Kasganj violence: There was no controversy, only a little buzz around misunderstood posts, says IAS officer Pradeep Kasni

Excerpts from the interview:

Why did your comment on the Bareilly DM’s post create a controversy?

Maybe it would be appropriate for the owners of the controversy to respond. I would like to say there was no controversy, only a little buzz around some misunderstood posts… I came across the DM’s statement and found nothing wrong in it. I wondered whether the DM had come across Bhishma Sahni’s classic on communal riots and Partition, and said nothing more and nothing less…

What would you say on the Kasganj incident?

Riots have a propensity to spread fast. Citizens perforce are alerted. It becomes incumbent on the administrator and other stakeholders in the larger society to pinpoint the cause of strife or source of mischief and minimise or localise the same as soon as possible. It was intriguing to see that violence was being incited around the Tricolour without recourse to its history, which is embedded in the struggle for freedom of India. As a student of Indian history, I know that marches or processions by freedom fighters were unarmed, peaceful and suffused with a spirit of sacrifice.

You have quoted a post that says “patriotism is the sole preserve of goons now”. What do you mean?

It was a quote from one Shri Chaturvedi which echoes the 1775 quote from Samuel Johnson in almost the same words. This is also how Rabindranath Tagore used to think regarding the development of nationalism in this part of the world.

You posted a Hindi poem about the school bus attack in Gurgaon in connection with Padmaavat. What did it mean?

It is an expression of poetic sensibility on a very abhorrent development… I could not stop myself from congratulating the Gurgaon police for timely dispelling of rumours that the gory incident was not the handiwork of the Muslims. This was necessary to help contain communal flagrance.

Being a poet, how do you see opposition to Padmaavat?

The movie was a commercial movie venture reinforcing a culture of decadence and social regression. The opposition by crowds who had not even seen the movie was nothing less than a farce… The whole episode made me wonder how necessary it is for the masses to have literacy and a sense of history, so that they are no more an easy prey to communal forces.

How do you see the recent focus on, or the centrality accorded to, the Gita, Saraswati and the cow?

…Personally, I fail to find any philosophical depth in this text (Gita). In any case religion is a personal matter. The state need not promote or demote a religion as ours is a secular democracy. As regards Saraswati, there are differing views among historians, archaeologists and other scientists. I find weight in the contentions of scholars like late Dr Suraj Bhan, P S Thakran and a work like “The Vedic People” that deny the physical existence of the river. The history of Haryana region has traces of a resplendent Buddhist past and marked preference for buffaloes and not the cow. In any case, all laws in this regard must be respected…

Why have you faced so many transfers during your career?

It is for the decision-makers to justify their position vis-a-vis the apex court pronouncements in TVR Subramanian case which clearly called for stability of tenure for IAS officers… At times, I had the feeling that I was being put through untold hardship. The orders of transfer last issued were for a non-existing department and I was forced to approach the Hon’ble High Court to get my salary.