By John B Monteiro

Mangaluru, Jul 12: Dakshina Kannada (DK) guardian minister, B Ramanath Rai, has said a peace meeting of all elected representatives will be held at the DC’s office on July 13 to restore peace and communal harmony in the district. The participation in this meet, to realize its objectives should be broad-based and include eminent persons beyond politicians. Otherwise, such a meeting, as envisaged now, will mimic the legislature in Bangaluru, minus the Speaker, and end up in mutual accusations between government legislators and their counterparts in opposition. There will be blame-game and recrimination between these two sides.

Such peace meet assumes that beyond legislators there are no persons who are interested, or could be instrumental in restoring and maintaining peace in the district. The concern for restoring and maintaining peace in DK goes beyond the narrow confines of legislators and politicians. There are educationists like vice-chancellors of universities in DK, eminent professors and principals of colleges, writers and social workers who could be usefully drawn into the process of restoring and maintaining peace. And why not the mayor of Mangaluru and district and taluk panchayat heads? They are the ones who are in the thick of facing the heat on the ground.

File Photo

Today Mangaluru has imposed itself on the national and global consciousness as a flash-point of violence in the name of religion and culture. It has tarnished its image of being the Mecca of quality higher and professional education. It is sure to ring alarm bells in those national and global investors who have been checking out Tulunadu as a potential investment destination. There is a vicious circle here. Unemployed youth, in their frustration, have been doing desperate things and providing fodder for motivated malignities. The repeated cycle of violence evaporates their hope of landing a job through plight of large scale investments in Tulunadu. Who profits from this myopic madness?

What goes wrong and what can be righted? Tulunadu had a tradition of harmony and hospitality. But, small extremist fringes on all sides of the communal and cultural divide do not share the fine sensitivity of the general populace. Like it takes just a pinch of any adulterant to spoil the whole vessel of milk, these fringe elements vitiates the tone and tenor of peaceful life in Tulunadu.

The one thing that strikes any discerning observer of the Tulunadu scene in the context of violence is the lack of leaders who stand up to be counted. When things go wrong, the right people appear to go underground. The political leadership is only interested in fishing in troubled waters and plays the mutual blame game. In the absence of good men on the surface, bad men have a field day. In such a situation, it only takes a determined small group to enforce bundhs and destroy carefully targeted property.

So, what is the way out? As a Tulunadu proverb says, "You don’t go around looking for a toilet, like a dog, after the bowels are ready to burst". There is much talk about inter-communal peace committees in the midst of every crisis. Such committees, called mohalla committees in cities like Mumbai, have been effective in many places and situations. But, such committees, once formed, should have continuity and sustained active life over time, including during peace time.
The fire brigade provides an ideal model. Its infrastructure like water lines and control valves are in place. But, firemen constantly go around making sure that the infrastructure is in working order. For, when the fire is on, you cannot have a rusted valve due to disuse and unable to be opened. Therefore, these committees should periodically, say quarterly, meet and keep working relationship going.

Sadly mohalla committees or inter-community committees, dominated by politicians and religious leaders, have often failed to deliver mainly because of deficit of trust among its participants. Such committees have many a time degenerated into platforms for mutual accusations and blame-games. The constitution of such committees should have a paradigm shift. Instead, we should have Council of Concerned Wise Persons, comprising, for instance, educationalists like past and present vice chancellors, retired CMDs of banks and PSUs resident in Tulunadu and professionals like engineers, lawyers and chartered accountants. They should continuously monitor and make binding recommendations for maintaining peace and eliminating conflict-provoking irritants, consistently with retaining core dogmas and rituals. The DC of the district could be its convener, with range and district police heads co-opted. They should provide the staff for their effective functioning. Such "peacenik committees" should be more than an emergency fire brigade and hold regular periodic meetings.

There should be a spirit of give and take till it hurts. Let us say that the community leaders sit on in DC's office, with the DCs, as co-convener of the committee, taking the chair. Each side should get involved, like in an auction, in a competitive surrender of what they consider to be their “rights”, real or perceived, or what the opposition might want done. This way, many irritants, which often provoke conflict and violence, can be eliminated without adversely compromising the core rituals and values of religions and communities.

Finally, will our enlightened leaders, who currently seem paralyzed, beyond issuing soothing statement to the media, surface and stand up to be counted and provide leadership and direction to the misguided fringe groups thirsting for violence and revenge?

Above all, let us be optimistic and not lose hope. As William Bryant, US poet (1794-1878), had said:
The fiercest agonies have shortest reign;
And after dreams of horror, comes again
The welcome morning with its rays of peace.