When his life was suddenly cut short by a bigoted assassin the government declared its resolve to crush any attempt to disturb the pluralistic foundations of our society. Speaking at Gandhiji's first death anniversary, Nehru reiterated that lawless elements would not be allowed to create chaos and everything done to ensure the primacy of the police and magistracy in enforcing law and order in the country.

Fifty-one years have elapsed since Gandhiji's assassination. Our population has grown about three fold; half our people are illiterate and about one third are still struggling to cross the poverty line. Our body politic has failed to uphold the rule of law and the country faces grave problems on many fronts, including those of growingviolence.

The progressive decline of governance can be traced to various factors. An all important reason has been that those entrusted with governance have diverted from the tasks of nation building and ruling by the law. In their endless pursuit of retaining power at any cost, political parties have exploited religion and caste to secure electoral gains. These divisive approaches have led to communal confrontations and the emergence of sectarian alignments. The systematic politicisation of governmental functioning has contributed to the ruination of vital public institutions and debilitating the administrative apparatus in the states. The politicians consider the public services inefficient and dishonest and responsible for thwarting the developmental process. All failures cannot be attributed entirely to a bureaucracy which has been politicised and misused to subserve short-term political objectives.

In the wake of the recent atrocities against the Christians the PM has, in his recent address to thenation, stressed his commitment to the laws of the land being effectively enforced without any exception. Considering the current predilections of the leadership in the states and the serious gaps in the law and order machineries run by them, it is indeed difficult to perceive how the PM's promise can be fulfilled. For far too long now there has been a dichotomy in the political pronouncements and the actual management of law and order situations on the ground. Earlier carnages in various parts of the country are still fresh in the public mind. Despite the most serious consequences of the gross failures which led to the demolition of the Babri Masjid nothing has been done to re-invigorate the administrative apparatus, specially that which is responsible for the

maintenance of internal security.

The people of India live in thousands of towns and lakhs of villages, not all connected with transport and communication systems. Any plan to safeguard the security of a near billion people cannot obviously bebased on the deployment of police forces in and around every habitat. The prospects of communal violence shall get significantly diminished if the political parties do not disrupt societal harmony by indulging in inflammatory rhetoric and give up their divisive activities. This will not be enough.

They must display consistent respect for the law. No society can claim to be civil unless the conduct of the rulers and the ruled is founded in a value system and conforms to the laws of the land, every offender being punished without discrimination.

If our society and polity were schooled in respect for the law we would not have to witness the sad spectacle of enthusiastic sainiks merrily digging up the Ferozeshah Kotla cricket pitch under the silent watch of two policemen and a television crew! Nor would we have to bear with the ultimatum of a Bombay leader that he would never allow a Pakistani team to set foot on Indian soil!

If we want order to prevail and our numerous communities to live

harmoniously no further time must be lost in fully restoring the role and responsibility of the law and order machinery in the states and the influence and direction of the Centre. We cannot afford any failure in the effective functioning of the laid down systems. For this to happen we must restore the credibility of those who comprise the system. Recently, a Christian missionary and his two sons were brutally murdered in Baripada, a remote village in Orissa. So total is the loss of trust in the integrity of the existing system -- from the district magistrate to the chief minister and state high court -- that a serving judge of the Supreme Court had to be appointed to identify the influences behind the murder. And the Union Home Minister had to undertake a special mission to subdue the recalcitrant leader in Bombay. Such eventualities would hardly ever arise if those primarily responsible were left free to enforce the law and the functioning of their superiors was beyond doubt.

The law enforcementmachinery in the states will deliver if every official involved in its functioning, from the constable upwards, is at complete liberty to fearlessly enforce the law and left in no doubt whatsoever that he shall be held responsible for any failure to do so. For this to happen the Centre and the states need to take urgent action to depoliticise the management of the law and order machinery and allow the police and magistracy to discharge their roles unfettered and be held responsible for any default.