Are we Indians a deceptive people? The more I see of us, the more I feel we tend to be a deceptive lot. Whether in politics, industry, commerce, judiciary, police, education, medicine, etc, I see an almost uncanny penchant for duplicity. Take politics: We have, in a manner of speaking, two levels of duplicity. “Nero fiddled while Rome burned”. History repeats itself. A picture shows our Prime Minister being blessed by Dr Paul Swarup, Bishop of Delhi, at the Cathedral on Christmas Day. The picture has served its purpose for the international press, or has it? In several parts of the country in 2024, there were 834 documented incidents of violence against Christians and churches, and in 2025, there were over 700 incidents recorded as of November. Which report do you consider the people of other nations accept as the absolute truth?
The Indian Constitution, through Article 25, guarantees every person the freedom to freely profess, practise, and propagate their religion. Yet many states in India have passed laws instituting penalties for forced conversions. Who decides whether “force” has been used? Hooligans or the judiciary? And was there any condemnation of these incidents by hooligans from any member of India’s high command? Is silence consent? The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a US government body, has repeatedly had its delegations denied visas by Indian authorities, notably in 2009, 2016, and 2020, with India stating such foreign entities have no business judging constitutionally protected rights, despite the USCIRF seeking to assess religious freedom, including for minority faiths like Catholicism, within India. Why visas denied?
During elections, leaders standing for elections make promises in temples and churches that, if elected, they would not cross the floor but work for the party and the people. After elections, they forget the promises they made before God, and cross the floor with impunity, and rush to collect their 30 pieces of silver.
The law mandates that critically ill patients be treated immediately upon hospital admission, without requiring advance payment. However, some of our hospitals will not admit critically ill patients unless payment is made. Are we in the wild west? Students who do not meet the strict admission regulations are not admitted to public colleges. Students approach private institutions and get admission when the price is right. How is this possible?
The law imposes strict safety standards on eating places: the quality of food, hygiene, closing hours, fire and noise standards, etc. Take the recent tragedy of the fire at the nightclub Birch by Romeo Lane in Goa. 25 people lost their lives. The amicus curiae appointed to report on this fire had this to say, and I quote, “The tragedy occurred due to an abdication of statutory duties and failure to enforce key legislation “ such abdication amounts to a deliberate and gross violation of the rule of law enshrined in the Constitution.” Officials just turned a blind eye. Why? Quite clearly, the owners were keen for the nightclub to begin operations as soon as possible, and therefore ensured that all the relevant authorities were looked after.
In the judiciary recently, there was a fire at the residence of Delhi High Court judge Yashwant Varma, which led to the discovery of a significant amount of unaccounted cash. Following this incident, the Supreme Court Collegium, led by CJI Sanjiv Khanna, decided to transfer Justice Varma back to his parent court at the Allahabad High Court. Now the matter is in court. What would have been the people’s decision on the paragons of justice?
Our police force requires its staff to ensure that citizens do not cheat and to apprehend those who do. It is well known that candidates seeking employment in Goa are required to pay the police authorities a sum of Rs 3 lakh to secure employment. In other words, those who have paid this heavy price will look to recover the amount. Bribery will obviously go on, in perpetuity.
IndiGo Airlines, India’s largest carrier with over 430 aircraft, failed to follow new Flight Duty Time Limitation rules despite agreeing to adopt them in phases by June and November 2025. These rules require advance rostering and more pilots, something IndiGo’s experienced management should have planned for. Instead of recruiting staff or cutting flights, the airline continued selling tickets, leading to chaos in December when thousands of passengers were stranded. This raised serious questions about how IndiGo was given more routes without enough pilots, why it accepted schedules it could not implement, and how it kept expanding domestic and international operations without adequate manpower.
For duplicity to stop, fear must come back strongly. Currently, there is no fear because justice is delayed, and that means justice is denied. In many cases, the penalty imposed does not fit the crime, or the perpetrators know they can fix things with the ground officials. Very few senior government officers have been dismissed due to corruption. We have seen in the case of the fire at the judge’s residence that unaccounted-for cash was found. The initial transfer did not match the crime. We cannot afford to have two sets of penalties “ one for the ordinary citizen and one for officials or the rich. We cannot afford for the hooligans to get away without being punished, only because they have been sponsored by parties that are linked with the principal ruling party, as that perpetuates crime. Wake up, India “ before it’s too late.
