US President Donald Trump deployed National Guard in the capital Washington DC, declaring public safety emergency. Trump took the Washington DC Police Department under Federal Control and handed over the monitoring of the Metropolitan Police Department to Attorney General Paam Bandi. Trump’s move is reminiscent of the emergency in India between 1975 and 77, when Sanjay Gandhi entrusted his close aide to Rukhsana Sultana to remove slums in Delhi and to establish law and order. Slums in Delhi were then removed from bulldozers, causing thousands of people to become homeless. Trump is also promising to ‘get rid of slums’, which is similar to Sanjay Gandhi’s policy. Here Paam Bandy is now playing the same role for Trump, which Rukhsana Sultana played in Delhi.
us President Donald Trump In the press conference on Monday 11 August, he announced the installation of public safety emergency at Washington DC. He said that the capital city is surrounded by ‘violent gangs, bloodshed criminals, rush of wild youth, drug addicts and homeless people’, and will not be allowed to happen now.
What is the plan of Trump?
Trump announced Initially, 800 National Guards will be deployed, and will be increased if needed. He handed over the monitoring of the police department to Attorney General Paam Bandy, which will now be under Federal Control. He has promised to ‘get rid of slums’. Trump said, ‘We have many slums here. We are getting rid of them. I know this is not politically correct. You will say, ‘Oh, how terrible it is’ but still it is necessary.’
The move came after the attack on Trump’s DOGE department employee Edward Koristine, where a group of boys beat him badly. Trump posted Truth on social, ‘Washington DC will now be free! Crime, barbarity, dirt and garbage will disappear. I will make our capital great again! The days of killing or injuring innocent people are over! ‘
Rukhsana Sultana was another name for fear?
Trump’s action reminds of the era between 1975 and 77 in India, when Indira Gandhi’s government declared an emergency. Indira’s younger son Sanjay Gandhi launched a ‘beautification drive’ in Delhi, in which the slums were removed from bulldozers. In this campaign, Sanjay’s close aide Rukhsana Sultana played a lead role. Rukhsana, the mother of film actress Amrita Singh, then campaigned for the sterilization program as well as the cleaning of slums.
Thousands of houses were demolished at Turkman Gate, causing violence to erupt there and many people died. This drive of Sanjay Gandhi was in the name of ‘clean’ Delhi, but it was seen in a gross violation of human rights. Rukhsana Sultana was considered to be Sanjay’s ‘right hand’, which monitored the campaign.
Trump’s plan to remove police control and slums from Paam Bandi is similar. While Sanjay made ‘cleanliness’ from Rukhsana to Emergency Power in Delhi, the same Trump is doing Paam Bandy to Washington DC. In both cases, emergency was used in the name of law and order and ‘beauty’ of the city, but critics consider it to be torture.
This emergency of Trump questions American democracy, especially when the crime rate is low. Democrats have described it as misuse of power. Like the Indian emergency, this can also prove to be controversial. Trump’s ‘Make Capital Great Again’ slogan resembles Sanjay Gandhi’s ‘Beautification’, but both are in danger of ignoring human rights.
