The Hindu Business Line : Power of the patriotic POTO

AS a people, we really do love our acronyms. Once we had FERA, but our government decided to soften its image and called it FEMA. Now FERA sounds `fer'ocious, while FEMA is certainly softer and `fem'inine. We are ruled by a party called the BJP which is controlled by the VHP. Thinking about these acronyms that swirl around our newspapers, I thought it was time to discuss the latest acronym unleashed upon us by the Government — POTO.

To me, it sounded like something that babies could use, instead of the toilet. POTO is to replace TADA, which meant `ta-ta' to anyone caught under it, innocent or guilty. So, I wandered into meeting an old acquaintance who now sits in a vast office in our capital. He is the IGP HTH (Hit Them Hard).

HTH was in a good mood. He was polishing up his lathi vigorously as he was looking forward to POTO. He put aside his brand new handcuffs to give me a few minutes of his time. "I cannot talk too long," HTH said. "Once POTO comes into force, I have countless people I need to arrest and beat up."

"Hold it HTH, I thought our most revered and wise Home Minister, Mr L. K. Advani, said very vigorously just yesterday that POTO would not be abused by the Government. It was only meant to hunt out and prosecute terrorists. Human rights will be held with the very highest regard. I heard him on television."

HTH frowned as he fitted a new round of bullets into his revolver. "When did the Boss say this? The Boss is always on television and says so much that we cannot remember what he is saying and when. You must understand, a lot of what he says is only for public consumption and not meant for those of us who serve under him faithfully."

"You mean that our government is very much like the American government? The other day, a White House spokesman announced they would feed stories to the press which will be deliberate lies."

"Exactly. We two great democracies think and act alike. Our job as the government is to feed the press lying stories. The press is most gullible, so they print or broadcast the stories as truth. Of course, all the stories are lies cooked up by us. That is why we need POTO."

"I thought you would need a better PR (Public Relations)."

"No, no, we need POTO. You see if the press does not print or broadcast our lies, we can them have them arrested under POTO. This will prevent them from getting big ideas about uncovering the truth behind the lies we have just told them."

"On what charges? You cannot take them to court for not printing lies."

"Who said anything about court? Under POTO, if we deem that you are being most unpatriotic towards the great party which leads this country, we can jail you and keep you in jail for as long as we want."

"But how can uncovering lies be deemed unpatriotic? They are doing a service to the people of India."

"Who cares about the people of India? We care about being patriotic to the ruling party, to the administration and to us cops who are protecting you all against very unpatriotic people. We will beat up anyone who we think is unpatriotic and that is only for starters under POTO."

"So, why was the cricketer Harbhajan Singh roughed by the cops?"

"He was being unpatriotic towards the cops by interfering with their work of roughing up a press reporter. Just because he is a cricketer does not mean he is above POTO. No one is above POTO, except the above mentioned ruling party clique."

"So if the VHP and others beat up, burn and kill, they can be arrested and jailed under POTO as they are being very unpatriotic by committing such crimes against the people of India."

"You are an extremely dumb reporter," HTH said, banging his lathi on the desk angrily. "I can beat you up and arrest you under POTO for such wild statements. They are supporters of the ruling party, so how can their acts be considered unpatriotic? They are a most patriotic people."

"But what happens if the BJP and Co lose power tomorrow in an election, and the Congress (I) or the AIADMK or the TDP come to power. This will be considered unpatriotic towards the BHP, the VHP and others under POTO."

"No, no, no," HTH shouted. "You are most stupid. Whoever is in power can use POTO to suppress and crush the human rights of the Opposition party and whoever else they believe is being unpatriotic towards them. POTO gives them that patriotic right to abuse human rights for the greater good of the ruling party." "But was it not introduced to control terrorists?"

"Bah, terrorists. Everyone is a potential terrorist in my opinion."

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