Non-violent, peaceful protest is the way to go

Cops try to douse a fire in a train, in Ballia of UP, on June 17. Similar scenes were seen in many states. Pic/PTI

A large number of trains from the city on both lines have been cancelled because of protests over the Centre's Agnipath scheme for armed forces. While the Central Railway (CR) has so far counted its losses at Rs 75 lakh, several services of the Western Railway (WR) have also been hit very hard. Protesters damaged railway property and torched dozens of trains.

An official has said in a report in this paper that they had to cancel as many as 17 trains originating from Mumbai, revenue losses are in the range of Rs 7-8 lakh per cancelled train. Indian Railways has so far incurred losses of over Rs 1,000 crore, including damage and reimbursement to passengers for ticket cancellations over the past few days, it is learnt through these officials.

The edit space has often highlighted how the point of a protest is lost when violence takes over. Not only do the protestors risk the wrath of an angry and helpless citizenry who lose sympathy for the cause, they also lose focus themselves. They are so bent on capturing eyeballs with their destruction that they lose the opportunity to explain what their grouse is all about, why it merits opposition and how things can and must be rectified.

We now come to money, where huge financial losses happen during riots. This is infra paid for by public money, ironically, the rioter's money may be there, too.

Make non-violent protest the route to go down. Swing opinion through disciplined demonstrations and this is not naivete, one will see that this is a powerful tool as citizens do not want to be harassed and have lost patience with this now. Eventually, even the protestors pay for the damage done as they have broken facilities or lesser amenities till the damage is repaired. State your case straight, without all the annihilation and you may be surprised at the results.