Student Protest in Pictures

YESTERDAY’S EVENTS in the national capital offer a stark, painful lesson in crisis communication and governance. We often tell our students that “a picture is worth a thousand words”. What unfolded on our streets yesterday was worth an entire thesis. It was a masterclass in how NOT to manage a crisis. What was also worth noting was that it was first allowed to simmer and then framed as an assault on the Parliament—the very temple of our democracy.

As Executive Director of the Parliament's TV channel (then Lok Sabha TV, now Sansad TV), my office was located inside the complex, specifically in the Parliament Library Building. There were few days when there were no protests happening on my daily commute to work. We were often delayed or forced to take longer diversions to get to work. That was one of the ‘occupational hazards’ for working at the temple of democracy. We were also witness to the protests of the India Against Corruption movement, many of its members had been regular guests at our studios to take part in our debate shows. There was no ‘Us and Them’ feeling as everyone on either side of the Treasury benches was part of a bustling democracy that is India.

But what we saw yesterday was a brutal, thoughtless and extremely heavy-handed crackdown by the police on protestors. We saw paramilitary security-men train their guns on the future of the country. These were young (and unarmed) students asking for a long-pending redress to their issues.

From a purely crisis management viewpoint also, the response was a complete disaster. Thrashing, teargassing and roughing up student protestors has hugely dented public trust and rendered a gaping hole in the contract that the government has with its people.

It breaks my heart to see the very institutions meant to protect and guide our youth being used to crush them. True people-focused leadership does not assert itself through violence, nor does it turn a deaf ear to voices from the ground. The hallmark of a great nation (and a greater civilization) is its ability to listen with empathy, engage in dialogue and heal through compassion—not force. When we break the spirit of our youth, we lose the soul of our democracy.