Uniform standards

After much controversy over his handling of the violence at Azad Maidan,Mumbai police chief Arup Patnaik has been promoted into irrelevance. He will now head the Maharashtra Rajya Suraksha Mahamandal MRSM,a fledgling police department that will handle VIP security. In the Azad Maidan incident,Patnaik has been blamed for failing to act to stop the violence by a mob,and praised by those who saw restraint as the wiser course of action,given the context of communal tension in the city. Either way,he had become a polarising figure,and his transfer seems to have been an attempt to stanch the controversy.

But why stop here? If Mumbai Police has suffered a crisis of credibility,it certainly precedes the Azad Maidan episode,and much of the blame also attaches to the man who practically helms the force,Maharashtra Home Minister R.R. Patil. He has personalised his interaction with the police,made it jump to his bidding. Any why would it not? After all,the home minister fully controls police transfers and postings,disregarding the choices of senior officers and not respecting their prerogative to manage their own force. This erodes their authority,and saps the morale and professionalism of the entire police force. Their capacity to respond to events is inevitably affected. Politics has seeped so deeply into the police that it seemed to be no big deal when a constable smilingly gave MNS chief Raj Thackeray a rose,after his defiant rally in Azad Maidan. R.R. Patil must bear some of the responsibility for this sorry state of affairs.

Patils record in governance speaks for itself. He had to resign as home minister after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks,which he had described as one of the little things that happen in big cities. However,he was reinstated within a year. He famously led the crackdown on dance bars,and then turned his glowering attention to hookah bars. Patil stood by while the Senas burned books,targeted artists and intellectuals and young lovers and allowed their harsh grip on Maharashtra to far exceed their electoral strength. He has also encouraged and defended ACP Vasant Dhoble,the hockey stick-wielding avenger who raids parties and pubs,ostensibly to cleanse Mumbais moral fabric. Instead of reprimanding him,a pleased Patil extended Dhobles jurisdiction to Thane. He has ensured that the only policing that appears to happen in Mumbai is moral policing. If the force is to be made modern and professional again,reform must begin at Home.