"Did you always thrash your children?" I asked an elderly father.

"Of course not!" he replied indignantly. "I only used my belt when words failed."

"And how often did words fail?"

"Every Saturday!"

There was a time when many fathers believed that a belt was an educational instrument. The child bent, the belt rose, and wisdom was expected to enter through the backside.

Today, parents are told that children must be corrected with patience, understanding and love. In countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, striking a child can bring serious consequences.

But it seems some of those belt-wielding fathers have quietly joined our system of governance.

We watched young protesters being chased, dragged, beaten, lathi-charged and blasted with water cannons. These were not enemy soldiers crossing our borders.

They were our own children raising their voices in their own country.

"Who gave the orders?" asks the nation.

Nobody answers.

Orders in our country are strange creatures. They appear fully grown, march into police stations, swing lathis, fire water cannons and then disappear before anyone can ask who fathered them.

But somebody gave those orders.

To every young person who faced that violence, I say, go home and tell your story. Show your bruises to your parents. Tell your grandparents what happened. Tell your uncles, aunts and neighbours. Do not allow the pain to remain trapped inside your body or buried beneath official statements.

Your story must travel from house to house and village to village, because what happened to you is part of a larger pattern.

Force does not always arrive carrying a lathi. Sometimes it comes as a threatening telephone call. Sometimes it wears the uniform of the police. Sometimes it carries an Enforcement Directorate notice or an Income Tax summons. Sometimes it whispers, "Keep quiet, or we will find something against you."

That too is violence.

India is the world's largest democracy, but democracy is not merely about standing in a queue and pressing a button every few years. Democracy means being able to question those in power without having your bones broken and your future threatened.

And now, dear parents, the responsibility is yours.

Your children showed courage when they stood before the lathis. Will you show courage when you stand before the ballot box?

If you see their bruises and remain silent, do not call their fearlessness foolishness. Call your silence what it is.

Cowardice.

The children have already spoken with their wounds. Now parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts, speak with your votes and your voices.
Otherwise, the same belt that was used on your children will be used against you, and the whole nation will writhe beneath it...