Protest can be too much of a goad thing

Music is said to soothe the savage breast, but it does not always. Congress workers discovered this when they joined hands with the Daily Up Downers Association to urge the Madhya Pradesh government to set up a commuter bus service between Dewas and Indore. To imbue their cause with animal spirits, the demonstrators roped in a neighbourhood bull, which they garlanded and serenaded with a flute.

However, these floral tributes and melodic blandishments provoked a bull run quite different from those witnessed by Dalal Street. The irate animal ran amuk, causing the agitators to run helter-shelter to escape taurine wrath.

The incident should serve as an object lesson for those who, in pressing their demands, try to grab the bull by the horns, only to end by being grabbed by the horns of the bull. With agitations, which often turn violent, gaining ground across the country as various communities, castes and sub-castes vie with each other to get their share of job reservations and other quotas, they could well provoke a counter-movement of protest against unchecked protest.


Those who would bulldoze the body politic could discover that direct action methods can rebound on themselves. As the bull demonstrated to the MP demonstrators demanding bussing, enough is enough. Or, to put it in other words, ‘Bus karo!’