KSU Is on Moral High Ground

In the current imbroglio, where the government and the KSU are at loggerheads, the KSU is taking the battle to the public. The organisation is fighting to win the hearts and minds of the people of the state.

The video of police personnel being caught red handed by members of the KSU collecting money from trucks engaged in transporting goods on the Shillong Bypass National Highway is a major cause of embarrassment for the police force.

It is, however, not a matter of surprise for the public because this illegal act has been exposed time and again by the media and other agencies. Every citizen who has travelled on this highway from Guwahati to Silchar has, on a daily basis, seen police personnel standing by the roadside collecting money from trucks. If a police station or outpost is located along the highway, police personnel may be seen standing by the roadside directing the helper to where the collector is sitting. In some cases, the truck helper is seen walking towards the shed without anyone directing him. This is a well oiled machine that has been operating in the state for a long time, and it continues to function. Obviously, the collection is monitored either by the police station or by the outpost in the area.

The expose made by the KSU this time, however, is pregnant with meaning. The government arrested the organisation’s leaders on the grounds that their rally had resulted in violence, created a law and order situation, and disturbed peace in the state. The KSU leaders went to jail despite making it clear that the organisation had not been directly involved in the violence, nor had it instructed its volunteers to engage in violence or unruly behaviour. They claimed the rally in fact had begun with a prayer. Nevertheless, they accepted responsibility for what had happened because the violence occurred under their watch. With their heads held high, they accepted the consequences and went to jail, recognising that, as the organisers of the rally, they could not simply walk away from what had happened in the rally.

On the contrary, despite knowing that the citizens of the state are already aware that the broad daylight robbery by men in uniform is more than what meets the eye; the government has refused to accept the truth. The government’s reaction was to suspend the policemen who were caught in the act and transfer the officer in charge of the police station, which is nothing more than eyewash. The KSU has rightly pointed out that the police even went so far as to destroy the shed from where the crime was being carried out, despite knowing full well that it was a crime scene.

Everybody knows that the government is playing with the people’s minds because it understands very well that public memory is short and that, as usual, this issue too will pass and eventually die a natural death.

The KSU has also raised a very profound question, a question that the government seems unwilling to accept, especially when it is itself being accused of engaging in unlawful activities. How can a government led by a leader who nonchalantly said, “Ngi pynbeit man ka san snem, ki ngop ruh man ka san snem”, “We fool the public every five years and they fall for it every time” point fingers at the leaders of the KSU when the government itself is engaged in the business of fooling the people?
Nobody will believe the government if they try to make this infamous incident appear to be a one of a kind incident involving only a few rogue members of the force. How can daylight robbery happen without the knowledge of higher ups in the police department? How can a network of such magnitude, involving a turnover of crores of rupees every day, operate across the state without the knowledge of the government? If the public remembers, when the incumbent DGP took charge, she said that she would put an end to the Highway extortion by police personnel (The Shillong Times May, 20, 2024). That, of course, did not happen.

No matter how honest and hardworking a police officer she may be, I believe that once she started to ruffle feathers, she decided to keep quiet after realising how deep and intricate the network runs.
It reminds me of a retired police officer I once met who lamented the situation to which the department had sunk. He said that when he entered the police department, he did so with pride in wearing the uniform. But by the time he retired, he regretted seeing the situation to which his dear department had deteriorated.

It is often said that the first step towards solving a crisis is to acknowledge that there is one. If the government refuses to acknowledge that such a crisis exists, there can be little hope of bringing this embarrassing situation to an end. And if it refuses to face the truth as it is, it has little or no moral authority to pass judgment on the KSU leaders. If the government continues to remain adamant and ride on a false moral high ground, one can only hope that the honourable court will take suo motu cognisance of the media reports and intervene to keep the hopes of young people in our democratic system alive.