Politics of hurt

Harvinder Singh has ample time to consider the consequences of his actions. Remanded to judicial custody,he faces charges ranging from an attempt to suicide to criminal intimidation. On Thursday,he “slapped” Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar at a function in Delhi. Such attacks by individuals on public figures can be motivated by a variety of reasons — temporary loss of equilibrium due to personal distress,a need to be in the media glare,a narcissist conviction that one could be a change agent,even conspiracy — and it would be pointless and also unfair to speculate about Singh. The fact is that he broke the law by assaulting another human being — he must bear the legal consequences.

What is striking,however,is the lack of proportion and even sobriety in much of the reaction to the incident. Pawar’s party,the NCP,organised sporadic protests in Maharashtra and even called for a Pune bandh. Some party workers even stalked Singh and tried to assault him at Delhi’s Patiala House court. Pawar,a politician with long experience,must know that it is in his power to offer wise counsel to his party workers,that such affectations of hurt by them neither cut much ice nor do they enhance his dignity.

But if NCP activists have shown little patience in allowing the law to take its course and affirming their faith in it,Team Anna has shown a reluctance to see a case of unprovoked assault simply in terms of the law. For all their conviction that legislation is the key tool for cleansing the system,their comments have been less than civil. “Only one slap?” were the first words from Anna Hazare,who spent all his energies thereafter trying to recover a Gandhian moral high ground by arguing that he did not intend what his words conveyed. One of his associates,Kiran Bedi,used the incident to warn lawmakers of the “pent-up anger” that could spill on to the streets if a Lokpal bill were not passed. All round,it has been a dispiriting display of intimidation over nuance.