Let’s imagine a wild, wicked place. Amoral, nasty and lawless.Such a place will probably exist in the darkest corners of the world, far away from the sacred land of the Buddha and Gandhi. Let’s visualise what happens there. Crooks and thugs enter politics. They brutalise the weaker sections of society, exploit women and support tycoons who grab and loot national resources. Investigations are blocked or weakened because the custodians of the law dance to the tune of lawbreakers. If things get unmanageable, they flee to safer havens and merrily post videos of revelry with the government’s top lawyers.Uglier episodes piercing the nation’s conscience keep unfolding every now and then. If a minor rape victim dares to fight for justice, the criminal, an elected representative, unleashes terror on her family. The girl’s father is beaten to death, uncle is framed in false cases and many of her relatives are bumped off. Not enough to jolt the law-enforcing agencies out of their slumber as the party bosses and the government remain aloof.The girl, who herself survived numerous lethal attacks, threatens to publicly immolate herself, which triggers a national outcry. The judiciary finally wakes up. The criminal, sorry – honourable leader – is convicted, given a life term. But the sentence is suspended all of a sudden, creating panic in the victim’s world.So ominous! Even imagining such horrors in the land of the Buddha and Gandhi is unwarranted. Especially when India is ruled by noble characters built by the RSS. Ours is a blessed abode. The divine Sengol casts its sanitising effect upon our politicians. The construction of the grand Ram temple elevates our moral integrity to the pinnacle. The post-Kumbh consciousness, as our saintly Prime Minister has pointed out, stamps evil out of our social realm. No more scandals. No more injustice.Let’s imagine another story from that darkest corner, that wicked, wild locale. A poor girl steps out of her home for her livelihood. She takes up a job at a private hotel. The owner, a ruling party leader, forces her to provide sexual services to fellow politicians; a few so-called VIPs. She resists. The politician’s son kills her in a fit of rage. The entire state erupts in protest. The murderer is punished but a deeper investigation to unravel the sinister prostitution racket is thwarted. The VIPs remain unscathed.Months later, an internal squabble ensures skeletons tumble out of the ruling party cupboard. But there is no media questioning, no national outrage. As if TV anchors and editors have been hired to conceal the crime. These dark places have leaders, judges, police and journalists no better than zombies.Oh! Stop it. Let’s discuss decent societies. Let’s discuss constitutional democracies where justice and accountability dominate politics and governance. Let’s discuss countries where leaders are noble, sensitive and compassionate. Why waste our time on the brutalities of a heartless world? Let’s rekindle our hope, thinking of gallant statesmen who lead by example, being the voice of our conscience and shaping the national character with their nobility. Leaders inspired by Lord Ram, post-Kumbh consciousness and the sengol. Let’s celebrate our exalted abode.Measuring humanityMountains don’t cry. But their pain is suffered by civilisations. If some star-crossed mountain range is merely the Aravallis, not the Himalayas towering over 8,000 metres, a little greed and guile can raze them to dust. The Supreme Court and the Narendra Modi government have concurred to treat any landform located in the Aravalli districts as hills only if it has an elevation of 100 metres or higher. The rest will be at the mercy of bulldozers run by tycoons who mine money everywhere – in the skies, underground and in the seas.Also read: Aravallis on Trial: When Law Protects Profit, Not LifeYuval Noah Harari argued in his famous book Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow that bioengineers will rewrite genetic code, rewire brain circuits, alter biochemical balance and even grow entirely new limbs in pursuit of immortality and everlasting pleasure. While immortality looks impossible and undesirable, philosophers tell us even the pursuit of everlasting pleasure is delusory.But setting a benchmark for humans – below which one would be deemed inhuman – is not such an unattainable ideal. Then why should we spare the wise, conscientious humans if voiceless rocks must face the 100-metre test?Let us not question the sagacity of 100-metre yardstick for being a mountain. Slip to 99 metres and hear the death-rattle. A massacre starts. So, fix some criteria for humanity as well. Some integrity – and morality – is needed for the educated and the evolved humans. This calls for some respect for truth and justice, after all. Some sense of remorse and compassion too. A symbolic 100-metre high morality? Nah, that’s too much. We aren’t Buddha or Gandhi. Ten metres of it? That is still on the higher side.Police interact with activists during a dharna outside Parliament House seeking justice in the Unnao rape case. December 27, 2025. Photo: PTILet’s be realistic, keeping in mind the pettiness and frailties of our time. Ten inches? Fine. Let’s agree that anything lesser than 10 inches of morality and honesty will be deemed infra-human. Don’t cheat – the mountains are watching.A judge with 10-inch morality must give verdicts on merit, driven by commitment to justice, not on political or financial considerations. A government with 10-inch morality must act for people’s welfare, not to protect corporate and personal greed. Any outfit, political or cultural, must not trigger divisions in society if it has 10-inch morality.No politician with ten inches of morality should conspire to control the system using lies and deceit. No police, no CBI or Enforcement Directorate official should be deemed legitimate if they fail the 10-inch morality test. No media employee should be accepted as journalist if he or she suppresses the truth and hawks falsehood, violating the 10-inch morality test.Agreed?Even ten inches of morality will be better than a morally bankrupt world. There will be no Bilkis Bano, raped and tortured by rioters. No Ankita Bhandari, killed for resisting prostitution. No Kuldeep Sengar, animated by dreadful criminal instincts. No Nirav Modi, who fled looting hundreds of crores. There will be far fewer fake godmen, unscrupulous tycoons and ruthless drug-dealers if the test denoting mountains is applied to humans. The test that Gandhi applied upon himself. Are we ready?Vandalism and religionEverybody knows an engineer, a doctor, a chartered accountant, an IT professional, a clerk or a businessman who passionately supports the Modi regime and the Sangh Parivar.Ask these supporters why their sons and daughters aren’t part of a Vishwa Hindu Parishad or Bajrang Dal group, dancing on the streets holding swords, shouting toxic slogans before mosques and vandalising churches, and they fly into a rage. Their sons and daughters, who too idolise Modi – because ‘nothing-happened-in-the-first-60-years-after-Independence’ – will become successful professionals offering moral and social support to the comrades who take care of outdoor cultural activities like threatening and abusing people, disturbing religious ceremonies and even the occasional lynching.These intrepid cultural activists gained international acclaim on Christmas a few days ago, creatively contributing to the disruptive plans by chanting hymns and singing bhajans outside churches, apart from their usual stick-and-abuse shows. The violent disruption of festivals and sacred days marked by the Muslims and Christians has achieved ritual scale. The ugly trend peaked over the last decade, attracting larger social and political approval in a country known for its composite culture.Any serious attempt by the Prime Minister or the Home Minister would have stopped the perverse actions committed by the “noble characters” built by the RSS. But what they do is part of a collective agenda, aimed at changing India not only in terms of political dominance but also in social and cultural practices.If three successive terms in power could not alter the character of the Sangh Parivar, it is futile to expect its members and followers to understand that India will remain a secular democracy no matter how viciously they try to change the country. If India has to survive, it will survive with its inherent pluralism and tolerance. The communal poison being spread through society is a criminal act, nothing to do with religion or culture.What poet Saghar Khayyami wrote explains it all: “Aisi koi misaal zamaane ne pai ho/Hindu ke ghar mein aag khuda nein lagai ho/basti kisi ki Ram nein yaaron jalayee ho/Nanak nein sirf rah Sikhon ko dikhayee ho/Ram-Raheem-o-Nanak-o-Isa toe naram hain/Chamchon ko dekhiye to pateelee se garam hain…”Sanjay K. Jha is a political commentator.