Son Killed In Coimbatore Blast, Father Made Attendant To Main Accused: Those Defending Kulwinder Kaur's Actions Would Do Well To Read This Story

On 6 June 2024, the actress-turned-politician and newly elected Member of Parliament of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) , Kangana Ranaut was slapped by a Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) constable, Kulwinder Kaur, at the Chandigarh Airport.

The act by constable was lauded by a section of polity and social media.

Now suspended, Kaur has said that she did it because she was outraged by a social media post made by Kangana Ranaut a couple of years ago. This post said that those who participated in the farmers' protest were actually paid protestors.

Kaur's 'justification' is finding support in social media. This can have disastrous consequences for civil society. Now anyone outraged by any comment could forget the responsibility of their profession and derelict their duty and act in an offensive and violent way.

Even if it is granted for the sake of argument that the social media post made by Ranaut was offensive, violence and dereliction of duty in a sensitive place like airport security cannot the answer to that.

There are many offensive statements made by many popular leaders on the other side of the political fence. Those who today praise Kaur should realise that they are belittling the values of duty and honour. They are normalising violence and abuse.

There could be umpteen reasons to be offended with Congress leaders or their allies. From obscenely distorting and insulting the sacrifices and sufferings of Veer Savarkar to the call of eradication of Sanatana Dharma. What if all offended individuals start slapping the concerned leaders for their 'offensive' social media posts, speeches etc. in such public spaces? The result would be disastrous.

Further when one enters into a service, whether airport security or any public security service, there is a commitment made that they would rise above their personal likes and dislikes.

On 14 February, 1998 there was serial bomb blasts in Coimbatore. Balakrishnan, who was the only son of his parents was killed in the bomb blast. He was not even 15 then. He was a good hockey player.

His family belonged to the underprivileged class. His mother used to grind flour and sell it to make a living. His father was a daily wage labourer. All their dreams lay shattered in the bomb blast when they lost their only son.

As a compensation, the father was made an attendant at the Government Hospital of Coimbatore. It was then that the father realised the work was not a compensation but a cruel punishment for a man who had lost his only son.

He was made the personal care-taker to Abdul Nazer Madani, a man who was then the prime accused in Coimbatore bomb blast.

Despite the latter being acquitted, Madani’s shadow loomed large over the hospital corridors.

The father’s days were filled with a myriad of tasks, all centred around serving Madani’s every whim.From ensuring the water temperature was perfect for his baths to assisting him in his wheelchair, the father's life revolved around the man who was once the prime suspect in the bomb blast that killed his only son.

In the eerie silence of the house, where the garlanded photo of his son stirs us all with a smiling face, the teary-eyed father, a humble daily wage earner, when questioned by an interviewer about the personal agony and rage he would have felt, having made to serve Madani, spoke with a calm and clear voice.

Even as his emotions, raging like a tempest within, manifested in teary mist in his eyes, he could not harm Madani because that would be against the Dharma of service.

He was confident that his son would get justice from the Government. He was sure that each one of the persons responsible for the Coimbatore blasts would be executed by law.

Though the system would betray him, he did not move away from his duty.

By no stretch of imagination the alleged grief of the constable could match even in the least the grief of that father. Nor did the father have the exhaustive training Ms. Kaur underwent.

Perhaps Ms. Kaur should make a pilgrimage to Coimbatore and visit the place where the father of that boy lived.