity is the enemy of TV ratings.
But Neha Yadav would be grateful to the AAP, even as she lies in Safdarjung Hospital with 45 per cent burns. Her six-year-old son wakes up remembering the horror of seeing his mother being set on fire by her in-laws. The burns on her neck, chest and waist are so severe that she may not survive. Even after 11 years of marriage, she was being harassed for dowry. The real reason was that they wanted her to leave the house and divorce the husband so he could marry someone else. The local police knew about this case because neighbours had told them of the continuing torture and harassment of Neha Yadav. And yet, when Neha Yadav was set ablaze, the police was so lax that it let the in-laws flee (for, some allege, a bribe).
This is nothing extraordinary for policing by South Asian standards, except that in another place, the protesting neighbours and Neha Yadav’s parents could have gone to the local legislator and the chief minister, or just the local representative of the ruling party and put pressure on the police. Except that in Delhi, the ruling party does not control the police. The Delhi chief minister is India’s only CM who does not control the police. The Delhi police reports to the Ministry of Home Affairs. Since Delhi is the capital and Delhi police has to guard the embassies and ensure Barack Obama’s security when he comes, Neha Yadav had to suffer police apathy.
India’s feminist movement has a long history of struggle against bride burning, but that didn’t help Neha Yadav. We don’t see any of Delhi’s feisty feminists protest or express outrage for Neha Yadav, let alone the insensitive TRP-hungry media. That’s because they have all decided that the AAP is evil, and the evil party intervened in the Neha Yadav case and made sure the police was forced to find the absconding in-laws.
Another intervention the AAP government made in Khirki village was to ask the police to apprehend African residents allegedly trading drugs and involved in prostitution. Laws against narcotics and trafficking of women do not require a warrant, yet it has been falsely said that the AAP was asking the Delhi police to conduct raids despite lacking a warrant. However, AAP’s law minister did say racist things against Africans, and this is indeed a case of the party pandering to local racist sentiment against Africans. It demonstrates the dangers of ‘giving power to the people’. Great pressure from the media and activists is making the AAP rethink the dangers of eulogising ‘the people’ as though the people can’t be wrong.
But even so, doesn't AAP deserve credit for thinking about Neha Yadav, and for generally showing up Delhi police’s apathy to citizens, and making the point that the police force of a city of 16 million people should be answerable to its citizens and not to the central government? That, it would seem, would be to give the party too much credit.
The pro-establishment media and intellectuals are very uncomfortable with AAP changing the old order. The old elite are unhappy that their powers are going away. Obviously, the Union home ministry does not want to lose control of the Delhi police. So they've united to find a stick or two to beat the AAP with, hoping to discredit it enough until nobody wants the Home Ministry to let the Delhi police be accountable to Delhi’s residents.
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Perhaps it's more than that. Few of Delhi’s journalists will know where Sagarpur in West Delhi is, but they do know where Khirki village is: in the heart of elite South Delhi, next to a mall, and famous for a fancy art studio. This past week, they have gone on and on about Khirki for good reasons, but ignored Sagarpur. In both places, the new AAP government in Delhi tried to prove a point. It blundered in Khirki, so the media has gone after it. Black and white narratives demand ignoring the other side of the story. For the media, the AAP can be either heroic or evil. Complexity is the enemy of TV ratings.
But Neha Yadav would be grateful to the AAP, even as she lies in Safdarjung Hospital with 45 per cent burns. Her six-year-old son wakes up remembering the horror of seeing his mother being set on fire by her in-laws. The burns on her neck, chest and waist are so severe that she may not survive. Even after 11 years of marriage, she was being harassed for dowry. The real reason was that they wanted her to leave the house and divorce the husband so he could marry someone else. The local police knew about this case because neighbours had told them of the continuing torture and harassment of Neha Yadav. And yet, when Neha Yadav was set ablaze, the police was so lax that it let the in-laws flee (for, some allege, a bribe).
This is nothing extraordinary for policing by South Asian standards, except that in another place, the protesting neighbours and Neha Yadav’s parents could have gone to the local legislator and the chief minister, or just the local representative of the ruling party and put pressure on the police. Except that in Delhi, the ruling party does not control the police. The Delhi chief minister is India’s only CM who does not control the police. The Delhi police reports to the Ministry of Home Affairs. Since Delhi is the capital and Delhi police has to guard the embassies and ensure Barack Obama’s security when he comes, Neha Yadav had to suffer police apathy.
India’s feminist movement has a long history of struggle against bride burning, but that didn’t help Neha Yadav. We don’t see any of Delhi’s feisty feminists protest or express outrage for Neha Yadav, let alone the insensitive TRP-hungry media. That’s because they have all decided that the AAP is evil, and the evil party intervened in the Neha Yadav case and made sure the police was forced to find the absconding in-laws.
Another intervention the AAP government made in Khirki village was to ask the police to apprehend African residents allegedly trading drugs and involved in prostitution. Laws against narcotics and trafficking of women do not require a warrant, yet it has been falsely said that the AAP was asking the Delhi police to conduct raids despite lacking a warrant. However, AAP’s law minister did say racist things against Africans, and this is indeed a case of the party pandering to local racist sentiment against Africans. It demonstrates the dangers of ‘giving power to the people’. Great pressure from the media and activists is making the AAP rethink the dangers of eulogising ‘the people’ as though the people can’t be wrong.
But even so, doesn't AAP deserve credit for thinking about Neha Yadav, and for generally showing up Delhi police’s apathy to citizens, and making the point that the police force of a city of 16 million people should be answerable to its citizens and not to the central government? That, it would seem, would be to give the party too much credit.
The pro-establishment media and intellectuals are very uncomfortable with AAP changing the old order. The old elite are unhappy that their powers are going away. Obviously, the Union home ministry does not want to lose control of the Delhi police. So they've united to find a stick or two to beat the AAP with, hoping to discredit it enough until nobody wants the Home Ministry to let the Delhi police be accountable to Delhi’s residents.
