We often realise that ‘faith without action is fruitless as also action without faith is rootless’. There is no dearth of cults, philosophies and isms, calling for unity of nations and even unity of masses of the world, often against none or negligible percentage of humanity at the top economically. The leadership even with a strong support from the majority of countrymen for a fair cause and good intentions often fails due to lack of strong principles.
For example, governments like those in the west as well as in India, do not realise how shameful it is to refrain from prohibition of alcohol, on grounds of loss of revenue in spite of the fact that even modern medical science bears testimony to the devastating outcomes of alcohol consumption on individuals, families, societies and nations together, causing loss of health, wealth and peace of mind for so many, besides being the root cause of unimaginable and shameful crimes. It seems it has become fashionable to oppose everything Islamic, terming it as outdated! There is no other rationale!
Even in cases of rapes, when an elderly leader calls upon young girls to be mindful of their dress and manners, the electronic media, s well as some so-called women’s rights and welfare representatives, strike back, calling the real well-wishers, ‘displaying Taliban or khap-panchayat mentality’, without any reason or rhyme.
Similarly, if one can’t have faith in tough punishments, calling them uncivilized, for sex crimes against women, it implies we accept the crimes on the civilized as civilized. Obviously you can’t eat the cake and have it too!
The purpose of law is to act as deterrent to crime and not to be reshaped to soft-peddle the criminals, encouraging repetition! No one can cut his feet to fit the shoe! It has to be first accepted that criminals have to be dealt with properly, if the civilized are to be protected from the onslaught of the uncivilized!
We have political prisoners, being dealt with zero tolerance. See protesters against military in Egypt being jailed and executed on flimsy grounds! Often political prisoners are in jails, for decades together, till their lives are ruined and one fine morning released, often due to lack of evidence for any of accusations. The arrests and release of such culprits (who themselves are carefully selected), are often made selectively, the names and news publicised prominently at the time of their arrests as breakthroughs. Legal help is denied to such citizens and no one can dare to defend, to offer legal help or even talk about proper investigations of charges framed against them, without being attacked, or threatened with dire consequences or being called less of a patriot or a foreign agent. These innocents go without getting even compensated at the end.
The changing fortunes of our political parties and frequent floor crossings causing breakups and make-ups among different parties also indicate lack of any basic moral fabric binding them.
No surprise we have today, leaders, who consider character and morals foreign to a ‘disciplined’ organisation, even let it be extra-constitutional!