G20 and the lockdown syndrome

Deepak Sinha

A veteran paratrooper and consultant with the Observer Research Foundation, Deepak writes on matters of military and broader security concerns. His blog Para Phrase will seek to unravel issues in the security domain without fear or favour, mainly from a military perspective. 

It truly is distressing that not only has Delhi been declared the most polluted city in the world, but what is worse, its inhabitants have been reduced to mere puppets by a government that has little respect either for its citizens or their rights. Mr. Modi’s public apology notwithstanding, how can a government even conceive of shutting down a city because it is hosting a few world leaders? If one were to go by such precedents, then a city like New York, where the United Nations is headquartered, and where the General Assembly meets annually with scores of Heads of State in attendance, would be shut in perpetuity. 

The last one had heard of inhabitants of a city being stopped from going about their daily business, or being displaced from their homes, was in Beijing, when it hosted the Summer Olympics in 2008. Lest we forget, China was then, and continues to be run by a communist dictatorship that has no respect of life or liberty and ensures compliance through the use of sheer force. We, on the other hand, continue to proclaim our democratic credentials every chance we get. Among them, citizens have the right to go about their business as they please without a heavy-handed government behaving in a dictatorial manner. 

In any case, what exactly is Mr. Modi trying to showcase? All his efforts cannot hide the fact that we live in a country where a substantial portion of our citizens are bereft of the basic amenities that the developed world takes for granted. But that is nothing to be ashamed of, because by the time the British finally departed after two hundred years of stay, they had reduced one of the richest countries in the world to absolute poverty. If anyone should be ashamed, it should be them, for their utter depravity and the wholesale depredation they left behind, all in the name of civilising us natives. 

If anything, Mr. Modi and his government should have evinced great pride at the tremendous progress we have made in in the past seventy-five years since we gained freedom, especially the transformation under his stewardship over the last decade.  Instead of hiding behind a façade he should have let the world see us as we are, warts and all. Instead, ironically, we are witness to, in what can only be described as a colonial mindset, is a bizarre attempt to impress our former colonial masters and the other fair Demi-Gods who are attending the G-20 summit. The fact that the British are today led by an Indian and half the leaders are people of colour makes it even more ludicrous.

Ofcourse attempts will be made to make us believe that the prevailing international security environment has prompted the government to act in the manner that it has. That is truly laughable, as most of leaders attending the summit have been elected by their own citizens and its unlikely that any of them wish them any harm, least of all in a foreign country. On the other hand, surely the government is not suggesting that we are beset by terrorist groups out to embarrass us. That would go to suggest we live in a pretty unstable environment and the government feels it doesn’t fully have a handle on the situation. 

As we all know such a perception is far from true and probably those responsible for security, lacking professional competence, ability and self-belief must have convinced the government to take these steps. Whatever their reasons instead of making us look a strong, self- confident and stable country have, by their actions, made us be perceived as the opposite. No chest thumping or displays of martial ingenuity will change that.

One is also not quite clear as to why all resentment against the actions of the government have remained bottled up with no adverse comments appearing in the media. After all some of those who earn a daily wage must be adversely affected. Are we truly so uncaring and unconcerned, only interested in the long holiday that we have been presented? Finally, let us not forget that this is not the first Summit attended by Heads of State that have been held here in this country, and nor will it be the last. This over-the-top action of the government suggests that Mr. Modi has his eyes focused on the domestic polity. It is an attempt to show him as a powerful and suave man of action, a James Bond like figure who will sacrifice everything to keep our flag flying high. Loss of freedom for a few days would then be well worth the sacrifice for a cause as great as this, wouldn’t it? If it helps at the hustings so be it.