Democracy and dialogue are married by definition and divorced by intention. Any ruling party at first ignores dissent, as if that does not and should not exist in this best of all possible regimes.

Then, as the number of dissenters swells, as the marches get bigger and the protesters louder, when it becomes impossible to ignore nationwide support for a movement, the regime has a Eureka-moment: “Let’s beat them to a pulp!” The police are supplied with ample tear gas and water cannons, and a heavily one-sided lathi-charged fight unfolds on the streets — and on screens.

When scenes of a government torturing its own people ripple across mobiles and media the regime hasn’t been able to gag, when a collective horror ripples through the nation seeing the bloodied heads and scarred skin of peaceful protesters, the eminences in the ruling party realise: “Oops, this doesn’t bode well for future votes!”

Only then does it consider having a dialogue, a civilised conversation about grievances and policies. What should have been the first step in a civilised society comes last, and that too only when pushed into a corner.

Most of us have a........

© National Herald