For the past few days, the Internet has been going crazy with all of the CAA debate rolling in and the viral stories of protests breaking to our devices. The rhetoric of blame-game is the only thing being fed to our channels and social media timelines.
But there is one thing that no one has questioned until now: the impact of protests. I just want to ask WHY people are not thinking and analyzing the repercussions of an ill-staged protest? Can we afford to ignore the impact of protests on us when protests are the only ‘constant’ thing in our changing lives?
1. Economic Impact: As per the reports of the Institute for Economics and Peace, violence cost the nation nearly $1.2 trillion, or 9% of its GDP in 2017. This translates to a rough estimate of ₹40,000 for every person in India. Can you believe it? A country where only around 5–6 crore individuals pay taxes out of the population of 1.3 billion, the country is losing out ₹40,000 on every single person due to the violence. In the latest update of December 31st, Indian Railways brought an estimate of ₹80 crores damage to its property during the CAA protest. While Eastern Railway suffered a damage of ₹70 crores, North-Eastern Frontier Railway saw the damage of ₹10 crores.
2. Social Impact: Protests have not only created a fearful environment in the normal lives of people, but it has also disrupted the harmony of the society. Every second day, one or the other part of our nation is reeling under the protest.
3. Infrastructural Impact: Protests have, over time, proved that they engulf everything in their way. Right from the vehicles to public property, protestors just come down heavily with a rampage mode on the law and order facilities.
4. Cultural Impact: These protests also lead to distrust in the ethnic and cultural, and secular fabric of our nation. Act of a few creates fear in the minds of many.
5. Mental Impact: A fear-psychosis begins circulating in the nation whenever protests start happening. People stop sending their wards to schools. People start missing out on their colleges or jobs. This leads to the loss in productivity, which further hurts the narrative of our peace. The regular protests are also making our Indian mindset tolerant of such situations. Now, whenever we glue ourselves to TV sets and see such news, we just say “Iss Desh mein bas yahi hoti rehta hai.”
I agree that India, as a nation, was born in the wake of protests and political strikes or hartals or demonstrations or dharna ever since its struggling days under British rule. And that legacy is continuing to this very day where the only solution for us is to come out on the streets and start blocking the roads. But my question is,
How Fair Is This For Everyone?
I’ll share a true story of someone I know. I don’t want to bore anyone with any personal details, but a relative of mine has a small business in a tier-2 city, which is currently witnessing massive protests. He has to travel every month to Delhi for picking up supplies for his work. But due to the protests, he is unable to come to the national capital. Due to this, he is losing orders. The sudden shrinkage of raw materials is also rendering his ability to deliver on his previous orders. Moreover, it is affecting his wages and also his ability to pay to his employees.
Who is responsible for this? Can anyone answer?
People need to understand how these protestors are not just a dynamic play between an issue and a system, rather, it encompasses a larger section of stakeholders in its premise, ranging from commoners to big business players. So just protest peacefully, in a civilized manner, so that no single soul has to bear the cost of your activism.
Who is responsible for a mother’s concern whose daughter gets stuck in a traffic jam because of the road-block in a no-network area? Who is responsible for the loss of someone’s peace of mind just because some people are protesting on the streets?
I am not against anyone’s activism or ridiculing their cause. But raising your voice is an art, no matter how small or big the issue is. So, it should be practiced in such a way that our demands hit our target group’s ears and not escape the system and hurt others. I am a student of public administration discipline and I clearly understand the constitutional provisions to the very core, therefore, I am not the one to comment on the legality of the protest or anyone’s right to express their opinion. Article 19 has given us all a beautiful option of expressing our thoughts; therefore, abridging it is not what I will advocate. And I must say, there is a way to protest and raise one’s voice.
Youth is generally linked with a spirit of revolutionary zeal, but as a youth, I think that zeal becomes a thing of secondary importance if the manner of raising demands is not right. The ultimate aim is to influence the policymakers to frame the policies according to the will of people, but coercing them to tune into our demands is not very healthy. I believe that can lead to a very different result such as repression or suppression.
Anyone with a loud voice can get up and ask, ‘so we should let the government act in any dictatorial way it wants to?’ My answer is a humble no. I am just requesting people to protest peacefully. And not only to people, but my plead is to the Police personnel, too, who sometimes behave mercilessly in such situations. It’s not just about the protestors but also about those who handle these incidents. Every authority related to these incidents should act responsibly. Neither hooliganism should be allowed in the name of activism, nor any kind of state violence should be sponsored to curb the dissent.
It is easy to get carried away with the situation, and if someone hits us, we tend to hit them harder. Isn’t that the exact thing happening on the streets in our city nowadays? Where are the ideals of Gandhiji gone? (I am not targeting any single person or a single university or a single authority for inciting violence or creating a ruckus out on streets.) But I wanna ask for how many days our protests will keep hurting the lives of those who are just struggling to survive to make both their ends meet?
Not everyone is concerned about the political opinion to give a damn about the ideology that our state is turning to. Some of our countrymen are just working for their families and trying to give their loved ones a better life. They, too, are contributing to the GDP of this nation, and they also enjoy their “Right to silence” under Article 19.
People are burning a random person’s vehicle in protest; setting shops on fire for no reason. Just try to understand that for some individuals, that shop means everything, a sole way of subsistence, a decent way of earning, a hope to a better future, a tiny thread of opportunities. And you just come marching with your slogans and light that all in few seconds?
I express my thanks to Kangana Ranaut for expressing such a clear and righteous statement over the issue. Finally, someone has spoken on the issue that matters. Kangana Ranaut said, “When you protest, the first thing that’s important is that you don’t turn violent. In our population, only 3-4% people pay taxes, others are actually dependent on them. So, who gives you the right to burn buses, trains and to create ruckus in the country?”
So, please do protest by all means. Carry your agenda in a way that it tears down the problem, not someone’s lives.