Column

Police officers in Mumbai are getting gallantry medals for putting on their flaky bullet-proof jackets, grabbing their outdated guns, and then rushing out to take down terrorists armed with assault rifles and grenades.

But there is an easier way, it seems: charging ahead of the ranks to be the first to gallantly salute the right bosses. Ineffectual bullet-proof vests add to the gallantry of the submissive greeting.

I write this as a list of nominees for the Republic Day gallantry awards, prepared by the Mumbai police, spreads bitterness and rage within the force. It is an internal matter, but allegations of favouritism, an old malaise, threaten to erode the respect the police won after 26/11.

Gallant comes from the Old French galant, which means polite or courteous. The brave men who confronted the terrorists would certainly not have been polite or courteous, but to be a boss’s favourite, gallantry is everything.

Mumbaikars were beginning to think of the police force as an organisation of exceptional individuals whose bravery and selflessness emerged when it mattered most. The image has been battered now, as though caught in a lathi-charge powered by, as it usually is, indifference to accountability or logic.

Sixteen policemen sacrificed their lives trying to protect the city against the mass-murderers of 26/11. The nation joined Mumbai in telling the cops that their heavy-handedness would be forgiven, insinuations of petty payoffs disregarded, and the charge of ineptitude expunged.

Many of those terms would still be on offer for the men and women who patrol the streets. After all, their actions — inspiring or amoral — have little to do with their will. If gallantry, in the French sense, is offered as an alternative to being gallant, few would hesitate to take it.

And we would be either too sanctimonious, or too naïve, to expect heroism from those who are ill-equipped, ill-trained, poorly paid, and grossly exploited.

We also have to accept that any recognition in India signifies insider status rather than exceptional talent or service. Did Milkha Singh not scoff at the Arjuna award because it was being heaped on officials who did nothing more than add to the headcount of sports contingents? As for the Padma awards, the UPA-BJP tussle over the nominees is the latest episode in a sad tale of patronage and ignorance.

In 2002, kathak exponent Sitara Devi rejected the Padma Bhushan because she felt less distinguished people had received that award, and even the Bharat Ratna.

India can draw a lesson from the Life of Galileo by Bertolt Brecht. Threatened with torture, Galileo recants his belief that the solar system is heliocentric.His dejected aide tells him: “Unhappy is the land that has no heroes.” To which Galileo says, “Unhappy is the land that needs heroes.”