Failed to fix hooliganism in India? Children, burnt bus and the news cycle

All it takes is a 24 hour news cycle to almost forget what transpired in Gurgaon when a school bus was attacked by a group of protestors. But we should not forget so easily just because it has vanished from the headlines as if it never happened. This was even starker to the India Everywhere in Davos and it does run a chill down your spine when you see the violence against little children in Gurgaon. Goons are burning vehicles and attacking school buses full of kids to display their anger about a film because purportedly they disagree with its premise and storyline. Have we failed to fix hooliganism in India? No matter how dig you deep, put simply, the equation is ridiculous. Disagree with film, will torch buses of humans.

What they thought was an act of symbolism and protest was attempted murder

As a pure act of headline seeking and attention grabbing, these people behind the bus attack should never be allowed to walk the earth. What they thought was an act of symbolism and protest was attempted murder. Like most mobs in the country, the people flee, the footage remains. To anger us and shock us. Can’t the authorities see this? Patterns now pretty set. The groups do anything to attract attention. Which they get - on tv screens, seen shouting, making their point, insisting their view is the view.

When as a citizen in a free country your safety is compromised? Where you wake in the morning and wonder if you should not send your kids to school?

When you see such incidents how should you respond? When as a citizen in a free country your safety is compromised? Where you wake in the morning and wonder if you should not send your kids to school? For our politicians we should be of prime importance. It's nation's people. Not lofty global talk.

As citizens of a country what do people really want at a most basic level? Clean air, safety and respect for each other? What choices are parents left with when they see this happening to their children? How less horrific is this from the recent murder of a child by a child in a school?

Have we failed to see and fix hooliganism in our country? What’s empowering these miscreants? And where will they stop? And just what all will become their triggers? Valentines next? Pizzas? We already have a pretty impressive list of reasons why women are raped and attacked - such as wearing jeans or speaking back?

What’s empowering these miscreants? And where will they stop?

Does anyone even realise that we are debating a film story that really no one can corroborate? And so our actions are nothing but extrapolations? And that Padmavati will never come back to tell us the truth and not will her contemporaries. Worse even if we knew, people would still twist the story to their advantage? That the only reality is that the bus was charged at, vehicles were burned, children were attacked, people were assaulted.

Shaili Chopra is the founder of SheThePeople.TV and the mother of two