Dramatic but inadequate

The second mafia killing of a big businessman in Mumbai within a week has created considerable public concern about the state of law and or...

The second mafia killing of a big businessman in Mumbai within a week has created considerable public concern about the state of law and order in the metropolis.

A well-executed strike in the state capital8217;s prime commercial and high-security government district is bound to revive memories of the conditions prevailing in the city in 1993 when the police force proved unequal to mobsters and criminals.

The Maharashtra Government8217;s response reveals it is acutely conscious of the political implications of not appearing to crack down hard enough on the mafia. Not only does it have to take account of public perceptions within the State. It knows the Centre has been keeping a watchful eye on Maharashtra ever since the outrageous shooting down of Dalits last month.

What has followed has certainly been swift and dramatic: a shake-up of the state police at senior levels, the re-arrest of gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli and the deaths of three of his cronies in a police shoot-out. But these measures in themselves are insufficient to rebuild public confidence. Positive results by way of the rounding-up and prosecution of more members of the underworld will need to be seen.

All the re-postings of senior police officials have clearly not been dictated by the need for more competence. What the unprecedented size of the reshuffle is intended to do is demonstrate the government8217;s determination to put an end to gangland8217;s depredations. Some political calculation is also apparent here. BJP leader Gopinath Munde, who has responsibility for law and order but whose advice on senior police postings was neither sought nor heeded in the last two years, has managed to compel Chief Minister Manohar Joshi to replace Mumbai8217;s Commissioner of Police. The implication is that from now onwards, the BJP will have to share responsibility with the Shiv Sena for the performance or otherwise of the city8217;s police. This may prove useful for law enforcement officers. The foremost task of the new chief of Mumbai8217;s police will be to resist political pressures whatever the source. Political interference with police work has reached scandalous proportions and is one of the key reasons for successive failures to deal with organised crime in the city.

Much more will have to be done to turn the police into an effective force. But the whole responsibility for beating the crime wave in Mumbai does not rest with the police. Apart from some sections of businessmen severing their links with the underworld, a change in the political culture has never been more essential. Union Home Minister Indrajit Gupta is not far wrong when he says,8220;When you create a whole body of hoodlums and criminals, they do not always abide by your wishes or instructions8221;. What Maharashtra8217;s politicians ought to give serious thought to is cracking down on the mafia and its patrons. The fear is not that the Centre will abandon caution and make use of Article 356. The real fear is that the incipient signs of gang warfare in the recent spate of killings will develop an uncontrollable momentum.