My Space: Should the good and the gentleman stay silent if they want to live?

A man in the crowd bumped into a young man drinking tea at a tea stall in Ahmedabad on Haley Navratri. The young man may have made a comment in exasperation, a verbal altercation ensued and friends of the man with whom he collided arrived. A hand-to-hand fight ensued, in which one man pulled a knife from his shoe and stabbed the youth several times in the arm and chest… On November 11, 23-year-old student Priyanshu made a comment about a speeding car, the driver went ahead and came back. They chased the students who had left there on a motorcycle. Two knives were taken out from the car and Priyanshu was attacked. Despite several attempts to stop people passing by, no one stopped! Finally, a woman passing by with her 13-year-old son mustered up the courage to take her to the hospital, but Priyanshu died before reaching the hospital. And surprisingly, the attacker turned out to be a constable. Some time ago I myself tried to stop two youths who were speeding in a similar manner on a motorcycle- wearing helmets, after going a little further the youths returned, standing the motorcycle in front of the car and asked me to take down the glass. When the glass was removed, one of the young men said without removing his helmet, 'Auntyji, Nikal Lijie, Varana Gyan Bhari Pad Jayega.' He did not take out the weapon, but the threat in his tone could be due to the heat of the weapon in his pocket or shoe – it is understandable. These incidents are recent, but apart from this we read in the newspaper many cases of hand-to-hand fights and assaults with weapons. So far we used to praise Gujarat as a peaceful and safe state, but in the last 10 years the atmosphere of acrimony and violence is increasing. There may be no question about police performance, but who are these people who are spreading chaos and fear in Gujarat? One thing is for sure, these are the people who are interested in causing physical harm to the other person by starting fights for no reason. The goal of such people is to create an atmosphere of terror and fear in the general public by making small things big. A late evening or night drive would have experienced mobs doing dangerous stunts on motorcycles-two wheelers deliberately trying to scare us. On the other hand, loud-talking-even-teasing boys aged 19 to 24 create embarrassing situations in public. Sometimes even the constable standing there is insulted, or attempts are made to intimidate him-which I have witnessed myself. Does this mean, now and then, the right to stop anyone is being snatched away from a common upright citizen? Even if someone crashes, speeding, misbehaves or molests a girl in public – we don't say anything, we watch silently – if we dare to say anything, stop or touch someone, we risk our lives! By watching movies like 'Animal', 'Kabir Singh', today's youth is learning to bully and unnecessarily scare people to prove the wrong. Some spoiled boys like Tathya Vimmay, children of affluent, rich families addicted to alcohol and drugs become a danger to others, on the other hand, some middle and lower middle class boys come from outside to find work in Gujarat. Instead of doing menial jobs like car mechanics or general laborers, waiters, these boys live in PGs – in droves. Such people enjoy taking a repaired bike or car. If anyone raises a voice against speeding or other misbehaviour, such mobs use weapons. In the movie 'Mom', which came out a while ago, a girl is raped in a similar situation. In an Amitabh Bachchan-John Abraham film, 'Viruddha', John dies while trying to help a stranger! These are not just stories, but a warning to us all. Priyanshu, who had come to study at 'Maika', was standing to buy a pastry. Perhaps, he had used profanity – even so, no one has the right to murder another person. Even though it is a legal offense to own a firearm, many people in this safe and peaceful state of ours are found in possession of firearms. Cakes cut with swords and gun blasts at weddings are no longer big news! The police will do their job when the life of the common people starts to be threatened, but it is necessary that the 'sons of Bhadna', who are standing there and watching when Priyanshu is being attacked, should also wake up now. During such events, people are usually interested in making videos or watching spectacles, but we all have to understand that today it is Priyanshu's turn, tomorrow it could be our son or daughter! We ourselves can be… This state called 'Gandhi's Gujarat' and the people of this state are peaceful people living with each other wisely. Being commercial in origin, Gujaratis do not have the temperament to be unreasonably passionate or quarrelsome, but if they are not rescued from what the next-post-millennium generation is seeing, learning and getting drunk, then Gujarat too will be like Uttar Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. It will not be long before Bihar is formed. }