It was indeed a free-for-all on Saturday and Sunday when feuding party workers took law in their hands. They fought one another in a bid to take control of the key points in the city as well as in the district towns. The sights of clashes were horrendous in their manifestation and deplorable by any definition. We fail to comprehend why the keepers of law and order were not seen to be as active in quelling the frenzied crowd as they were in the last five years. Their timely and prudent action might have saved those lives.

The frenzy of the political workers, as demonstrated from time to time, reflect the entrenched viciousness in our politics. Political leaders are inherently intolerant to the opinion or rightful demands of other political parties and such attitude filters down to the workers in the lower rungs of the party. There is widespread belief that the violence unleashed on Saturday was the result of inciting words of the senior leaders of various political parties, which was virtually perceived as the war cry.

We have reasons to feel that though political leaders always talk about the welfare of the people, in reality they remain least affected when people die on the roads in most hapless manner. But such medieval system of politics is antithetical to the democratic aspiration of the people.

We hope all the political parties would ask their supporters and activists to show utmost restraint on the roads while demonstrating their points of view.