Keep Kakoli safe

In Guwahati the other day, Rahul Gandhi declared that he didn’t care if India was a front-running nuclear power or not — or sentiments to that effect. What really mattered, he said, was that Kakoli felt safe. He was referring to an interaction he had had with students earlier in the day, during the course of which a young woman named Kakoli had said that her biggest issue was that she never felt safe.

If Rahul really means what he said then, well spoken, young man. Now go do it.

A lot of people would dismiss this as naiveté or foolish idealism or even arrogance. But look at what it means. For one, it means turning your back on the so-called indices of progress and development, to do with GDP and all the other letters of the alphabet. For another, it means tackling real issues with real solutions.

What are some things that might make Kakoli, meaning the people (and not just the women) of India, feel safe? It means that many women working late hours would be still warm and alive today. It means that elderly people would live longer. It means there would be enough food and a reasonable standard of living to prevent the committing of desperate crimes.

Public transport will not be another name for road-killers and bullies. It means the police will protect us, not rape us, thrash us and leave us for dead in police stations. It means the food we eat will not be adulterated, the medicines we take not fake, that students can safely assume they will get the education they deserve, that both victims and criminals will get justice in the courts speedily…

Of course, we would not have so many billionaires, nor host the Formula 1 anymore nor maybe even deal in as many stocks and shares. And that’s not going to win Rahul too many friends, political and otherwise. But if this is what he promised Kakoli, then he’d best get cracking on what he intends to do to keep his word because by now she must have got over the excitement of meeting him.

Senior Assistant Editor

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