Opinion Strong signal

Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje.

Jaipur, home to India’s best-known literary festival, is no stranger to cultural violence. This is the city where Ashis Nandy became a victim of his own humour, the city which would not allow Salman Rushdie to visit, even via video link. Most recently, bovine activists successfully urged the police to crack down on artists who depicted a plastic cow aloft to draw attention to the menace of polythene bags. But in the aftermath, there was a notable difference this time. The chief minister of Rajasthan expressed her disapproval, transferred the policemen responsible, spoke to the artist herself, required the police chief to apologise and filed an action taken report in 140 characters on her Twitter feed. Vasudhara Raje was sending out a very necessary — and in these times, all too rare — signal about responsive and responsible government.

Administrations are constitutionally mandated to show zero tolerance for intolerance, but they have been failing in their duty. Their response to sectarian excesses, especially in the past year or so, is seen to be inadequate, and this is not the first time that the police has played into the hands of protesters either. There was outrage in Delhi, for instance, when, on the plea of a sectarian fringe group, policemen raided Kerala House to check if beef was being served in the canteen. Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy was moved to write a strong letter of protest to the prime minister and while the police did climb down, there was no hint of apology.

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The Rajasthan CM’s forceful rejection of the incident in Jaipur is especially welcome because the last difference of opinion on culture in the city did not have a happy ending. Just days ago, the state government had dissolved the governing council of the Jawahar Kala Kendra, an important autonomous cultural centre. The trigger was the inclusion of British-Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor in the freshly constituted council; he had strongly criticised the Central government in the UK media during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit. However, it was reported that the centre also had reservations about other nominees on the council, which included poets, writers, thinkers and business leaders. The government would be within its rights to make political appointments in institutions that it owns, but attempting to control the councils of autonomous bodies sends out a disturbing signal. Now, the direct action of Vasundhara Raje sets a standard that leaders of the BJP — and those of other parties as well — may wish to emulate.