Is this the emergence of elected monarchs?

Trump set free 1,600 protesters guilty of insurrection. Joe Biden didn't fare any better either. He pardoned more than 1,500 persons.

- SURENDRA KUMAR

Asif's magnum opus: Mughal-eAzam, which took 14 years in making, narrated arguably, the most powerful love story, at least fictionally, of the mediaeval times not only of India but perhaps the whole world. What could be more powerful than the fact that the crown prince of the Mughal Empire rebelled against the emperor, his father, for his lady love, Anarkali? When Akbar quelled the rebellion and Prince Salim was brought before him in court as an accused who rose against the emperor, Akbar listened to the arguments and pronounced death sentence to the prince, his own son, as he had revolted against the state symbolised THE PLIGHT by the emperor of the day.

That he rescinded his decision bowing to the appeals of his courtiers is a different matter.

Fast forward to 6 January 2021, hundreds of Trump supporters not only protested outside the Capitol in Washington but assaulted policemen on duty, gatecrashed in the premises, ransacked the place, rushed to the main hall looking for the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi; Congressmen and Senators took shelter in the basement.

This was the first time in American history that the citadel of its democracy had been so brazenly attacked in broad daylight. The unprecedented insurrection was aimed at stalling the established procedure of the certification of the result of the election and peaceful transfer of power. This was, in a way, an act against the state; many protesters were prosecuted and sentenced to different prison terms.

Come 6 January 2025, the newly elected President, Donald Trump, within hours of swearing in as the 47th President of the US, pardons and sets free1,600 protesters guilty of insurrection. Emperor Akbar might be squirming in his grave.