An Open Letter to the Terrorists of Karni Sena

An old Editor of mine used to say “In India, riots can never happen if the state does not want it to happen. I am convinced that the violence we have seen in the last few days in Rajasthan, Haryana and Gujarat are not because those governments are incompetent or because the police forces in those states are inept. It is because Messers Vasundhara Raje, Manohar Lal Khattar and Vijay Rupani see political benefit in allowing this violence to fester. Are narrow votebanks more important than our children?Today, Minister of State (MoS) in the External Affairs Ministry, and a former Army Chief General VK Singh said state governments should negotiate with the Karni Sena. I want to ask the General, will the Indian Army negotiate with the Lashka-e-Taiba? Or the Jaish-e-Muhammad? As a former Chief of Army Staff it is ridiculous that he even entertains this idea of negotiating with lumpens.On Tuesday, the Prime Minister made an impassioned sales pitch for India at Davos. He ended his speech by saying “Agar aap prosperity ke saath peace chahte hain, toh Bharat aayein (If you want peace along with prosperity, then come to India.).”10 ASEAN heads of state are in India right now. Imagine what they would have watched on their televisions last night and what they would have read in the newspapers this morning.Is this the #NewIndia we want to showcase to them, and to the rest of the world? India’s moment of truth is here.Sincerely,Father of a 5-year-old ​