Sir, I must say that this cry that expenditure on police in this State is more is made out of ignorance. My hon. Friend Shri Bhapkar advanced an argument which is, I should say, unfair to himself. He said that the justification for this increased expenditure lies in the international situation. He said that the world is divided into blocs —Anglo-American bloc and Russian bloc — that the Anglo-American bloc has created certain artificial conditions in this country and that this Government and the Government of India have been following the Anglo-American bloc and that is why this Government has to spend more on police. The fallacy of this argument is obvious. The hon. Member said that Madras with Communist disturbances is spending less on the police while Bombay, without any such Communist disturbances is spending more on the police. If the logic of his argument is accepted, then in Madras too, by following the police of the Anglo-American bloc expenditure on the police should have been more. Sir, it was quite unnecessary to link up the expenditure on police with the international situation. To explain away a complex social phenomenon by such a simple explanation is to deceive oneself. I hope the hon. Member Shri Bhapkar will see the fallacy of his argument.
The hon. Member complained that the police force was used to suppress an ideology. He paid compliments to his own memory by reminding himself that he was once a Congressman. I am glad that he remembers that he was once a Congressman. He told us that even when he was a Congressman he had been detained once.
If the hon. Member Shri Bhapkar has eyes to see, he can easily see that there is the Congress. If he wants to shut his eyes and does not want to see the world before him, I cannot help it. I cannot help it if he sees only darkness before him when the sun is shining bright before his eyes. The hon. Member Shri Bhapkar said that he had to go to jail when he was a Congressman. I would say, Sir, that this is conclusive proof of the bona fides of this Government. Even when he was a member of this party and when he tried to tread on the path of violence, he was made to pay for it even though he was a member of this party.
I know he has a sort of fascination for Courts because he is a pleader. He can take his chances outside. As regards his allegation that the police are used to suppress an ideology, I may inform the House that many times the Government has on the floor of this House declared that it has no quarrel with any ideology as such, whether it is Communism, Socialism or any other ism, including the ideology of the Hindu Mahasabha of establishing a Hindu Raj in this country, but that it has a quarrel only with the means employed to implement such ideologies. If in carrying out the ideologies, they resort to violence, subversive activities and sabotage, then no Government worth the name can allow it for a moment. The police force must be used to prevent such things from happening. If such things are prevented from happening, then my hon. Friend Shri Bhapkar says that the police are used to suppress an ideology. To say so is to misuse the word ‘ideology’. Ideology is always associated with creating something new and noble. Nobody can have any quarrel with such an ideology.
My hon. Friend Shri Jadhav said that we should be able to do without the police. I should very much like to share that dream with him. That dream might be realised one day if he desists from preaching to the people as he does now and instigating them to do things which they are doing now. It is no use indulging in dreams. Nobody unnecessarily wants to spend more on the police. The happy days which my hon. Friend is dreaming of are still long to come.
